Wild vampire bats socially distance when they get ill

[Judi Lynn]

Like some insects, vampires keep to themselves when they are sick

Harry Cockburn
12 minutes ago

When disease strikes, wild vampire bats self isolate voluntarily, or are forced to do so by their colony, thereby slowing the rate an illness spreads, according to a new field study.

The behaviour had previously been observed in bats in a lab, but the experiment is the first to document such behaviour in the wild.

Changes in social behaviour such as this can alter how a pathogen spreads across a population, and transmission rates can significantly decrease when healthy individuals avoid sick ones.

It is known that among some social insects, unhealthy individuals either self isolate or are excluded, and various other species exhibit changes in behaviour when they fall ill, resulting in increased lethargy and lower levels of sociality - all of which induces social distancing and does not require action from others.

More:
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/vampire-bats-socially-distance-colony-disease-pathogen-response-b1348189.html

[Guilded Lilly]

1. Apparently, these bats have much better souls than Republicans.