Research discovers mammal that would not need penetration to mate

Species of bats Eptesicus Serotinusalso known dark mint batsare the target of research by scientists after observing a video of mating where, apparently, they no need to penetrate with the genital organ to reproduce.

The male dusky peppermint bat Use your penis as if it were an armwhich removes the membrane that protects the female’s vulva, according to information from a study published in the scientific journal Current Biology.

Nicolas Faselone of the authors of the research, mentioned the difficulty observing the mode of reproduction of bat species, due to their nocturnal habits and the way “secretive” of mating that some of them have.

“Most of the time you’ll see their back against the wall and you won’t see what’s really going on in front,” he said.

The possible discovery of the study was the result of installation of 18 cameras in a church in the Netherlands, where there were several colonies of dark mint bats. Because of this,Fasel and his team were able to analyze 93 sexual relations of the animals.

A rehabilitation of bats rescued from Ukraine also contributed to the research, providing a video that contained more mating situations.

“You can actually see the copulation and see that the penis is not going in,” said Casol.

The duration of the sexual act there is a lot of variationbecause while one couple mated for 53 minutes, the other remained “embraced” for 12 hours straight. In the latter case, the action looks like a “cloacal kiss”a type of mating common among some birds.

“Bats use their uropatagy (tail membranes) in many unique ways, like fishing nets, to capture young during birth and so on. Therefore, they are useful in many ways, but perhaps an impediment during mating. I agree that the male of this species can use his genitalia to navigate the female’s tail, but there are some important things to sort out. On the one hand, how exactly is the sperm transferred, and on the other, what is the female doing in this pair?”” Orr said.

However, the results of the study were not effectively conclusive, more observations are needed on the topic, according to Susanne Holtze, co-author of the research and scientist at the Leibniz Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Researchin Berlin.

“It is an open question how semen actually reaches the female reproductive tract. There may be some type of suction involved. We cannot fully answer this mechanism,” she said.