University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

The ethology of the Malayan false vampire bat (Megaderma spasma), with special emphasis on auditory cues used in foraging

Tyrell, Karen

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Description

Title
The ethology of the Malayan false vampire bat (Megaderma spasma), with special emphasis on auditory cues used in foraging
Author(s)
Tyrell, Karen
Issue Date
1990
Doctoral Committee Chair(s)
Salmon, Michael
Department of Study
  • Biology, General
  • Biology, Ecology
  • Biology, Zoology
  • Agriculture, Forestry and Wildlife
Discipline
  • Biology, General
  • Biology, Ecology
  • Biology, Zoology
  • Agriculture, Forestry and Wildlife
Degree Granting Institution
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Degree Name
Ph.D.
Degree Level
Dissertation
Keyword(s)
  • Biology, General
  • Biology, Ecology
  • Biology, Zoology
  • Agriculture, Forestry and Wildlife
Language
eng
Abstract
  • My laboratory studies have revealed the use of two distinct foraging strategies by the echolocating Malayan false vampire bat, Megaderma spasma. When gleaning, bats retrieve prey located upon surfaces. Because both the prey and the surface reflect sound, bats may have difficulty distinguishing echo distortions caused by relatively small prey from sound reflected off of the larger substratum. In contrast, flycatching bats capture flying prey mid-air, where background clutter is minimal. Because these foraging environments impose different restrictions on the use of sensory cues by hunting bats, a primary focus of my work was to determine what cues are used by foraging M. spasma, and their role in generating adaptive behavioral responses.
  • Because the behavior of this bat is poorly known, I developed an ethogram to use as a basis for subsequent behavioral investigations. Behavior described includes potential communicative vocalizations, and patterns of agonistic and non-agonistic, non-vocal social behavior. Non-social (individual) behavior described includes maintenance behavior, ingestive and eliminative behavior, and resting postures. Behavior patterns were placed into tentative functional groupings and compared to the behavior of other bat species.
  • The use of acoustic cues in prey capture by M. spasma depends upon the foraging strategy employed. Passive listening to prey-generated sounds is critical for the capture of prey by gleaning M. spasma. Passive auditory cues were used both to detect prey and to determine its angular (elevation and azimuth) coordinates. In the absence of such cues, echolocation was not used to locate prey itself. However, gleaning bats always emitted echolocation pulses, which may serve to determine the distance to the substratum surface. In contrast to surface gleaning, in the absence of prey-generated sounds flycatching bats use echolocation to locate prey and to assess prey physical features. However, when such sounds are available, bats use them to make qualitative assessments about prey. These results suggest that bats use different acoustic cues to optimize the detection, localization, and identification of prey under constraints imposed by different foraging situations. Periodic abundance of different prey types which results from seasonal climatic changes may be important in shaping the foraging behavior of M. spasma.
Type of Resource
text
Permalink
http://hdl.handle.net/2142/23567
Copyright and License Information
Copyright 1990 Tyrell, Karen

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