Caught in
the act: Bats use the sound of copulating flies as a cue for foraging
Noisy wing
movements during mating make flies an easy prey
July 23,
2012
Mating at
night does not necessarily lead to offspring, at least in flies: males produce
a buzzing sound with their wings that can be perceived by bats. Stefan Greif
from the Max Planck Institute for Ornithology, and colleagues, observed this in
a long-term study on wild Natterer’s bats that eat the copulating flies in a
double-sized meal. Flies that were just sitting or walking on the ceiling did
not elicit a predatory response by the bats. This is the first experimental
evidence how mating itself can be risky.
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