Vampire bats that form bonds in captivity and continue those "friendships" in the wild also hunt together, meeting up over a meal after independent departures from the roost, according to a new study.
Plants & Animals
Sep 23, 2021
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68
Female vampire bats establish an egalitarian community within a roost rather than a society based on a clear hierarchy of dominance that is often seen in animal groups, a new study suggests.
Plants & Animals
Jul 7, 2021
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142
During a study with captive vampire bats at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute (STRI) in Panama, a young vampire bat pup was adopted by an unrelated female after its mother died. Although this observation was not ...
Plants & Animals
Feb 10, 2021
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206
To truly understand an animal species is to observe its behavior and social networks in the wild. With new technology described today (April 2) in PLOS Biology, researchers are able to track tiny animals that divide their ...
Plants & Animals
Apr 2, 2020
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306
As Italy urges tourists not to cancel their plans in the face of the coronavirus outbreak and a National Basketball Association memo reportedly encourages teammates to avoid hi-fives, a new study conducted at the Smithsonian ...
Ecology
Mar 5, 2020
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151
Vampire bats could be said to be sort of like people—not because of their blood-sucking ways, but because they help their neighbors in need even if it's of no obvious benefit to them.
Plants & Animals
Oct 31, 2019
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102
In the arms race between predators and prey, each evolves more and more sophisticated ways of catching or escaping from the other. Rachel Page, staff scientist at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute and Ximena Bernal, ...
Plants & Animals
Sep 25, 2019
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259
The sense of smell is one of the most poorly understood of the five major senses. But now an international team of scientists led by Laurel Yohe of Stony Brook University suggests a new method to quantify olfactory receptors ...
Evolution
Sep 20, 2019
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29
The vampire bat's diet consists of blood. It prefers to feed on domestic animals such as cows and pigs, but when it does so, there is a risk of transmitting pathogens such as rabies. Now, a new study lead by Assistant Professor ...
Plants & Animals
Apr 23, 2018
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225
The availability of livestock as a food source for vampire bats influences their immune response and infection by bacterial pathogens, according to a new paper in Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B. Because ...
Ecology
Mar 26, 2018
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20
