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Selective aggressiveness in European free-tailed bats (Tadarida teniotis): influence of familiarity, age and sex

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Abstract

Bats are highly social mammals that often form large groups and represent good models to test the role played by individual status in shaping social relationships. Social cohesion relies on the ability of group and individual recognition, which is mediated by a range of sensorial cues. In this study, we selected the European free-tailed bat Tadarida teniotis as a model species to test the effects of familiarity, sex and age on aggressiveness and mutual tolerance. We hypothesize that T. teniotis is able to recognize group members and exhibit selective aggressiveness, and thus we predict fewer aggressive events and more amicable encounters between colony mates than between strangers. As female bats are generally more sociable and perform prolonged parental care to juveniles even after weaning, we hypothesize that sex and age of bats have significant influences on aggressive behaviours and thus predict that females will perform more amicable behaviours than males and that adults of both sexes will be less aggressive towards juveniles. Our results confirm that T. teniotis is able to discriminate between familiar and stranger individuals, showing higher rates of aggressive behaviours towards the latter. Females are more prone to exhibit amicable behaviours, particularly during same-sex interactions, while males show higher level of aggressiveness. Juveniles are subjected to fewer aggressive behaviours by adults of both sexes. Familiarity appears crucial for T. teniotis in determining the degree of aggressiveness during social interactions but the rate of aggressive events is also influenced by intrinsic individual factors such as sex and age.

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Acknowledgments

We are grateful to the staff and volunteers of Rome’s LIPU wildlife rescue centre for their valuable support during the experiments and particularly to Francesca Manzia, Valentina Studer, Federica Renzopaoli, Lavinia Maresca and Claudia Allegrini. We also thank Fulvio Fraticelli and Fondazione Bioparco for the collaboration and for allowing us to access the Bioparco facilities. We also thank Gloriana Chaverri, Brock Fenton, Luca Santini and two anonymous reviewers for their valuable suggestions on a previous MS version.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Dipartimento di Biologia e Biotecnologie “Charles Darwin”, Università degli Studi di Roma La Sapienza, Rome, Italy

    Leonardo Ancillotto

  2. Wildlife Research Unit, Laboratorio di Ecologia Applicata, Sezione di Biologia e Protezione dei Sistemi Agrari e Forestali, Dipartimento di Agraria, Università degli Studi di Napoli Federico II, via Università 100, 80055, Portici, Napoli, Italy

    Leonardo Ancillotto & Danilo Russo

  3. School of Biological Sciences, University of Bristol, Bristol, UK

    Danilo Russo

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  1. Leonardo Ancillotto
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  2. Danilo Russo
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Correspondence to Danilo Russo.

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Communicated by: Sven Thatje

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Figure S1

Schematic representation of the arena used for dyadic encounters between captive European free-tailed bats Tadarida teniotis; a= side view, b= top view. (DOC 49 kb)

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Ancillotto, L., Russo, D. Selective aggressiveness in European free-tailed bats (Tadarida teniotis): influence of familiarity, age and sex. Naturwissenschaften 101, 221–228 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00114-014-1146-6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00114-014-1146-6

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