Sánchez Francisco, Melcón Mariana, Korine Carmi, Pinshow Berry
Mitrani Department of Desert Ecology, Jacob Blaustein Institutes for Desert Research, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, 84990 Midreshet Ben-Gurion, Israel.
Behav Processes. 2010 Jun;84(2):555-8. doi: 10.1016/j.beproc.2010.02.006. Epub 2010 Feb 11.
Ethanol, a potential toxin for vertebrates, is present in all fleshy fruits and its content increases as the fruit ripens. Previously, we found that the marginal value of food for Egyptian fruit bats, Rousettus aegyptiacus, decreases when its ethanol content exceeds 1%. Therefore, we hypothesized that, if ingested, food containing >1% ethanol is toxic to these bats, probably causing inebriation that will affect flight and echolocation skills. We tested this hypothesis by flying Egyptian fruit bats in an indoor corridor and found that after ingesting ethanol-rich food bats flew significantly slower than when fed ethanol-free food. Also, the ingestion of ethanol significantly affected several variables of the bats' echolocation calls and behavior. We concluded that ethanol can be toxic to fruit bats; not only does it reduce the marginal value of food, but it also has negative physiological effects on their ability to fly competently and on their calling ability.
乙醇是一种对脊椎动物具有潜在毒性的物质，存在于所有肉质果实中，且其含量会随着果实成熟而增加。此前，我们发现，对于埃及果蝠（埃及果蝠属）而言，当食物中的乙醇含量超过1%时，食物的边际价值就会降低。因此，我们推测，如果摄入乙醇含量超过1%的食物，这些蝙蝠可能会中毒，很可能会导致醉酒，进而影响飞行和回声定位能力。我们通过让埃及果蝠在室内走廊飞行来验证这一假设，结果发现，摄入富含乙醇的食物后，蝙蝠飞行的速度明显比喂食不含乙醇食物时要慢。此外，摄入乙醇还显著影响了蝙蝠回声定位叫声和行为的几个变量。我们得出结论，乙醇对果蝠可能有毒；它不仅会降低食物的边际价值，还会对果蝠的正常飞行能力和发声能力产生负面生理影响。
