NON-NUTRITIONAL MATERNAL SUPPORT IN THE BROWN LONG-EARED BAT

Adult female brown long-eared bats, Plecotus auritus, were taken into captivity over a 3-year period and housed in two free-flight enclosure s. They were maintained in small groups, each roosting in a single, he ated roost box while monitored by an infra-red sensitive video camera. The predicted percentage of records spent by lactating females in dir ect contact with the young on day 1 of lactation did not differ signif icantly from 100%. This declined to 13% on day 50 of lactation. Over t ime, the mothers groomed the young less. Lactating females visited the roost more times per night, but spent less time self grooming than no n-reproductive females. The total amount of grooming behaviour (estima ted as the percentage of records spent in self grooming plus those all ocated to grooming of the young) for lactating females was 50% of the value for non-reproductive females. In general, care-giving behaviours declined with the progress of lactation. The temporal expression of t hese behaviours was opposite in direction to that of the expected ener getic demands of milk production. (C) 1997 The Association for the Stu dy of Animal Behaviour.