Tag : Foraging

Washington: Social hunting strategies are already well documented in many animal species when prey is distributed in an unpredictable way across the landscape. Researchers have now demonstrated for the first time that animals in this case the common noctule bat join together and form a mobile sensory network in order to increase their chances of finding their prey. The analyses show that predators can adjust to variable environmental conditions through flexible foraging strategies by networking with conspecifics. Many predators need to find food on a daily basis. If the prey is irregularly distributed across the landscape and only available for a short time, this task seems like searching for the needle in a haystack. Animals that depend on such unpredictable prey have therefore often developed social strategies for foraging: During the search for prey, individuals are in contact with each other and exchange information about their environment. An international research team led by the University of Potsdam and Leibniz-IZW has now observed for the first time that common noctule bats (Nyctalus noctula) temporarily join together to form mobile, sensory networks while foraging. "The common noctule is particularly well suited for such investigations because its prey -- swarms of insects -- disperse completely unpredictably in open airspace," explains the paper's lead author, Manuel Roeleke. "Moreover, the distance over which the bats can locate the insects via ultrasound is relatively small, about 10 to 15 metres. This makes it difficult for them to track their prey. On the other hand, the bats can perceive their own conspecifics over much greater distances, under ideal conditions up to 160 metres. Searching in a group should therefore be ...