Postnatal development in the big-footed bat, Myotis macrodactylus: wing morphology, echolocation calls, and flight

Abstract

We studied the postnatal development of wing morphology and echolocation calls during flight in a free-ranging population of the big-footed bat, Myotis macrodactylus, using the mark-recapture methodology. Young bats were reluctant to move until 7 days of age and started fluttering at a mean age of 10 days. The wingspan and wing area of pups followed a linear pattern of growth until 22 days of age, by which time the young bats exhibited flapping flight, with mean growth rates of 0.62 mm/day and 3.15 mm2/day, for wingspan and area, respectively, after which growth rates decreased. Pups achieved sustained flight at 40 days of age. Of the three nonlinear growth models (logistic, Gompertz, and von Bertalanffy), the logistic equation provided the best fit to the empirical curves for wingspan and wing area. Neonates emitted long echolocation calls with multiple harmonics. The duration of calls decreased significantly between flutter (19 days) and flight (22 days) stages. The peak and start frequency of calls increased significantly over the 3-week period of development, but the terminal frequency did not change significantly over the development period.