Do bats use guano and urine stains to find new roosts? Tests with three group-living bats.

Bridget K G Brown,Lauren Leffer,Gerald G Carter,Nia Toshkova,Yesenia Valverde,Rachel A Page,Jessica Nystrom

doi:10.1098/rsos.201055

Abstract

Many animals use social cues to find refuges. Bats can find roosts using the echolocation and social calls of conspecifics, but they might also use scent cues, a possibility which is less studied. The entrances of bat roosts are often marked by guano and urine, providing possible scent cues. We conducted eight experiments to test whether bats use the scent of guano and urine to find potential roosts. In field experiments, we tested if Molossus molossus (velvety free-tailed bats) in Panama and Eptesicus fuscus (big brown bats) in Ohio would investigate artificial roost boxes that were scented with guano and urine more often than a paired unscented control. We did not detect any difference in flights near the scented versus unscented roosts, and we detected only one entrance into any artificial roost (scented). In six captive experiments, we tested for the attraction of Desmodus rotundus (common vampire bats) and Molossus molossus to areas scented with guano and urine, under several conditions. Results were mixed, but overall suggested that the scent of guano and urine does not act as a strong lure for the tested bat species. We suggest that further tests of olfaction-based roost choice in bats should manipulate existing scent cues on familiar roosts.

Highlights

A key benefit of living in groups is that individuals can gain social information about resources, such as food or roosts [1]
Bats can rely on the echolocation and social calls produced by conspecifics [3,4,5,6,7]
We focused on three common group-living bat species, Molossus molossus, Eptesicus fuscus and Desmodus rotundus for several reasons

Summary

Introduction

A key benefit of living in groups is that individuals can gain social information about resources, such as food or roosts [1]. Potential roosts are often limited, and social information from conspecifics can help bats find new roosts [2]. Disc-winged 2 bats roost in young furled leaves and move to new roosts daily [3]. Bats can rely on the echolocation and social calls produced by conspecifics [3,4,5,6,7]. It remains unclear to what extent bats find and select roosts using other social cues, such as chemical cues

Methods

Results

Conclusion