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Innate recognition of water bodies in echolocating bats

Author

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  • Stefan Greif

    (Max Planck Institute for Ornithology, Sensory Ecology Group, Eberhard-Gwinner-Straße)

  • Björn M. Siemers

    (Max Planck Institute for Ornithology, Sensory Ecology Group, Eberhard-Gwinner-Straße)

Abstract

In the course of their lives, most animals must find different specific habitat and microhabitat types for survival and reproduction. Yet, in vertebrates, little is known about the sensory cues that mediate habitat recognition. In free flying bats the echolocation of insect-sized point targets is well understood, whereas how they recognize and classify spatially extended echo targets is currently unknown. In this study, we show how echolocating bats recognize ponds or other water bodies that are crucial for foraging, drinking and orientation. With wild bats of 15 different species (seven genera from three phylogenetically distant, large bat families), we found that bats perceived any extended, echo-acoustically smooth surface to be water, even in the presence of conflicting information from other sensory modalities. In addition, naive juvenile bats that had never before encountered a water body showed spontaneous drinking responses from smooth plates. This provides the first evidence for innate recognition of a habitat cue in a mammal.

Suggested Citation

  • Stefan Greif & Björn M. Siemers, 2010. "Innate recognition of water bodies in echolocating bats," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 1(1), pages 1-6, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:nat:natcom:v:1:y:2010:i:1:d:10.1038_ncomms1110
    DOI: 10.1038/ncomms1110
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    Cited by:

    1. Danilo Russo & Luca Cistrone & Gareth Jones, 2012. "Sensory Ecology of Water Detection by Bats: A Field Experiment," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 7(10), pages 1-9, October.
    2. Ostaizka Aizpurua & Antton Alberdi & Joxerra Aihartza & Inazio Garin, 2016. "Fishing Technique of Long-Fingered Bats Was Developed from a Primary Reaction to Disappearing Target Stimuli," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 11(12), pages 1-12, December.
    3. Dieter Vanderelst & Jonas Reijniers & Jan Steckel & Herbert Peremans, 2011. "Information Generated by the Moving Pinnae of Rhinolophus rouxi: Tuning of the Morphology at Different Harmonics," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 6(6), pages 1-11, June.

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