Warming up for dinner: torpor and arousal in hibernating Natterer's bats (Myotis nattereri) studied by radio telemetry ...

(Uploaded by Plazi for the Bat Literature Project) The frequency and function of arousals during hibernation in free-living mammals are little known. We used temperature-sensitive radio transmitters to measure patterns of torpor, arousal and activity in wild Natterer's bats Myotis nattereri dur...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Hope, Paul R., Jones, Gareth
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:unknown
Published: Zenodo 2012
Subjects:
bat
Online Access:https://dx.doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.13450620
https://zenodo.org/doi/10.5281/zenodo.13450620
Description
Summary:(Uploaded by Plazi for the Bat Literature Project) The frequency and function of arousals during hibernation in free-living mammals are little known. We used temperature-sensitive radio transmitters to measure patterns of torpor, arousal and activity in wild Natterer's bats Myotis nattereri during hibernation. Duration of torpor bouts ranged from 0.06 to 20.4 days with individual means ranging from 0.9 to 8.9 days. Arousals from torpor occurred most commonly coincident with the time (relative to sunset) typical for bats emerging from summer roosts to forage. Bats with lower body condition indices had a shorter average duration of their torpor bouts. We found a nonlinear relationship between duration of torpor bout and ambient temperature: the longest average torpor bouts were at temperatures between 2 and 4°C with shorter bouts at lower and higher ambient temperatures. One individual was radio-tracked for ten nights, remained active for an average of 297 min each night and was active for longer on warmer ...