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Vocal communication in adult greater horseshoe bats, Rhinolophus ferrumequinum

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Abstract

Whereas echolocation in horseshoe bats is well studied, virtually nothing is known about characteristics and function of their communication calls. Therefore, the communication calls produced by a group of captive adult greater horseshoe bats were recorded during various social interactions in a free-flight facility. Analysis revealed that this species exhibited an amazingly rich repertoire of vocalizations varying in numerous spectro-temporal aspects. Calls were classified into 17 syllable types (ten simple syllables and seven composites). Syllables were combined into six types of simple phrases and four combination phrases. The majority of syllables had durations of more than 100 ms with multiple harmonics and fundamental frequencies usually above 20 kHz, although some of them were also audible to humans. Preliminary behavioral observations indicated that many calls were emitted during direct interaction with and in response to social calls from conspecifics without requiring physical contact. Some echolocation-like vocalizations also appeared to clearly serve a communication role. These results not only shed light upon a so far widely neglected aspect of horseshoe bat vocalizations, but also provide the basis for future studies on the neural control of the production of communicative vocalizations in contrast to the production of echolocation pulse sequences.

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Abbreviations

AFM:

Arched frequency modulated

BNBl:

Long noise burst

BNBs:

Short noise burst

CF:

Constant frequency

CCF:

Complex constant frequency

DFM:

Downward frequency modulated

FM:

Frequency modulated

LCF:

Long constant frequency

NB:

Noise burst

RFM:

Rippled frequency modulated

SCF:

Short constant frequency

SFM:

Sinusoidal frequency modulated

TCF:

True constant frequency (echolocation pulse)

UFM:

Upward frequency modulated

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by grants from NIH to WM (DC005400) and the National Science Foundation of China to SZ (30025007). We are particularly grateful to the Chinese Forestry Department for issuing the export permits and to Bing Liang, Jinshuo Zhang, and Zhanhui Tang for help with collecting the bats in China.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Physiological Science, UCLA, 621 Young Dr. S., Box 951606, Los Angeles, CA, 90095-1606, USA

    Jie Ma, Kohta Kobayasi & Walter Metzner

  2. Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China

    Shuyi Zhang

  3. Brain Research Institute, UCLA, Los Angeles, USA

    Walter Metzner

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  1. Jie Ma
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  2. Kohta Kobayasi
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  4. Walter Metzner
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Correspondence to Walter Metzner.

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Ma, J., Kobayasi, K., Zhang, S. et al. Vocal communication in adult greater horseshoe bats, Rhinolophus ferrumequinum . J Comp Physiol A 192, 535–550 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00359-006-0094-9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00359-006-0094-9

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