Why are flying foxes so smart ? Megachiropteran bats use human referential stimuli to locate hidden food.

Nathan Hall, Dr Clive Wynne, University of Florida.

One of the most commonly asked questions we receive is “How smart are the flying foxes?” Our typical response is that the bats seem fairly intelligent since they exhibit curiosity in novel items and appear to recognize individual people that enter their enclosures. However, quantitative research has not been conducted to determine how intelligent they truly are. University of Florida undergraduate student, Nathan Hall, took on this challenge and his results provide the first empirical evidence for human-like social cognition in bats. We know our bats have the looks, but it seems they have the brains as well!

Nathan is one of a core group of students working with University of Florida Psychology professor Dr. Clive Wynne, to explore intelligence in animals. Most of their work has involved domesticated animals or their relatives (dogs, wolves, cats, etc.) and whether these animals can recognize a human point. The theory Dr Wynne’s group are testing suggests that animals must be domesticated in order for them to react to human body signals, and without thousands of years of human/animal co-evolution, an animal cannot understand the meanings behind our actions. Almost every domesticated animal tested understands that when a human points at something, there must be some meaning behind it. For example, a dog may know that when a human points at a bucket, there is a hidden treat worth looking for. Dr. Wynne and his students were invited to tour our facility and meet some of our more “outgoing” bats. After this initial meeting, the group realized that an opportunity presented itself to disprove this theory by testing non-domestic, exotic animals.

The initial challenge was trying to figure out how exactly to set up the study and make the trials run smoothly. Nathan’s chosen experimental design comprised two “bait stations”, which were opaque square plastic buckets with one side cut out, leaving an opening that the bats can enter but not see until they reach that container. Inside each container a glass jar was filled with equal amounts of nectar or juice. One jar did not have a lid allowing the bat to drink the reward, while the other had a screened lid which prevented the bat from getting to the treat. One person would stand in between the two buckets and point to the one containing the jar with no lid. If the bat followed the point it could receive the reward. If the bat decided to go to the other jar it would discover that it would not receive the nectar. A total of 6 bats representing 4 species were used in the study. Each bat was stationed approximately 4 feet directly in front of the person pointing, and was allowed two minutes to make a decision. They were each given 10 trials and needed to get at least 8 out of 10 correct in order for them to “pass”. Almost every bat tested from start to finish managed to reach the magical number of 8 correct choices, something never before accomplished by any exotic animal!