| Publication Type: | Journal Article |
| Year of Publication: | 1986 |
| Authors: | T. A. Vaughan, Vaughan R. P. |
| Journal: | J. Mamm. |
| Volume: | 67 |
| Pagination: | 91-102 |
| Date Published: | 1986 |
| Keywords: | Acacia tortilis, Chiroptera, diet, East Africa, ecology, Fledermäuse, food distribution, foraging, habitat preferences, Hangplätze, insectivory, Kenya, Lavia frons, Mammalia, Megadermatidae, monogamy, Nahrung, Nahrungsspektrum, opportunistic feeder, roosting behaviour, seasonality, social behaviour, social organization, territoriality, Vegetation |
| Abstract: | The African yellow-winged bat (Lavia frons) was observed in Kenya, East Africa, through one wet and one dry season (December 1982 to July 1983). This opportunistic, sit-and-wait predator typically forages from the crowns of Acacia tortilis and captures insects through a broad range of elevations by brief, precise interceptions. Lavia is monogamous. Members of a pair roots together in a territory defended by the male, forage either separately or together, and share the territory for some 3 months with the single young. Acacia tortilis responds to erratic dry-season rains by flowering and growing new leaves; attending brief bursts of insect abundance may be of crucial importance to Lavia during dry-season energy bottlenecks. Many of the most distinctive aspects of the life history of Lavia - monogamy, territoriality, the divisin of labor, opportunistic foraging, a long mother-yound association, and a close association between Lavia and A. tortilis - probably are adaptations to recurring periods of energy stress. |