Overview

• Published August 20 in PLOS One, the study led by Marisa Tietge documents affectionate greetings, close roosting, grooming and play in Vampyrum spectrum.
• Motion-triggered infrared cameras inside a hollow Manilkara tree recorded 502 one‑minute clips over 60 recording days, with 73 showing clear social behaviors.
• Adults voluntarily transferred prey to younger bats in about a dozen videos, and one prey pass was observed from an adult male to a lactating female.
• The roost was likely a monogamous pair with two offspring of different ages, with observations consistent with biparental care and extended parental investment.
• Bats sometimes departed or returned together, suggesting occasional cooperative foraging, while experts caution the single-roost sample is small and follow-up work is underway on diet, vocalizations and comparisons across other sites; open-access article: http://plos.io/4mCr6es