scholarly journals Habituation of common vampire bats to biologgers

2021 ◽  
Vol 8 (12) ◽  
Author(s):  
Emma Kline ◽  
Simon P. Ripperger ◽  
Gerald G. Carter

Rapid advancements in biologging technology have led to unprecedented insights into animal behaviour, but testing the effects of biologgers on tagged animals is necessary for both scientific and ethical reasons. Here, we measured how quickly 13 wild-caught and captively isolated common vampire bats ( Desmodus rotundus ) habituated to mock proximity sensors glued to their dorsal fur. To assess habituation, we scored video-recorded behaviours every minute from 18.00 to 06.00 for 3 days, then compared the rates of grooming directed to the sensor tag versus to their own body. During the first hour, the mean tag-grooming rate declined dramatically from 53% of sampled time (95% CI = 36–65%, n = 6) to 16% (8–24%, n = 9), and down to 4% by hour 5 (1–6%, n = 13), while grooming of the bat's own body did not decline. When tags are firmly attached, isolated individual vampire bats mostly habituate within an hour of tag attachment. In two cases, however, tags became loose before falling off causing the bats to dishabituate. For tags glued to fur, behavioural data are likely to be impacted immediately after the tag is attached and when it is loose before it falls off.

2020 ◽  
Vol 16 (5) ◽  
pp. 155014772092177
Author(s):  
Keni Ren ◽  
Johannes Karlsson ◽  
Markus Liuska ◽  
Markku Hartikainen ◽  
Inger Hansen ◽  
...  

The growing interest in precision livestock farming is prompted by a desire to understand the basic behavioural needs of the animals and optimize the contribution of each animal. The aim of this study was to develop a system that automatically generated individual animal behaviour and localization data in sheep. A sensor-fusion-system tracking individual sheep position and detecting sheep standing/lying behaviour was proposed. The mean error and standard deviation of sheep position performed by the ultra-wideband location system was 0.357 ± 0.254 m, and the sensitivity of the sheep standing and lying detection performed by infrared radiation cameras and three-dimenional computer vision technology were 98.16% and 100%, respectively. The proposed system was able to generate individual animal activity reports and the real-time detection was achieved. The system can increase the convenience for animal behaviour studies and monitoring of animal welfare in the production environment.


2011 ◽  
Vol 42 (4) ◽  
pp. 755-758 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elsburgh O. Clarke ◽  
Ryan S. DeVoe

1995 ◽  
Vol 49 (3) ◽  
pp. 855-856 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lisa K. Denault ◽  
Donald A. McFarlane

Vaccine ◽  
1998 ◽  
Vol 16 (11-12) ◽  
pp. 1122-1126 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alvaro Aguilar Sétien ◽  
Bernard Brochier ◽  
Noël Tordo ◽  
Octavio De Paz ◽  
Philippe Desmettre ◽  
...  

2021 ◽  
Vol 8 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jane Megid ◽  
Julio Andre Benavides Tala ◽  
Laís Dário Belaz Silva ◽  
Fernando Favian Castro Castro ◽  
Bruna Letícia Devidé Ribeiro ◽  
...  

The control of vampire bat rabies (VBR) in Brazil is based on the culling of Desmodus rotundus and the surveillance of outbreaks caused by D. rotundus in cattle and humans in addition to vaccination of susceptible livestock. The detection of anti-rabies antibodies in vampire bats indicates exposure to the rabies virus, and several studies have reported an increase of these antibodies following experimental infection. However, the dynamics of anti-rabies antibodies in natural populations of D. rotundus remains poorly understood. In this study, we took advantage of recent outbreaks of VBR among livestock in the Sao Paulo region of Brazil to test whether seroprevalence in D. rotundus reflects the incidence of rabies in nearby livestock populations. Sixty-four D. rotundus were captured during and after outbreaks from roost located in municipalities belonging to three regions with different incidences of rabies in herbivores. Sixteen seropositive bats were then kept in captivity for up to 120 days, and their antibodies and virus levels were quantified at different time points using the rapid fluorescent focus inhibition test (RFFIT). Antibody titers were associated with the occurrence of ongoing outbreak, with a higher proportion of bats showing titer >0.5 IU/ml in the region with a recent outbreak. However, low titers were still detected in bats from regions reporting the last outbreak of rabies at least 3 years prior to sampling. This study suggests that serological surveillance of rabies in vampire bats can be used as a tool to evaluate risk of outbreaks in at risk populations of cattle and human.


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