TITLE:

REPRODUCTIVE ECOLOGY AND LOCAL

MOVEMENT OF HIPPOSIDERIDAE AND
EMBALLONURIDAE BATS IN LENGGONG,
PERAK

NUR AMERA ZAHERA BINTI RAZISAHMAD (144454)

FINAL YEAR ANIMAL BIOLOGY 2021/22

Under the supervision of

Dr. Nurul ‘Ain bt Elias
 CHAPTER 1 - INTRODUCTION
1.1 General overview – RESEARCH BACKGROUND (combine 1.1 & 2.1)
• Mammalian mating systems vary greatly, from monogamy to polygyny to promiscuity. Despite this variation, most mammals
are polygynous.
• Many vertebrate species have designated breeding seasons, such as seasonal breeding, to ensure that young are born or
hatch at the best possible moment.
• Reproduction is a metabolically costly process, and offspring are usually more vulnerable to harmful environmental conditions
than their parents (Foster and Nagatani, 1999).
• Rainfall amount and distribution is the main environmental factors that influence animal reproduction (Sadleir, 1968;
Giwercman and Giwercman, 2011; Taberlet et al., 2011; Burns et al., 2010).

• Animals move across forage areas, home ranges, regions, and even continents.
• A variety of mammals can fly, either by powered flight or by gliding.
• Bats and birds both fly by flapping their wings, but they utilise the upstroke of the flap in distinct manners, with bats flicking
their wings upward and backward to gain lift, whilst birds use the upstroke of the flap differently.
• According to (Richard, 2019), obtaining food, escaping predators, finding a partner, distributing progeny, reducing
competition, avoiding danger, maintaining position, and avoiding waste products are all reasons for animals to travel from one
location to another.
• According to (Seiler, 2003), animals move across forage areas, home ranges, regions, and even continents. These movements
are essential for individuals' everyday life as well as the long-term survival of populations.
• The core concept of an animal's home range, according to (Burt, 1943), is the region covered by an individual in its typical
activities of food collection, mating, and caring for offspring.
• Local movement is the movement of animals travel across their home range on a regular basis between different resources,
such as breeding sites, feeding locations, water, and shelter (Seiler, 2003).
PROB STATEMENT
The knowledge available on the reproductive ecology of bats in Malaysia is insufficient.
Funakoshi and Zubaid (1997) researched the reproductive ecology of bats in Malaysia,
focusing solely on frugivorous bats. There is previous relevant study of insectivorous bats
in Malaysia (McArthur, 2019) but only covered the activity pattern on. Although
reproductive ecology of bats has been studied in Malaysia, it is mainly focused on the
sperm abnormalities.

The local movement of bats has been widely studied in Mexico, North America by Burns
and Crespo (1975) for vampire bats but lacking in Southeast Asia that focused on
insectivorous bats.

ESTABLISH 2 DIFFERENT RESEARCH OBJECTIVES

1ST: To describe the reproductive ecology of Hipposideridae and Emballonuridae bats
(expect what result, how I got data, how I interpret, how I analyze, how I discuss)
2ND: To study the local movement of several species of hipposiderids and emballonurids
bats in Lenggong, Perak
1st Objective: To describe the reproductive ecology of Hipposideridae
RESEARCH OBJECT
and Emballonuridae bats
Research Question 1: I would like to find what is the reproductive
pattern for Hipposideridae and Emballonuridae bats
I expect them to have a seasonal breeding pattern.
How I collect data? By using from previous study which the sampling
were done for 14 months between February 2017 until December 2018
at six different caves in Bukit Kepala Gajah cave complex.
Bats Trapping: Mist nets were set at ground level, and harp traps were
placed along a confined space.
Bats Identification: The reproductive status of cave roosting bats were
determined visually by examining and taking standard morphological
measurement of the total body length, forearm length, tail length, head
and body length, and hind foot length

How I analyze data? -pics-

The result that I get Hipposideros arminger and Hipposideros kunzi are
proven to be seasonally monoestrous and breed only once a year.,
Hipposideros bicolor is proved to be seasonally polyestrous with
bianually reproductive cycle. Taphazous melanopogon and Emballonura
monticola from family Emballonuridae to be seasonal monoestrous
How I discuss? The breeding season of the bats can be understood by
observing its estrus cycle, starting with anestrus(non-reproductive
stage), followed by proestrus(follicles of ovary start to grow),
estrus(ovarian follicles mature), ovulation(ovary releases mature egg),
implantation(attachment of fertilized egg on uterus), gestation
(pregnancy), parturition(giving birth) and ends with lactation(secretion
• Question 2: Does total rainfall effect the reproductive ecology of bats
• I expect that rainfall have an effect.
• How I collect data? Rain Precipitation: The number of rain days in each month
and the total rainfall (mm) in each month were recorded. All data is acquired
through the website https://www.worldweatheronline.com/lenggong_perak.
• How I analyze data? Shapiro-Wilk test is conducted to measure the normality of
the data. The Pearson’s Correlation Coefficient was used to test whether a there
is statistical significant linear relationship exists between two continuous
variables.
• The result that I get? The Shapiro-Wilk test revealed that the data for non-
reproductive, pregnancy, lactating, post-lactating and total rainfall is normal.
Hence, the Pearson’s correlation coefficient is conducted. For family
Hipposideridae, Pearson’s correlation coefficient revealed that non-reproductive
(r=0.249), lactating (r=0.134) and post-lactating (r=0.115) are positively correlated
with total rainfall. On the other hand, pregnancy (r= -0.109) is negatively
correlated with total rainfall. For Family Emballonuridae, Pearson’s correlation
coefficient revealed that non reproductive (r=0.351), lactating (r=0.149) and post-
lactating (r=0.100) are positively correlated with total rainfall.
• How I discuss? Pearson’s Correlation Coefficient revealed that pregnancy stage
for Hipposideridae bats were negatively correlated with total rainfall. When total
rainfall is peak, the number of pregnant Hipposiderid bats will decrease. The
higher the total rainfall, the fewer number of pregnant Hipposiderid bats. Total
rainfall did not disrupt the non-reproductive, lactating and post-lactating
individuals.
 CHAPTER 3- METHOD: OBJECTIVE 2

• Data used are from previous study which the sampling were done for 14 months
between February 2017 until December 2018 at six different caves in Bukit Kepala
Gajah cave complex.
• Mark Recapture: Bats were captured at a site using mists-nets and harp traps,
then were marked with a unique identifier which is a numbered band and then
released back to the environment.