Foraging behavior of the Indian false vampire bat, Megaderma lyra (Chiroptera: Megadermatidae)

Abstract

Using radiotelemetry, we studied the foraging behavior of 12 Megaderma lyra from 9 March to 5 April 1988 in South India. Tagged bats used individual but nonexclusive areas of ca 0.1 km² located from <500 m to 4 km from their day roost and 41 percent of the foraging activity of tagged individuals occurred ≤500 m from the roost. They spent the night away from the day roost alternating between flights of <1 min to 45 min and perching bouts of <1 min to 274 min. Females flew for up to 174 min nightly and males up to 306 min. Most flights (69.7% for males and 72.5% for females) recorded by telemetry lasted > 1 min and fourteen of 16 prey captures (85%) that we observed visually, involved search flights of 10-200 m. Prey taken included insects (Orthoptera, Coleoptera), and small vertebrates (Amphibia, Reptilia). From these data we infer that M. lyra are flexible in their foraging strategies and catch prey from the ground.