Study: Vampire Bats Prefer to Hunt with Socially Bonded Roostmates

Sep 23, 2021 by News Staff / Source

 

During nightly foraging trips, closely bonded females of common vampire bats (Desmodus rotundus) depart their roost separately, but often reunite far outside the roost to hunt together, says a new paper published today in the journal PLoS Biology.

The common vampire bats (Desmodus rotundus). Image credit: Uwe Schmidt.

Vampire bats roost together in trees where they can be observed grooming each other and even sharing regurgitated blood meals with hungry roostmates.

Previous research has shown this cooperative behavior is directed towards close relatives and social partners.

In the new study, Dr. Simon Ripperger and Dr. Gerald Carter from the Ohio State University, the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, and the the Museum fur Naturkunde at the Leibniz-Institute for Evolution and Biodiversity Science, aimed to investigate whether the bats’ social bonds also influence their foraging behavior.

The researchers attached tiny proximity sensors to 50 female vampire bats — including 27 wild bats and 23 that had been captive for nearly 2 years — before releasing them back into their wild roost on a cattle pasture in Tolé, Panama.

They found that although the tagged bats almost never left the roost together, closely bonded females often re-united far from the roost.

Bats that associated with more partners in the roost also met up with more partners during foraging trips.

“The bats may meet up with trusted partners during foraging trips to share information about hosts or access to an open wound,” the scientists said.

“This collaboration might save on the time and effort involved in selecting and preparing a wound site on the cattle.”

“The downward sweeping calls, which are similar to contact calls used to recognize partners in the roost, may also help the bats to identify friends and foes on the wing.”

“How far does ‘friendship’ go? We show that social bonds of vampire bats are not restricted to grooming and food sharing at the roost, but bonded individuals even hunt together, highlighting the complexity of their social relationships.”

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S.P. Ripperger & G.G. Carter. 2021. Social foraging in vampire bats is predicted by long-term cooperative relationships. PLoS Biol 19 (9): e3001366; doi: 10.1371/journal.pbio.3001366