[Animals] The bat that imitates the noise of the hornet to survive

[#Wittels-]

Animals sometimes pretend to be another to survive. It is called Batesian mimicry and, until now, no case of acoustic imitation by a mammal has been known, but that is the case of the mouse-eared bat, which knows how to imitate the buzzing of hornets.

Mouse-eared bats mimic the buzz of hornets.
A study published Monday by Current Biology describes this behavior observed in that bat, an evolutionary trick that allows the mimic to protect itself from possible predators and that, in the case of reproducing sounds, had only been observed in insects.

Mouse-eared bats mimic the buzz of hornets, a stinging insect, to deter owls from eating them.

A bat that has been captured, but not killed by the predator, if it is able to emit a buzz "could" fool it for a fraction of a second, long enough to flee, explained one of the study's authors, Danilo Russo, of the University of Studies of Naples Federico II (Italy).

The expert carried out field work with bats when he realized that, in certain situations, they always buzzed like hornets.

 

Among other tests, the team played those sounds to captive owls and barn owls to see their reaction and systematically back away.

The researchers say the results conclude the first example of interspecific mimicry between mammals and insects, as well as one of the few examples of acoustic mimicry.

The buzzes are even more similar when heard the way owls hear them, says Ruso, who doesn't have data to say that owls avoiding the sound is because they've been stung before, though it's a possibility.

However, there is other evidence that birds avoid these potentially harmful insects. For example, when signs are installed in nest boxes or tree cavities, birds generally do not even explore them and do not nest there.

 

Link: https://www.ultimahora.com/el-murcielago-que-imita-el-ruido-del-avispon-sobrevivir-n3000580.html