Effects of deafening on vocal production learning in the Egyptian fruit-bat.

Vocal production learning is the rare capacity amongst animals where hearing is used to modify or create new vocalizations. The Egyptian fruit-bat is believed to possess this capacity, yet whether they need audition to achieve a mature vocal repertoire is unknown. Furthermore, a systematic causal examination of learned and innate aspects of the entire repertoire has never been performed in a vocal learner. Here, we addressed these major gaps directly by abolishing hearing in Egyptian fruit-bats at birth and investigating its effects on the vocal production in adulthood. Leveraging simultaneous individual wireless audio-recordings from freely interacting adult bats, we identify the subset of learned vocalizations and provide evidence that vocal learning is sexually dimorphic in that species.