Presentation Details
| First experimental demonstration of reciprocity in food-sharing vampire bats Gerald Carter1, 2, 3. 1Princeton University, Princeton, NJ, USA.2Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Chevy Chase, MD, USA.3Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, Panama City Panama |
Abstract
For over 40 years, reciprocal regurgitated food sharing in vampire bats has been a textbook example of reciprocal cooperation. However, no experiment has yet demonstrated that food given is actually conditional on food received. Here, I report this measure of responsiveness during the first 7 months of relationship formation in an experimental colony of 32 female vampire bats, where at least 85% of pairs were unrelated and unfamiliar before the experiment. In 44 randomly targeted pairs (out of 496 pairs), I blocked reciprocation from bat A to bat B on 5 consecutive occasions over 3 months (by removing bat A during the one hour when bat B was in need of food). Then I tested bat B’s probability to feed bat A on 5 occasions over the next 4 months. A comparison of targeted and control pairs shows that the experimental manipulation clearly reduced the probability that bat B would feed A, from 10% to 2%. I discuss this effect size alongside other effects estimated from a Bayesian social relations model. The next step is to understand if and how responsiveness differs in more established relationships– that is, to compare the roles of partner choice and subtle partner switching.
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No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the author.
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