Night hunters on a schedule –How the Lesser Bulldog Bat Balances Foraging and Energy Demands

As swarms of insects emerge briefly at dusk and dawn, the lesser bulldog bat in Panama faces an unique challenge: balancing the energy costs of flight and foraging activity with the need to feed on an unpredictable resource. For most of the year, these bats spend less than an hour each evening gathering what they need. But when reproduction demands higher energy intake, females seem to adapt by adding rare morning foraging trips to their routine. In my Bachelor’s thesis, I used acoustic data from a 19-month monitoring period to explore how these bats adapt their foraging habits to meet their survival needs. In a prey landscape where timing is crucial, these nocturnal strategists demonstrate remarkable behavioral flexibility, underscoring the adaptive capacities of animals.