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Challenging hibernation limits of hoary bats: the southernmost record of Lasiurus cinereus hibernating in North America

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Abstract

It has been suggested that Lasiurus cinereus cinereus migrates from summer roosts at higher latitudes to the coastal regions and southern latitudes in the United States and Mexico to overwinter, where little is known about its winter ecology. We found a hoary bat in a shrub in a conifer forest at high elevation in central Mexico in November 2019. We installed a camera trap and recorded it was hibernating for at least 12.7 days. Our record is by far the most southern hibernation location of tree bats in North America and it shows L. cinereus is capable of hibernating in a non-typical roost. We also open the possibility that camera traps may provide an additional, practical, and easy-to-use tool to study bat hibernation. Our finding expands the ultimate questions of why and where hoary bats decide to hibernate, migrate or both.

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Acknowledgements

This project was supported by a grant/cooperative agreement from the U.S. Department of the Interior, Fish and Wildlife Service (F17AP00100), and White Nose Syndrome Small Grants Program 2019. The views and conclusions contained in this document are those of the authors and should not be interpreted as representing the opinions or policies of the U.S. Government. We thank Delfino García and Grupo de Monitoreo Biológico Milpa Alta for their field support and access permits, and Fernando Gual for the plant identification. We thank the insightful comments and English edits of Susan Washko and Kinley Ragan.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Laboratorio de Ecología y Conservación de Vertebrados Terrestres, Instituto de Ecología, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Coyoacán, Mexico City, Mexico

    Ganesh Marín, Daniel Ramos-H, Daniela Cafaggi, Cárol Sierra-Durán, Alejandra Gallegos, Aarón Romero-Ruiz & Rodrigo A. Medellín

  2. School of Natural Resources and the Environment, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, USA

    Ganesh Marín

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  1. Ganesh Marín
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  2. Daniel Ramos-H
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  3. Daniela Cafaggi
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  6. Aarón Romero-Ruiz
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  7. Rodrigo A. Medellín
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Correspondence to Daniel Ramos-H.

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42991_2020_80_MOESM1_ESM.jpg

Average ambient temperature at 07:00 h, 14:00 h and 23:00 h during the hibernation period of an individual of Lasiurus cinereus cinereus in central Mexico (hibernation), versus a 13-day post-hibernation period immediately after the arousal of the bat (post-hibernation). Asterisks indicate statistically significant differences between periods using the Mann–Whitney U-test with a confidence of 95% (JPEG 199 kb)

Hoary bat arousal video in central Mexico, from 00:24 h to 01:06 h on November 26, 2019 (MP4 11671 kb)

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Marín, G., Ramos-H, D., Cafaggi, D. et al. Challenging hibernation limits of hoary bats: the southernmost record of Lasiurus cinereus hibernating in North America. Mamm Biol 101, 287–291 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s42991-020-00080-4

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