ERC Consolidator Grant BehaviorIsland
Understanding how animals behave and make decisions in their natural environment is critical for conservation especially in our rapidly changing world. But even with current state-of-the-art technologies, studying animal behavior in the wild is highly limited because: (1) it is extremely difficult to monitor the same individual over long periods while also monitoring its environment and (2) it is almost impossible to monitor a substantial part of a population and thus we know little about social interactions. The BehaviorIsland ERC project aims to overcome these limitations by using a new tracking technology which allows long-term continuous tracking of dozens of animals from birth to adulthood.
Using a combination of tracking and several additional technologies enables studying some of the most fundamental aspects of behavior in the wild including: Navigation and its ontogeny; Long-term spatio-temporal memory and Decision making and Sociality. We moreover examined how experience and personality interact to shape behavior.
We focus on two species of fruit bats which have several clear advantages as animal models: (a) They are relatively large and can thus carry multiple sensors without compromising their wellbeing. (b) They live long (~25 years) making long-term spatio- temporal memory beneficial as is exhibited by their ability to memorize the locations of trees that ripen in different seasons. (c) They are highly social, making their long-term bonds meaningful and interesting.
Related Publications:
Rachum, A., Harten, L.M., Assa, R., Goldshtein, A., Chen, X., Gonceer, N., and Yovel, Y. (2025) Early experience affects foraging behavior of wild fruit bats more than their original behavioral predispositions. eLife 14:RP103220 https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.103220.
Chen, X., Harten, L., Rachum, A. et al. (2025) Complex competition interactions between Egyptian fruit bats and black rats in the real world. BMC Biology 23, 290. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12915-025-02380-y
Gal, O., Eitan, O., Rachum, A., Weinberg, M., Zigdon, D., Assa, R., Price, C., and Yovel, Y. (2025) Air Pollution likely reduces hemoglobin levels in urban fruit-bats. iScience, 28,3. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.isci.2025.111997
Weinberg, M., Zigdon, D., Taub, M., Harten, L., Eitan, O., Rachum, A., Assa, R., Gal, O., and Yovel, Y. (2025) Urban fruit bats give birth earlier in the season compared to rural fruit bats. BMC Biology, 23:31. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12915-025-02124-y
Harten, L., Chen, X., Marcas, L.D., Rachum, A., Handel, M., Goldshtein, A., Levi, M.F., Rosencwaig, S. and Yovel, Y. (2024) Time Mapping and Future Oriented Behavior Demonstrated in Free-Ranging Wild Fruit Bats. Current Biology, 34, 1-6. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2024.05.046
Naamani, G., Shahar, N., Ger, Y. et al. (2023) Fruit bats adjust their decision-making process according to environmental dynamics. BMC Biology 21, 278. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12915-023-01774-0
Amit, Y., & Yovel, Y. (2023) Bat vocal sequences enhance contextual information independently of syllable order. iScience, doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.isci.2023.106466.
Weinberg, M., Mazar, O., Rachum, A., Chen, X., Goutink, S., Lifshitz, N., Winter-Livneh, R., Czirjak, G. & Yovel, Y. (2022) Seasonal challenges of tropical bats in temperate zones. Scientific Reports 12, 16869. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-022-21076-9.
