Postnatal development in Andersen's leaf-nosed bat Hipposideros pomona: flight, wing shape, and wing bone lengths

Postnatal changes in flight development, wing shape and wing bone lengths of 56 marked neonate Hipposideros pomona were investigated under natural conditions in southwest China. Flight experiments showed that pups began to flutter with a short horizontal displacement at 10 days and first took flight at 19 days, with most achieving sustained flight at 1 month old. Analysis of covariance on wingspan, wing area, and the other seven wing characteristics between ‘pre-flight’ and ‘post-volancy’ periods supports the hypothesis that growth had one ‘pre-flight’ trajectory and a different ‘post-volancy’ trajectory in bats. Wingspan, handwing length and area, armwing length and area, and total wing area increased linearly until the age of first flight, after which the growth rates decreased (all P < 0.001). Wing loading declined linearly until day 19 before ultimately decreasing to adult levels (P < 0.001). Additionally, the relationship of different pairwise combinations of bony components composing span-wise length and chord-wise length was evaluated to test the hypothesis that compensatory growth of wing bones in H. pomona occurred in both ‘pre-flight’ and ‘post-volancy’ periods. The frequency of short–long and long–short pairs was significantly greater than that of short–short, long–long pairs in most pairs of bone elements in adults. The results indicate that a bone ‘shorter than expected’ would be compensated by a bone or bones ‘longer than expected’, suggesting compensatory growth in H. pomona. The pairwise comparisons conducted in adults were also performed in young bats during ‘pre-flight’ and ‘post-volancy’ periods, demonstrating that compensatory growth occurred throughout postnatal ontogeny.