Isolation calls from twin siblings are similar in the Asian parti-coloured bat, Vespertilio sinensis

Many bat pups emit isolation calls with low-frequency components that facilitate maternal recognition. Most previous studies have noted that isolation calls generally have unique individual identity, but few studies have attempted to assess the potential impact of genetic factors on individual characteristics of isolation calls. The Asian parti-coloured bat is one of the few bat species that typically produce twins. Therefore, they represent a model system for exploring the influence of genetic factors on bat pup isolation call characteristics. In this paper, we recorded isolation calls from 16 pups at three days of age in the laboratory, conducted principal component analysis (PCA) on 13 acoustic parameters of isolation calls, and then performed discriminant function analysis (DFA). The DFA of acoustic parameters revealed that these calls carry information about individual identity. These results may indicate that there is acoustically mediated mother–infant recognition. Further analysis showed that twin siblings have more obvious call similarities than non-twins, which may be caused by genetic factors.