Aremigratory behaviours of bats socially transmitted?

Abstract

To migrate, animals rely on endogenous, genetically inherited programmes, or socially transmitted information about routes and behaviours, or a combination of the two. In long-lived animals with extended parental care, as in bats, migration tends to be socially transmitted rather than endogenous. For a young bat to learn migration via social transmission, they would need to follow an experienced individual, most likely one roosting nearby. Therefore, we predicted that bats travelling together originate from the same place.