Situated in the wing membrane of both sexes, it is significantly larger, more developed, and only functional in males.
During daily grooming, males actively fill the wing sacs with a composite mixture of urine, saliva, and glandular secretions.
During courtship, a male hovers in front of a female and rapidly fans his wings to direct the potent, information-rich scent mixture toward her to influence mate choice.
The liquid inside the sacs carries complex chemical fingerprints that convey individual identity, age, and other atributes that influence selection.
As a territorial defense males shake or flick the contents of the wing sacs toward rival or intruder bats outside of their harem territory to warn them off.
I’ll try that. Rub my hands on my privates, pee on them, rub them on my armpits after a week without showering, spit on them. Then wave at the missus. My own musk.
Let us know how it goes!
You missed their related post! Here’s big sexy letting all the lady bats get a whiff of that homemade cologne:
Here we see a male Greater White-lined Bat (Saccopteryx bilineata) from east Trinidad, with his harem of females. He is hovering before one of the females while holding open a special sac (or opening) in the front of each wing.
Though initially thought to have a glandular function, these wing sacs are now known to be used by males of the species to actively store secretions from the genital region and the gular gland (sebaceous gland located near the throat of adult males), augmented with a mixture of urine and saliva.
By shaking and thrusting its wings forward as it hovers, the male wafts this combined odour toward the female as she vocalises and wiggles approvingly in response.
Sometimes, I think, “Human mating rituals are so weird and complex.”
And then, I read stuff like this. and I think, “yeah, we’re still weird, though.”
I hope you don’t spray females with a bottle containing a similar mixture that you keep in your pocket.
Sac-wing pups have been recorded making various calls in a jumbled context. For example, a female pup will give the male trill of courting followed by echolocation clicks then adult territorial challenges. These mixed-up vocalizations have been equated with human infant babbling and mispronounced songs of young birds. This is the first example of mammal babbling outside of the primate order.
"Can you smell me now?"🙃
So cool i never knew about that
