Data from: Tracking post-hibernation behavior and early migration does not reveal the expected sex-differences in a "female-migrating“ bat ...

• Main Authors: Varga, Katarina, Dechmann, Dina K.N., O'Mara, M. Teague, Wikelski, Martin
• Format: Dataset
• Language: English
• Published: Movebank Data Repository 2015
• Subjects: Nyctalus noctula; animal migration; animal tracking; common noctule; Germany; movement ecology; radio telemetry
• Online Access: https://dx.doi.org/10.5441/001/1.f01815nq; https://www.datarepository.movebank.org/handle/10255/move.386

Long-distance migration is a rare phenomenon in European bats. Genetic analyses and banding studies show that females can cover distances of up to 1,600 km, whereas males are sedentary or migrate only short distances. The onset of this sex-biased migration is supposed to occur shortly after rousing from hibernation and when the females are already pregnant. We therefore predicted that the sexes are exposed to different energetic pressures in early spring, and this should be reflected in their behavior and physiology. We investigated this in one of the three Central European long-distance migrants, the common noctule (Nyctalus noctula) in Southern Germany recording the first individual partial migration tracks of this species. In contrast to our predictions, we found no difference between male and female home range size, activity, habitat use or diet. Males and females emerged from hibernation in similar body condition and mass increase rate was the same in males and females. We followed the first migration ...