Excepting myotis capaccinii, the wings' contribution to take-off performance does not correlate with foraging ecology in six species of insectivorous bat

摘要

Take-off in bats is separated into two distinct phases: an initial jump\udand a subsequent wing powered acceleration. Here, using footage\udfrom a high-speed camera, the first comparative study of the\udperformance during the wing induced phase of take-off in six\udinsectivorous bat species is described. Despite distinct differences\udin foraging strategy, the mass specific power generated by the bats\udduring wing induced take-off did not differ between species, with the\udexception of Myotis capaccinii. This suggests that differences in\udtake-off performance may only be evident in bats that exhibit\udparticularly unusual foraging strategies, such as the trawling\udbehaviour of M. capaccinii – with differences in the remaining\udspecies only manifesting in subtler aspects of flight performance\udsuch as agility or manoeuvrability. The poorer take-off performance\udof M. capaccinii could be related to either a reduction in wing-stroke\udamplitude to stop the wings hitting the water’s surface during\udforaging or perhaps an effect of having very large feet. No scaling\udrelationship between body mass and mass-specific take-off power\udwas found, which supports earlier research on birds and insects,\udsuggesting that the mass-specific muscle power available for flight\udis broadly similar across a large range of body sizes and species.