5/5 #WBTC1 #Evobeh5 Our results highlight behavioural flexibility of E. fuscus & suggest behaviour changes in arousals/drinking/huddling could be more important than physiological responses. Avoidance of water loss could help explain this species’ resistance to #whitenosesyndrome
4/5 #WBTC1 #Evobeh5 We found that bats in dry conditions did not increase arousal frequency but had shortened arousal bouts, potentially to reduce normothermic water loss. They also drank at twice the rate & huddled in a denser cluster as compared to bats in the humid environment
3/5 #WBTC1 #Evobeh5 We held hibernating E. fuscus in dry or humid incubators for 110 days & measured arousal/drinking/huddling behaviour through two separate IR cameras. The water dish was positioned on a scale to measure the mass of water that bats drank throughout hibernation
2/5 #WBTC1 #Evobeh5 We tested hypotheses that E. fuscus adjust huddling/drinking behaviour to maintain water balance in varying humidity. We predicted that bats in dry conditions would drink more & have denser huddles, but not differ in arousals, compared to bats in high humidity
1/5 #WBTC1 #Evobeh5 During #hibernation, bats lower body temp to save energy, but periodically warm up to normal temp. One hypothesis is that low humidity drives arousals to allow for drinking. Compared to other bats, #Eptesicusfuscus can tolerate low humidity during hibernation
1/5 #WBTC1 #Conserve1 Billions of animals are killed annually worldwide through collision with vehicles. How susceptible are Southeast Asian #bats to this impact? We conducted 100 standardized road surveys looking for vertebrate #roadkills in a biodiversity hotspot in Thailand 🇹🇭
