The use of olfaction in the foraging behaviour of the golden-mantled flying fox, Pteropus pumilus, and the greater musky fruit bat, Ptenochirus jagori (Megachiroptera: Pteropodidae)

Abstract

Double-choice experiments with three adult males of the little golden-mantled flying fox, Pteropus pumilus, and ten adult greater musky fruit bats, Ptenochirus jagori (both Megachiroptera: Pteropodidae), demonstrate that they are able to discriminate accurately between an empty dish and a dish containing fruits of one of several species by odour alone. Tests were run using fruits of six fruit species for Pteropus pumilus and five fruit species for Ptenochirus jagori. The fruit species used are known to be consumed in the wild by Ptenochirus jagori and are, with two exceptions, species of the natural rain-forest habitat. This is the first study to show that fruit bats are also able to assess the ripeness of a fruit exclusively by its odour. The bats preferred ripe over unripe fruits of the same species. Thus, both Pteropus pumilus and Ptenochirus jagori can not only locate fruits by their odour but can also discriminate between ripe and unripe fruits of the same species by olfaction. The results confirm and expand earlier findings on the role of olfactory cues in the orientation of foraging pteropodids.S. Luft · E. Curio ( ) ) Conservation Biology Unit (formerly AG für Verhaltensforschung),

Multiple Episodes of Convergence in Genes of the Dim Light Vision Pathway in Bats

“…Although bats are nocturnal, most species navigate using laryngeal echolocation, with a limited need for vision, and thus have characteristically small eyes [36]. Bats from the family Pteropodidae, however, do not have laryngeal echolocation, and therefore generally navigate by sight, and thus have larger eyes [7], [8], [9], [10]. While bats from the family Emballonuridae do have laryngeal echolocation, they also have relatively big eyes and are more active at dusk compared to other echolocating bats [14].…”

“…Old World fruit bats (family Pteropodidae), for example, do not have laryngeal echolocation [6], and instead navigate largely by sight with larger eyes and binocular vision [7], [8], [9], [10]. Other types of bats have laryngeal echolocation, and in general have smaller eyes with monocular vision [11], [12], [13].…”

Fruit bats and bat fruits: the evolution of fruit scent in relation to the foraging behaviour of bats in the New and Old World tropics

“…Jordano ; Lomáscolo, Speranza & Kimball ), to date both hypotheses have only been rigorously tested in relation to the evolution of visual cues, which are particularly important to the foraging behaviour of birds and diurnal mammals (Janson ; Schmidt, Schaefer & Winkler ; Schaefer, Schaefer & Vorobyev ; Lomáscolo & Schaefer ). By contrast, the selective influence of nocturnal seed‐dispersing frugivores, which forage predominantly by olfaction (Luft, Curio & Tacud ; Hodgkison et al . ), has never been tested.…”

Parallel and Convergent Evolution of the Dim-Light Vision Gene RH1 in Bats (Order: Chiroptera)

“…Megabats (Old-World fruit bats) rely on vision and olfaction much more than microbats (insectivorous bats), and their eyes tend to be larger and more prominent [11], [12], [13], [14]. Microbats (insectivorous bats) mostly use acoustic orientation (echolocation) rather than vision, and their eyes are generally degraded [15], [16], [17], however, dramatic differences in the sizes and light sensitivity of the eyes of different species of insectivorous bats exist [18].…”