High frequency social calls indicate food source defense in foraging Common pipistrelle bats

Social calls have the function to coordinate the behavior of animals. In the presence of conspecifics foraging Common pipistrelle bats ( P. pipistrellus) emitted, in addition to typical echolocation signals, two types of social calls: complex social calls and an as-of-yet undescribed, short, frequen...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Scientific reports 2020-04, Vol.10 (1), p.5764-5764, Article 5764
Main Authors: Götze, Simone, Denzinger, Annette, Schnitzler, Hans-Ulrich
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
631/158/2455
631/158/856
Animal behavior
Animal Communication
Animals
Appetitive Behavior
Calling behavior
Chiroptera
Chiroptera - physiology
Conspecifics
Echolocation
Emissions
Female
Flight
Flight behavior
Food
Food sources
Foraging behavior
Frequency dependence
Humanities and Social Sciences
Male
Microphones
multidisciplinary
Pipistrellus pipistrellus
Science
Science (multidisciplinary)
Social Behavior
Vocalization, Animal
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Summary:Social calls have the function to coordinate the behavior of animals. In the presence of conspecifics foraging Common pipistrelle bats ( P. pipistrellus) emitted, in addition to typical echolocation signals, two types of social calls: complex social calls and an as-of-yet undescribed, short, frequency-modulated call type with high terminal frequency, which we term “high frequency social call”. By recording the flight and acoustic behavior of free flying pairs of foraging P. pipistrellus with an array of four microphones we were able to determine their three-dimensional flight paths and attribute emitted calls to particular behavioral situations. Complex social calls were emitted at further inter-individual distances and at large bearing angles to conspecifics, whereas high frequency social calls were produced at significantly shorter distances and at smaller bearing angles. These calls were associated with chasings and the eviction of the intruder. We assume that the emission of both types of social calls by foraging bats reflects a two-stage-process of the occupation and defense of a food patch. Common pipistrelle bats use complex social calls to claim a food patch and switch to agonistic behaviors, including chasings and high frequency social call emissions, when they defend their foraging territory against an intruder.
ISSN:2045-2322
2045-2322
DOI:10.1038/s41598-020-62743-z