Carollia perspicillata

Mammalian odor reception is modulated by relative humidity. For instance, neotropical bats Carollia perspicillata and Phyllostomus discolor) are less able to approach an experimental banana odor correctly if the humidity is lowered from the normal 75% to under 60%. The sensoiy impairment results from drying out of the nasal mucosa in low humidity (Laska etal., 1986). 

Neotropical bats Desmodus rotundus, Artibeus literatus, and Phyllostomus discolor) are very sensitive to butanoic acid their detection threshold lies between 1.5 x 10 ° and 1.5 x 10 mol/1 (Schmidt, 1975). The short-tailed fruit bat Carollia perspicillata) has detection thresholds for 18 odorants ranging from 3.6 x 10 to 2.7 X 10 ° molecules/cm air. The animals were most sensitive to fruit-typical compounds such as ethyl butyrate (5.4 x 10 °molecules/cm ), w-pentyl acetate (2.8 X 10 °molecules/cm ), andlinalool(1.8 x 10 molecules/cm ), suggesting nutritional specialization of chemoreception (Laska, 1990). The bats increased their respiration rate from a basal rate of 2-4 Hz to as much as 12 Hz when confronted with an odor of high concentration. 

The short-tailed fmit bat, Carollia perspicillata, discriminates the odor of ripe from that of green bananas. Odor cocktails of banana odor components were distinguished from the whole odor of banana (Laska, 1990). The two most common esters of banana odor are isopentyl acetate and isobutyl acetate. Nearly all fruit odors contain ethyl acetate. Isopropyl acetate and 2-pentanone are characteristic of putrefying fruits. 

Carollia perspicillata (Phyllostomatidae, Chiroptera). Journal of Comparative Physiology 166, 395-399. 

Laska, M., Rother, G., and Schmidt, V. (1986). Die Beeinflussung des Riechvermogens dutch die Luftfeuchte bei Carollia perspicillata und Phyllostomus discolor (Chiroptera). ZeitschriftfurS dugetierkunde 51,74-79. 

---