Insight on how fishing bats discern prey and adjust their mechanic and sensorial features during the attack sequence
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Insight on how fishing bats discern prey and adjust their mechanic and sensorial features during the attack sequence. / Aizpurua, Ostaizka; Alberdi, Antton; Aihartza, Joxerra; Garin, Inazio.
In: Scientific Reports, Vol. 5, 12392, 2015.Research output: Contribution to journal › Journal article › Research › peer-review
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TY - JOUR
T1 - Insight on how fishing bats discern prey and adjust their mechanic and sensorial features during the attack sequence
AU - Aizpurua, Ostaizka
AU - Alberdi, Antton
AU - Aihartza, Joxerra
AU - Garin, Inazio
PY - 2015
Y1 - 2015
N2 - Several insectivorous bats have included fish in their diet, yet little is known about the processes underlying this trophic shift. We performed three field experiments with wild fishing bats to address how they manage to discern fish from insects and adapt their hunting technique to capture fish. We show that bats react only to targets protruding above the water and discern fish from insects based on prey disappearance patterns. Stationary fish trigger short and shallow dips and a terminal echolocation pattern with an important component of the narrowband and low frequency calls. When the fish disappears during the attack process, bats regulate their attack increasing the number of broadband and high frequency calls in the last phase of the echolocation as well as by lengthening and deepening their dips. These adjustments may allow bats to obtain more valuable sensorial information and to perform dips adjusted to the level of uncertainty on the location of the submerged prey. The observed ultrafast regulation may be essential for enabling fishing to become cost-effective in bats, and demonstrates the ability of bats to rapidly modify and synchronise their sensorial and motor features as a response to last minute stimulus variations.
AB - Several insectivorous bats have included fish in their diet, yet little is known about the processes underlying this trophic shift. We performed three field experiments with wild fishing bats to address how they manage to discern fish from insects and adapt their hunting technique to capture fish. We show that bats react only to targets protruding above the water and discern fish from insects based on prey disappearance patterns. Stationary fish trigger short and shallow dips and a terminal echolocation pattern with an important component of the narrowband and low frequency calls. When the fish disappears during the attack process, bats regulate their attack increasing the number of broadband and high frequency calls in the last phase of the echolocation as well as by lengthening and deepening their dips. These adjustments may allow bats to obtain more valuable sensorial information and to perform dips adjusted to the level of uncertainty on the location of the submerged prey. The observed ultrafast regulation may be essential for enabling fishing to become cost-effective in bats, and demonstrates the ability of bats to rapidly modify and synchronise their sensorial and motor features as a response to last minute stimulus variations.
U2 - 10.1038/srep12392
DO - 10.1038/srep12392
M3 - Journal article
C2 - 26196094
AN - SCOPUS:84937702134
VL - 5
JO - Scientific Reports
JF - Scientific Reports
SN - 2045-2322
M1 - 12392
ER -
ID: 225602109