2023-11-26 04:30:10
A serotinous bat (“Eptesicus serotinus”), in Spain, June 2014. MARIO CEA SANCHEZ/BIOSPHOTO
We knew that bats are not mammals like any other. They fly, guide themselves and hunt using ultrasound, display unique longevity and an unparalleled immune system, which allows them to live with a large number of viruses. As for their reproduction, the approximately 1,400 known species of bats offer those who are interested in them a veritable festival of oddities. “Females have the ability to store male sperm for months, delaying ovulation, fertilization, fetal implantation, embryonic development. They are incredible”, marvels Nicolas Fasel, researcher at the University of Lausanne and specialist in bat reproduction. The males are not to be outdone, with sexes of size and shape of once once more unequaled variety, which the researcher and his colleagues have been reviewing for several years. “We are used to being surprised”he confides.
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However, the discovery of the attributes of serotins, which he and his collaborators described for the first time in correspondence published November 20 in the journal Current Biology, this time surprised him. In this habit of European barns and attics, the males have a penis of 1.6 to 2 cm, between a quarter and a fifth of their size. Just as impressive, they have a 7.5 mm wide bulge at the end in the shape of… a heart, and garnished with small hairs. However, the female’s vulva measures less than 2 mm. “We had a problem there”, said Nicolas Fasel soberly.
Long duration
To solve it, he took advantage of the installations developed by Jan Jeucken, an amateur naturalist, in Horst-sur-Meuse, in Dutch Limburg. A colony of common serotines (Eptesicus serotine) invested a church there, which the researcher peppered with cameras. Enough to monitor, as carefully as possible, the loves of these dear flying mammals. He added observations made in an animal care center opened in Kharkiv, Ukraine. In all, 97 couples had their lovemaking recorded. With astonishing results.
First of all, the duration: long, indisputably. Typically, the male spends regarding fifty minutes on the female. But one of the couples remained in position for more than twelve hours. Said position, “dorso-ventral”, consists of the male climbing on the back of the female, and biting her neck to prevent her from moving. And the penis, then? One of the hypotheses was that its engorgement occurred following penetration, blocking the two participants by what we nicely call a “copulatory lock”. The images showed nothing of the sort. On the contrary, they established that the male used his organ “like an arm”, states the article. He thus spreads the membrane which unites the tail and the rear legs of the female and opens the way for direct contact of the tip of his penis on the vulva.
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