There are approximately 4,800 extant species of mammals that exhibit tremendous morphological, physiological, and developmental diversity. Yet embryonic development has been studied in only a few mammalian species. Among mammals, bats are second only to rodents with regard to species number and habitat range and are the most abundant mammals in undisturbed tropical regions. Bat development, though, remains relatively unstudied. Here, we describe and illustrate a staging series of embryonic development for the short-tailed fruit bat, Carollia perspicillata, based on embryos collected at timed intervals after captive matings. As Carollia can be readily maintained and propagated in captivity and is extremely abundant in the wild, it offers an attractive choice as a chiropteran model organism. This staging system provides a framework for studying Carollia embryogenesis and should prove useful as a guide for embryological studies of other bat species and for comparisons with other orders of mammals. Developmental Dynamics 233:721-738, 2005.

Pregnancy was studied in short-tailed fruit bats, Carollia perspicillata, both maintained in a captive breeding colony and collected from a reproductively synchronized wild population on the island of Trinidad. Gestation periods for captive females that successfully reared their young varied as follows: mated at a regular oestrus during their first year in captivity (105-178 days) (mean +/- SD: 145 +/- 19 days); mated at a postpartum oestrus during their first year in captivity (110-158 days) (133 +/- 16 days); mated during their second year in captivity (113-169 days) (127 +/- 12 days); females born and mated in captivity (113-159 days) (119 +/- 9 days). Most females in the last group had gestation periods of 113-119 days; this may represent the normal (nondelayed) gestation period for the species. Histological studies established that most of the observed variation in duration of gestation was due to delays occurring after the completion of implantation. It seems likely that stress, rather than age, was responsible for the prolongation of pregnancy in some animals, because this occurred less frequently in both younger and older females. There may be stressful situations in the wild (for example, lack of sufficient food or roosting sites) in which the ability to delay pregnancies would be of considerable adaptive value. Evidence was obtained that under some circumstances Carollia can extend gestation even further. Many wildcaught females successfully gave birth at 160-229 days after being isolated from breeding males in captivity. These had been captured at the time of year when, based upon subsequent histological studies of field collected specimens, most adult females should have been in early pregnancy. The field studies have also provided evidence that females in the wild population exhibit a seasonal prolongation of pregnancy.

SummaryImproved methods have been developed for maintaining and breeding the neotropical shorttailed fruit bat, Carollia perspicillata, in an easily-reproduced, laboratory setting. Bipartite, allmetal cages have been designed which permit efficient, non-injurious handling of the animals. Also, a fruit-based liquid diet, which is simple and inexpensive to prepare, has been formulated from readily-available canned and powdered components.When efforts were initiated to breed wild-caught animals at 3-6 months after capture, this progressed slowly in most (but not all) cages. Breeding took place more rapidly when the bats had been in captivity for 11-24 months. Most females (122/144, 84.7%) then bred within 30 days of the introduction of a stud male, and the overall conception rate was 94.3% in those females which bred. This pattern of breeding activity, evidence that this bat is a spontaneous ovulator, and observed intervals between successive breeding periods (apparently representing much or all of non-pregnant cycles) in some individuals suggest that the cycle length in many of these bats probably falls between 20 and 30 days. Analysis of the breeding data also showed that certain patterns of breeding activity were frequently associated with a failure of females to establish ongoing pregnancies.Most laboratory-bred females (69/81) that were permitted to carry their pregnancies to term did so and successfully reared their young. The laboratory-reared young have generally exhibited excellent body condition, and many have proved to be fertile.The bats were found to exhibit a post-partum oestrus, which in nearly all cases (35/36) was fertile. The interval between the discovery of a new baby and the detection of a sperm-positive vaginal aspirate varied between 3-10 days, but most frequently was 3-6 days. Females which aborted non-term fetuses also had a post-partum oestrus with similar timing.These findings indicate that the short-tailed fruit bat, which is widely abundant in the lowland tropics of the New World, can be successfully maintained under controlled conditions, in cages of modest dimensions, for research purposes.

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