Diurnal behavior and activity budget of the golden-crowned flying fox (Acerodon jubatus) in the Subic bay forest reserve area, the Philippines

Masturbation in the Animal Kingdom

Masturbation is one of the most common sexual behaviors in humans. It is also a phylogenetically widespread trait of various other mammalian and some non-mammalian species. Several hypotheses have been proposed aiming to explain the function of masturbation in primates and other species. These were mainly based on observations of nonhuman primates such as rhesus macaques or bonobos and rodents such as African ground squirrels. Based on these observations various scholars suggested that masturbation improves ejaculate quality, decreases the risk of contracting sexually transmitted infections or is merely a by-product of sexual arousal and thus an alternate outlet to copulation. While these theories may explain some facets of masturbation in some species, they do not explain why masturbation is so widespread and has developed in various species as well as our hominid ancestors. Moreover, the research on which these theories are based is scarce and heavily focused on male masturbation, while female masturbation remains largely unexplored. This sex difference may be responsible for the one-sided theorizing that attributes a specific biological benefit to masturbation. We propose that the widespread prevalence of masturbation in the animal kingdom may be better explained by viewing masturbation as a primarily self-reinforcing behavior that promotes pleasure both in human and in nonhuman species.

Ghost bats exhibit informative daily and seasonal temporal patterns in the production of social vocalisations

The ghost bat (Macroderma gigas) is a colonial and highly vocal species that is impacted by human visitation of caves. The ability to document behaviours inside the roost by recording vocalisations could provide an important new tool for the management of this disturbance-prone species by removing the need for in-person confirmation of reproductive activity, and, in turn, identifying roosts of conservation importance. To assess whether vocalisations are indicators of daily and seasonal behavioural events, we aimed to determine whether total vocal activity significantly varied by time of day and time of year and, further, how the relative frequencies of occurrence of three common social vocalisations (‘Chirp-trill’, ‘Squabble’ and ‘Ultrasonic Social’) aligned with previously reported seasonal reproductive behaviour. We recorded sound inside the largest known maternity roost, extracted all vocal signals and classified them into types using semiautomated methods. Total vocal activity varied significantly by time of day and time of year, peaking around sunrise and sunset, and during the mating and nursing seasons. The relative frequencies of occurrence of vocalisation types varied significantly seasonally, with the Chirp-trill and Squabble produced most during the mating season and first flight periods, whereas the Ultrasonic Social peaked during parturition and weaning periods. This timing aligns with a previously suggested vocalisation function, providing further evidence that these signals are important in mating and maternity behaviours. Further, this suggests that peaks in the relative frequency of occurrence of distinct social vocalisations may act as indicators of in-roost reproductive and pup development behaviours and provides a low-disturbance, semiautomated method for using long-term acoustic recordings to study and monitor behaviour in this sensitive species.

Encephalomyocarditis virus is potentially derived from eastern bent-wing bats living in East Asian countries

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EMCV genome was widely found in fecal guanos in Taiwanese, Korean, and Japanese caves.

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Miniopterus fuliginosus is the main source of the fecal guano.

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It is possible that Miniopterus fuliginosus is one of the natural hosts of EMCV in East Asia.

Bats are reservoir hosts of many zoonotic viruses and identification of viruses that they carry is important. This study aimed to use high throughput screening to identify the viruses in fecal guano of Taiwanese insectivorous bats caves in order to obtain more information on bat-derived pathogenic viruses in East Asia. Guano samples were collected from two caves in Taiwan, pooled, and then subjected to Multiplex PCR-based next generation sequencing for viral identification. Subsequently, encephalomyocarditis virus (EMCV) sequence was detected and confirmed by reverse transcription PCR. EMCV is considered as rodent virus and thus, animal species identification through cytochrome oxidase I (COI) barcoding was further done to identify the viral source. Finally, determination of distribution and verification of the presence of EMCV in guano obtained from Japanese and South Korean caves was also done. We concluded that the guano collected was not contaminated with the excrement of rodents which were reported and presumed to live in Taiwan. Also, EMCV genome fragments were found in guanos of Japanese and South Korean caves. It is possible that the eastern bent-wing bat (Miniopterus fuliginosus) is one of the natural hosts of EMCV in East Asia.