Greater spear-nosed bats give group-distinctive calls

摘要: Individually distinctive vocalizations are ubi- quitous; however, group calls have rarely been demonstrated. Under some conditions, selection should favor indicating social membership in animals that forage groups. Greater spear-nosed bats (Phyllostomus hastatus) give appear to facil- itate recognition of mates who un- related. Females loud broadband (4-18 kHz) vo- calizations termed screech when departing on foraging trips and at sites. Screech help establish groups among members, maintain contact over the long distances they travel while foraging. I test two hypotheses about how may be structured convey caller identity. Individual distinct members learn recognize each individual's associate individual with group. Alternatively, individuals within share call characteristics. To these hy- potheses conducted multivariate acoustic analysis multiple from 28 three Although ubiquity individually other taxa makes this result more likely, results re- veal highly distinctive. statistically indistinguishable. Calls decrease slightly frequency as age. Call convergence unrelated implies vocal learning species.