How common vampires make friends

How common vampires make friends
How common vampires make friends
Anonim

Researchers from Ohio State University, along with colleagues from the Smithsonian Institute for Tropical Research, analyzed the behavior of bats Desmodus rotundus and found the basic prerequisites for the formation of friendships between them. An article about the discovery was published in the journal Current Biology.

We can explain how friendships arise between neighbors or colleagues at work. But when it comes to animals, scientists sometimes fail to describe how and why mutually beneficial friendships develop between individuals. One theory, called the “rate hike model,” suggests a gradual increase in individuals' trust in each other through small acts of mutual assistance or care.

This point of view is confirmed by a new study by American scientists. They observed common vampire bats (Desmodus rotundus) for 15 months in captivity. The animals were collected from two different geographically distinct perches. Throughout this time, the researchers observed and recorded episodes of various types of behavior, including grooming - cleaning the body, "washing" other individuals - and eating together.

Bats usually regurgitate their food to feed the young that have not been able to forage on their own. Scientists have repeatedly staged periods of hunger for unfamiliar common vampires after introducing them to each other to see if the animals would sacrifice food for the stranger. After the bats spent 15 months together, the researchers found that there were many episodes of grooming between previously unfamiliar individuals, but relatively few of them shared food with "strangers." However, researchers have quite often observed that if one bat shares food with another, then the second in response can make a similar gesture, as if in gratitude.

Some of the predictions made by the scientists before the start of the study turned out to be correct: grooming preceded the exchange of food between strangers, and its frequency increased until the exchange of food, after which it leveled off. That said, relationships between strangers became more likely when familiar bats weren't around. Thus, the researchers found another confirmation of the rate hike model.

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