Elevated vitamin D levels in diurnally-active female fruit bats.

Animal species have evolved to enhance their survival by focusing their temporal activity on specific parts of the diurnal-nocturnal cycle. Various factors, including inter-specific competition and anti-predator behavior, as well as anthropogenic effects like light pollution, have prompted some species to expand or shift their temporal niches. Our study focuses on the temporal niche shift of the Egyptian fruit bat () to diurnal activity in Israel.

Time-mapping and future-oriented behavior in free-ranging wild fruit bats.

Episodic memory and mental time travel have been viewed as uniquely human traits. This view began to shift with the development of behavioral criteria to assess what is referred to as "episodic-like memory" in animals. Key findings have ranged from evidence of what-where-when memory in scrub-jays, rats, and bees; through decision-making that impacts future foraging in frugivorous primates; to evidence of planning based on future needs in scrub-jays and tool use planning in great apes.

Seasonal challenges of tropical bats in temperate zones.

To examine the challenges faced by free-ranging Rousettus aegyptiacus living at the northern edge of their distribution, we performed a retrospective analysis of 2196 clinical cases reported by a bat rescue NGO over a period of 36 months, from throughout Israel. All cases of injured bats were evaluated and categorized according to date, place, sex, age, and etiology of the morbidity. The data analysis revealed an increase in all types of morbidity during the wintertime, with more than two-fold the number of cases per week compared to in the summer, over three consecutive years.