Postnatal growth and age estimation in preterm infant of long-fingered bat (Myotis capaccinii) reared in a flight cage

Abstract

Three Capaccinii’s bats (Myotis capaccinii) which were born and reared in a flight cage were subjected to a postnatal study. Length of forearm, body mass and length of the total gap at the fourth metacarpal- phalangeal joint of the neonats were measured in order to develop empirical growth curves and their derivatives. The pups at birth had a mean birth body mass of 2.6gr0.1 and forearm length of 18mm±1.5. At 54 days, mean body mass was 82.71% of adult mass (6.7gr ± 0.2) and mean forearm length was 80.37% of adult length (34.56mm ± 0.4). The length of forearm and body mass increased linearly during first, three weeks, and thereafter maintained in an apparent stability. The epiphyseal gap of the fourth metacarpal- phalangeal joint increased until 12 days, then decreased linearly until 50 days and thereafter fused. The rate of body mass gain and forearm growth during the first 24 days was 0.09 g/d and 0.6 mm/d, respectively.