Background
Aim
Communication is an important part of an animal’s survival as it determines an individual’s fitness with an influence on mate attraction, mate competition, and resource defence.
Aggressive resource defence is an essential factor of an individual’s fitness, even though fighting off an intruder can mean a high risk of injury and predation, as well as higher energy consumption.
Many species of the Pteropidae family have not been researched intensely, especially their communication and social behaviours. This also applies to the endemic Mascarene flying fox (Pteropus niger) of the oceanic island Mauritius which is a threatened species of high ecological value.
Observations of the Food defence behaviour of the Mauritian fruit bat (Pteropus niger)
