Article ID Journal Published Year Pages File Type
2193986 Mammalian Biology - Zeitschrift für Säugetierkunde 2009 6 Pages PDF
Abstract

Many mammals use multimodal sensory information to find their food in complex environments. We studied the roles of olfactory and visual cues in the foraging behaviour of Rousettus leschenaulti, a tongue-clicking megachiropteran bat. We conducted experiments by offering a whole fruit, mashed fruit without shape and an artificial fruit to R. leschenaulti in dim light as well as in total darkness. R. leschenaulti responded to whole guava fruit and mashed guava fruit even in total darkness, whereas, artificial fruit similar to real fruit in size, shape and structure was ignored even when illuminated. These results reveal that odour may act as the primary cue for R. leschenaulti in finding fruit.

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