Evidence of Social Structure Influencing Feeding Behaviour in Captive Little Brown Bats (Myotis Lucifugus)

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Publication Date

7-31-2020

Publication Title

Northwestern Naturalist

Volume Number

101

Issue Number

2

Abstract

Social rank and personality (consistent behavioural traits) can influence access to resources that could be critical for fat accumulation and survival from disease. For Little Brown Bats (Myotis lucifugus) recovering from the fungal disease white-nose syndrome, understanding behavioural dynamics may also be important for maintaining animals in captivity for conservation research. We hypothesized that Little Brown Bats will exhibit social structure in captivity, and that social rank and personality affect feeding behaviour. We predicted that bats would arrive at the feeding dish in a similar order each night and that higher ranked and more active individuals would spend more time and feed more frequently at the food dish. Bats arrived at the feeding dish in a similar order each night, suggesting that social rank may affect feeding in captive bat colonies. However, neither the order of arrival or personality correlated with feeding behaviour. We recommend that future studies test for the influence of dominant-subordinate relationships on social structure in captive and free-ranging insectivorous bats.

Keywords

Bats, Animal behavior, Dominance (Psychology), Feeding behavior, Captive wild animals

Document Type

Article

Digital Object Identifier (DOI)

https://doi.org/10.1898/1051-1733-101.2.130

Language

English

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