Call parameters and facial features in bats: a surprising failure of form following function

Authors

Amanda Goudy-Trainor, University of Nebraska State Museum
Patricia W. Freeman, University of Nebraska-LincolnFollow

Date of this Version

January 2002

Comments

Published in Acta Chiropterologica, 4:1 (2002), pp. 1-16. ISSN 1508-1109 Copyright © 2002 Museum and Institute of Zoology, Polish Academy of Sciences. Used by permission.
http://www.miiz.waw.pl/periodicals/acta-chiropterologica/index.php?lk=ind&jk=en
http://ingentaconnect.com/content/miiz/actac

Abstract

We attempted to correlate echolocation call parameters to a comprehensive array of ear and nose measurements from 12 families of bats. Surprisingly, we failed to find any significant relationships. We did find consistent differences between nasal and oral emitters such as: (a) nasal emitters have higher frequencies with maximum energy for their size than oral emitters, (b) nasal emitting bats tend to have longer, narrower skulls, and (c) nasal emitters have a shorter distance from the nostril to the eye (muzzle length).