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Multimodal cues facilitate ripe-fruit localization and extraction in free-ranging pteropodid bats.
- Source :
-
Behavioural processes [Behav Processes] 2021 Aug; Vol. 189, pp. 104426. Date of Electronic Publication: 2021 May 25. - Publication Year :
- 2021
-
Abstract
- Sensory cues play an important role in any plant-animal interaction. Yet, we know very little about the cues used by wild mammals during fruit selection. Existing evidence mainly comes from captive studies and suggests that the pteropodid bats rely on olfaction to find fruits. In this study, we avoided captivity-generated stressors and provide insights from natural selective forces by performing manipulative experiments on free-ranging fruit bats (Cynopterus sphinx) in a wild setting, in a tree species that exhibits a bat-fruit syndrome (Madhuca longifolia var. latifolia). We find that visual cues are necessary and sufficient to locate ripe fruits. Fruit experiments exhibiting visual cues alone received more bat visits than those exhibiting other combinations of visual and olfactory cues. Ripe fruit extractions were higher by bats that evaluated fruits by perching than hovering, indicating an additional cue, i.e., haptic cue. Visual cues appear to be informative over short distances, whereas olfactory and haptic cues facilitate the fruit evaluation for those bats that used hovering and perching strategies, respectively. This study also shows that adult bats were more skillful in extracting ripe fruits than the young bats, and there was a positive correlation between the weight of selected fruits and bat weight. This study suggests that the integration of multimodal cues (visual, olfactory and haptic) facilitate ripe-fruit localization and extraction in free-ranging pteropodid bats.<br /> (Copyright © 2021 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)
- Subjects :
- Animals
Cues
Fruit
Smell
Chiroptera
Subjects
Details
- Language :
- English
- ISSN :
- 1872-8308
- Volume :
- 189
- Database :
- MEDLINE
- Journal :
- Behavioural processes
- Publication Type :
- Academic Journal
- Accession number :
- 34048877
- Full Text :
- https://doi.org/10.1016/j.beproc.2021.104426