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Wild bats found to possess high cognitive abilities previously
considered exclusive to humans
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Fruit bat. Credit: Yuval Barkai
Researchers at Tel Aviv University have tracked free-ranging Egyptian
fruit bats from a colony based in the TAU's I. Meier Segals Garden for
Zoological Research to answer a long-standing scientific question: Do
animals have high and complex cognitive abilities, previously
attributed only to humans? In particular, the study focused on the
traits of episodic memory, mental time travel, planning ahead, and
delayed gratification, arriving at highly thought-provoking
conclusions.
The paper is published in _Current Biology._
The study was led by Prof. Yossi Yovel and Dr. Lee Harten from the
School of Zoology and Sagol School of Neuroscience at Tel Aviv
University. Other researchers included Xing Chen, Adi Rachum, Michal
Handel, and Aya Goldstein from the School of Zoology; Lior de Marcas
from the Sagol School of Neuroscience, and Maya Fenigstein Levi and
Shira Rosencwaig from the National Public Health Laboratory of
Israel's Ministry of Health.
Prof. Yovel explains, "For many years, the cognitive abilities to
recall personal experiences (episodic memory) and plan ahead were
considered exclusive to humans. But more and more studies have
suggested that various animals also possess such capabilities, but
nearly all of these studies were conducted under laboratory
conditions, since field studies on these issues are difficult to
perform. Attempting to test these abilities in wild animals, we
designed a unique experiment relying on the colony of free-ranging
fruit bats based in TAU's I. Meier Segals Garden for Zoological
Research."
The researchers assumed that bats depending on fruit trees for their
survival would need to develop an ability to track the availability of
food both spatially (where are the fruit trees?) and over time (when
does each tree give fruit?). Navigating through landscapes with
numerous fruit and nectar trees, they would need to mentally track the
resources in order to revisit them at the appropriate time.
To test this hypothesis, a tiny high-resolution GPS tracker was
attached to each bat, enabling the documentation of flight routes and
trees visited for many months. The vast data collected in this way was
thoroughly analyzed, producing some amazing results.
Fruit bat. Credit: Tel Aviv University
The first research question was: Do bats form a time map in their
minds? To explore this issue, the researchers prevented the bats from
leaving the colony for varying periods of time, from one day to a
week.
Dr. Harten says, "We wanted to see whether the bats could tell that
time had elapsed and behave accordingly. We found that after one day
of captivity, the bats would return to trees visited on the previous
night. However, when a whole week had gone by, the older bats, based
on past experience, avoided trees that had stopped bearing fruit in
the interval.
"In other words, they were able to estimate how much time had passed
since their last visit to each tree, and knew which trees bore fruit
for a short time and were no longer worth visiting. Young,
inexperienced bats were unable to do this, indicating that this is an
acquired skill that must be learned."
While the first research question looked at past experiences, the
second dealt with the future: Do the bats exhibit future-oriented
behaviors? Are they capable of planning ahead? To address this issue,
the researchers observed each bat's route to the first tree of the
evening, possibly indicative of plans made before leaving the colony.
Researcher Chen Xing states, "We found that usually the bats fly
directly to a specific tree they know, sometimes 20 or 30 minutes
away. Being hungry, they fly faster when that tree is further away,
suggesting that they plan where they are heading. Moreover, focused on
their chosen target, they will pass by other trees, even good sources
visited just yesterday—indicating a capacity for delayed
gratification. We also found that the first bats to leave the colony
choose trees bearing fruits rich in sugar, while the bats that leave
later seek proteins."
All these findings suggest that the bats plan their foraging before
they leave the colony, and know exactly where they are flying and what
kind of nourishment they are looking for.
Prof. Yovel adds, "The cognitive gap between humans and animals is one
of the most fascinating issues in science. Our study demonstrates that
fruit bats are capable of quite a complex decision-making process
involving the three questions indicative of cognitive abilities:
Where? (each tree's location); When? (when the tree bears fruit); and
What? (the nourishment it provides—sugar vs. proteins).
"Once again, we find that the gap is not clean-cut, and that humans
are not as unique as some might think. Apparently, humans and animals
are all located on a spectrum, with almost any human ability found in
animals as well."
**More information:** Lee Harten et al, Time-mapping and future-
oriented behavior in free-ranging wild fruit bats, _Current Biology_
(2024). DOI: 10.1016/j.cub.2024.05.046
**Citation** : Wild bats found to possess high cognitive abilities
previously considered exclusive to humans (2024, July 1) retrieved 3
July 2024 from https://phys.org/news/2024-07-wild-high-cognitive-
abilities-previously.html
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