Reasons to vote NZ short-tailed bat: Lek-Battle Edition
#BatWC2020

1/8 Today’s semi-finalists are special - they’re the only two bats known to lek (though there are probably others we don’t know about). A lek is a type of mating-system with certain defining characteristics...

2/8 In lek breeders:
-Males gather to perform displays
- Females judge males on their displays
-Males don’t provide anything but sex (they don’t offer females food, shelter etc.)
-Males do no childcare

I hate to say it, but our semi-finalists may not be very good feminists.

3/8 For the record, most human societies use a mating system known as social monogamy (monogamous by social convention, but with a bit of ‘extra pairing’ thrown in). Other mating systems include things like polyandry and scramble competition- which is exactly what it sounds like.

4/8 In Hammerheads, the 'gathering' part of the criteria involves hanging out on branches alongside rivers. In short-tails, the territories are more spatially separated - termed an "exploded lek", so they should win it for the name alone.

5/8 In short-tails the lek display involves finding a small tree crevice to perch in and singing a very rapid, high-pitched, cheeping song. It’s audible to humans, though less so the older you get. If you walk through the NZ bush on a still summer night you may hear bats singing.

6/8 Short-tails have extraordinary song outputs. Upwards of 8 hrs singing per night, with average call rates of 5 phrases/second. Even at conservative estimates, that's over 100,000 phrases/night. Oh, and the breeding season can last 6 months.

Reckon someone needs a beer.

7/8 Their songs are syntactically sophisticated too – they combine simple base elements to form more complex units (just like we use sounds to form syllables, and syllables to form words). We think that females may be able to identify different males based on their songs.

8/8 Since this is a lek-battle I should in fairness give the #Hammerheads a look-in, but really, what do they do? They roar and honk, that’s what. Is that as sexy as the thousands of intricate vocalisations crafted by devoted short-tails into a glorious serenade? No. No it isn’t.