Title
The relationships between food and energy intakes, salt content and sugar types in Egyptian fruit bats
Date Issued
01 September 2015
Access level
open access
Resource Type
journal article
Author(s)
Herrera M. L.G.
Cruz-Neto A.P.
Wojciechowski M.S.
Larrain P.
Pinshow B.
Korine C.
Publisher(s)
Elsevier GmbH
Abstract
Frugivorous animals may face an osmoregulatory challenge due to the watery nature of their food and low concentration of electrolytes therein. We examined the effects of salt content (NaCl) and sugar type (sucrose vs. glucose) on the intake rate of dilute sugar solutions by the Egyptian fruit bat (Rousettus aegyptiacus). Increased salt content did not bring about an increase in energy intake by bats fed dilute sucrose diets and the bats did not compensate by hyperphagia to achieve the energy intake of bats fed concentrated sucrose solution without salt. Moreover, increasing salt content had a negative effect on the total energy intake of Egyptian fruit bats fed equicaloric sucrose solutions. There were no differences in hematocrit in bats fed the diets of different sucrose concentration, but plasma osmolality was higher in those bats fed more concentrated sugar solutions, and urine osmolality was higher in those fed on high-salt diets. Food and energy intake did not differ between bats that were fed dilute glucose and sucrose solutions. Our findings indicate that Egyptian fruit bats do not modulate food intake when salt content of dilute sugar solutions is increased, and that increasing salt content might constrain their food intake rate. Sugar type did not affect food intake by Egyptian fruit bats, indicating that sucrose hydrolysis alone does not limit the intake of dilute sugar nectar.
Start page
409
End page
413
Volume
80
Issue
5
Language
English
OCDE Knowledge area
Ciencias naturales Zoología, Ornitología, Entomología, ciencias biológicas del comportamiento
Scopus EID
2-s2.0-84938538111
Source
Mammalian Biology
ISSN of the container
16165047
Sponsor(s)
LGHM was supported by sabbatical grants from CONACYT ( #146770 ) and UNAM-DGAPA ( #1404 ), and by a research grant from CONACYT ( #100035 ). APCN was supported by a travel grant from The Graduate Program of the State University of São Paulo (PROPG – UNESP) and by a research grant from FAPESP ( #08/57687-0 ). We thank Dr. Miri Ben-Hamo for her assistance with the statistical analysis. This is publication no. 872 of the Mitrani Department of Desert Ecology.
Sources of information: Directorio de Producción Científica Scopus