Despite their sinister reputation, friendship is not an empty word at bats. The Bechstein's bat (Myotis bechsteinii) are able to develop strong social ties, which they keep for years. Even when they are separated from each other. This discovery, published February 9, 2011 in the Proceedings of the Royal Society B [B Biological Sciences], confirms the observations made in other animals.
But it also upsets a recent hypothesis in ethology, which says it is the complexity of social interactions that would have led, over the course of evolution, the development of the brain volume of large mammals, that of man in particular . In reaching these conclusions, a German-Swiss team, led by biologist Gerald Kerth, studied for five years, two colonies of Bechstein's bat, in southern Germany.
Biologists have used statistical algorithms in order to determine - basically - who slept with whom, in what niche, and how regularly. And then, surprise! These two colonies showed what researchers call a "complex social structure." Females were faithful to their natal colony. And members of the two colonies did not mix, "explains Gerald Kerth.
"It's as if the elements of each community had developed a friendship." Even better: after hibernation - about six months - found themselves in the murine mutually recognized. "This discovery is very exciting," said Pascal Moeschler, bat expert at the Natural History Museum of Geneva. "Because, until then, only in some mammals (elephants, dolphins, primates, etc.).
That there was a matriarchal society, characteristics such as empathy or transmission of behavior 'cultural' brief a complex social structure. "But this study shows that small mammal brain - that of the bat is as big as half a peanut! - Are also capable of complex tasks. 
But it also upsets a recent hypothesis in ethology, which says it is the complexity of social interactions that would have led, over the course of evolution, the development of the brain volume of large mammals, that of man in particular . In reaching these conclusions, a German-Swiss team, led by biologist Gerald Kerth, studied for five years, two colonies of Bechstein's bat, in southern Germany.
Biologists have used statistical algorithms in order to determine - basically - who slept with whom, in what niche, and how regularly. And then, surprise! These two colonies showed what researchers call a "complex social structure." Females were faithful to their natal colony. And members of the two colonies did not mix, "explains Gerald Kerth.
"It's as if the elements of each community had developed a friendship." Even better: after hibernation - about six months - found themselves in the murine mutually recognized. "This discovery is very exciting," said Pascal Moeschler, bat expert at the Natural History Museum of Geneva. "Because, until then, only in some mammals (elephants, dolphins, primates, etc.).
That there was a matriarchal society, characteristics such as empathy or transmission of behavior 'cultural' brief a complex social structure. "But this study shows that small mammal brain - that of the bat is as big as half a peanut! - Are also capable of complex tasks.
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