June 2019, ScientificAmerican.com 15DON JOHNSTONGetty ImagesE C O L O G YDeer Friends
Bats and white-tailed deer
have each other’s backsForget bug repellent —some deer in Minneso-
ta rely on a team of bats to eat up the swarms of
biting flies that typically plague them. Research-
ers observed this previously unknown symbiotic
relationship between white-tailed deer and an
unidentified bat species, in camera-trap footage
and in person, at the Cedar Creek Ecosystem
Science Reserve.
“These bats appear to be attracted by all
the flies around the deer,” says study leader
Meredith Palmer, then a postdoctoral re -
searcher at the University of Minnesota. Sym-
biotic relationships between grazing mam-
mals and birds are better known, she says, but
“it’s very, very rare for mammals to engage
with each other like this.”
Horseflies and deerflies deliver painful bites
that can fester and transmit disease, and the
bats bring the deer much needed relief in the
summer months. Meanwhile the deer act as
lures, providing the bats with an all-you-can-eat
fly buffet. “It decreases the search time” for bats
to find food, Palmer says. “They aren’t flying
through an entire forest looking for flies.” The
study was published in March in Ethology.
Craig Willis, a biology professor at the Uni-
versity of Winnipeg in Manitoba, who was not
involved in Palmer’s research, says the find-
ings hint at the pest-deterrent services bats
may offer humans. “If the bats are reducing
biting insects for deer, maybe they can also
do the same for us,” he says.
Ecological research often focuses on
predator-prey interactions rather than on
the positive ways in which animals help one
another, Pal mer notes. When it comes to
mutually beneficial symbiotic relationships,
she says, “there’s just a big gap out there.”
— Joshua Rapp Learn© 2019 Scientific AmericanDON JOHNSTONGetty ImagesE C O L O G YDeer Friends
Bats and white-tailed deer
have each other’s backsForget bug repellent —some deer in Minneso-
ta rely on a team of bats to eat up the swarms of
biting flies that typically plague them. Research-
ers observed this previously unknown symbiotic
relationship between white-tailed deer and an
unidentified bat species, in camera-trap footage
and in person, at the Cedar Creek Ecosystem
Science Reserve.
“These bats appear to be attracted by all
the flies around the deer,” says study leader
Meredith Palmer, then a postdoctoral re -
searcher at the University of Minnesota. Sym-
biotic relationships between grazing mam-
mals and birds are better known, she says, but
“it’s very, very rare for mammals to engage
with each other like this.”
Horseflies and deerflies deliver painful bites
that can fester and transmit disease, and the
bats bring the deer much needed relief in the
summer months. Meanwhile the deer act as
lures, providing the bats with an all-you-can-eat
fly buffet. “It decreases the search time” for bats
to find food, Palmer says. “They aren’t flying
through an entire forest looking for flies.” The
study was published in March in Ethology.
Craig Willis, a biology professor at the Uni-
versity of Winnipeg in Manitoba, who was not
involved in Palmer’s research, says the find-
ings hint at the pest-deterrent services bats
may offer humans. “If the bats are reducing
biting insects for deer, maybe they can also
do the same for us,” he says.
Ecological research often focuses on
predator-prey interactions rather than on
the positive ways in which animals help one
another, Pal mer notes. When it comes to
mutually beneficial symbiotic relationships,
she says, “there’s just a big gap out there.”
— Joshua Rapp Learnsad0619Adva3p.indd 15 4/17/19 6:19 PM
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