Bats mothers give a push to their young to mature

Bats mothers give a push to their young to mature https://i2.wp.com/www.eresviral.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/Murciélagos-madres-dan-un-empujón-a-sus-crías-para-que-maduren.jpg?fit=196%2C146&ssl=1

Bats mothers give a push to their young to mature







The birds learn to fly. Baby mammals go from drinking milk to eating solid foods. Baby bats, like winged mammals, do both at the same time during their transition from babies to flying juveniles. According to a new report by researchers at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute (STRI) who studied bats Uroderma bilobatum, mothers pushed their young with their forearms, perhaps encouraging them to fly and wean.



Of the more than 1300 species of bats in the world, the details of this critical period of transition are only known by a few. "Our study highlights how little we still know about the secret lives of these incredible creatures, even something as significant as the relationship between a mother and her offspring," said Jenna Kohles, a master's student at the University of Konstanz and the Max Planck Institute. for Ornithology with Professor Dina Dechmann. Kohles did his fieldwork for this study as an intern at STRI while still a student at Clemson University.



The Uroderma bilobatum cut and fold huge leaves of tropical plants, creating tents as shelters for groups of two to 50 individuals. They also colonize the tropical huts that humans build to shelter themselves from the rain. Their shelters not only protect breeding bats from the elements, but also serve as information centers where they learn from other bats the location of their favorite food, ripe figs.







Bats 'Uroderma bilobatum'. (Photo: Merlin Tuttle)



"Jenna Kohles and her team looked closely at the colonies of Uroderma bilobatum in the wild and monitored shelters under the eaves of more than 30 houses in Gamboa, Panama, for almost a year," said STRI consultant scientist Rachel Page. "Jenna captured bat births on camera and subsequently monitored and quantified changes in interactions between mothers and offspring."



Kohles determined if the puppies were alone or with their mother, and breastfeeding or not breastfeeding, changing from one position to another, flapping or resting. She recorded aggressive and other social interactions and observed when mothers took care of their offspring. Along with her colleagues, she also captured bats in fognets to record their mass, forearm length, sex and the location of their den to see if the offspring of this species grow as fast as reported for other species and to compare the times of changes in size with changes in behavior.



Mice give birth to litters of more than half a dozen babies at the same time, but bats usually give birth to only one baby, because mothers have to bear all the weight of this as they fly, both before and after they are born .



"It is in the best interest of the offspring to continue breastfeeding and be cared for by their mothers as long as possible. But this is a great burden for mothers, so they are pressured to become independent. For many mammals, this results in a period of conflict between mothers and children, which often includes aggression. But these bats seem to achieve this transition without aggression, and these shoves with their forearms can play an important role. That's why we were excited about the observation of this new behavior. "



"Bats, the only flying mammals, have numerous unique features of the history of life," Kohles said. "The young must grow quickly. We are now learning about the specific behaviors that both offspring and mothers use to deal with this rapid transition. And they are as unique as the bats themselves. "



The arms of baby bats grew faster than the rest of their bodies. With these large forearms, puppies could learn to fly in just a few nights with the help of their mothers. Although Jenna and her team could only directly observe the behavior in their lair, they found evidence that the mothers recovered and took the pups to their lair while they learned to fly.



"Very little is known about the development of bat behavior. "Jenna's study is a step to fill a critical gap in our understanding of the development of bats," said Page. (Source: STRI / DICYT)



[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=btsguNArr7I?wmode=transparent&jqoemcache=DWFn5]



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