supMat-strategicPursuit.zip from Strategic predatory pursuit of the stealthy, highly manoeuvrable, slow flying bat Corynorhinus townsendii

A predator's capacity to catch prey depends on its ability to navigate its environment in response to prey movements or escape behaviour. In predator–prey interactions that involve an active chase, pursuit behaviour can be studied as the collection of rules that dictate how a predator should steer to capture prey. It remains unclear how variable this behaviour is within and across species since most studies have detailed the pursuit behaviour of high-speed, open-area foragers. In this study, we analyse the pursuit behaviour in 44 successful captures by Corynorhinus townsendii, Townsend's big-eared bat (n = 4). This species forages close to vegetation using slow and highly manoeuvrable flight, which contrasts with the locomotor capabilities and feeding ecologies of other taxa studied to date. Our results indicate that this species relies on an initial stealthy approach, which is generally sufficient to capture prey (32 out of 44 trials). In cases where the initial approach is not sufficient to perform a capture attempt (12 out of 44 trials), C. townsendii continues its pursuit by reacting to prey movements in a manner best modelled with a combination of pure pursuit, or following prey directly, and proportional navigation, or moving to an interception point.

捕食者的捕猎能力，取决于其响应猎物移动或逃逸行为、在环境中完成导航的能力。在涉及主动追击的捕食者-猎物互动中，追击行为可被视为一系列规则的集合，这些规则决定了捕食者应如何操控自身运动以捕获猎物。由于绝大多数现有研究仅详细阐述了高速开阔觅食者的追击行为，目前仍不清楚该行为在物种内部及跨物种间的变异程度。本研究针对汤森大耳蝠（Townsend's big-eared bat，*Corynorhinus townsendii*，n=4）的44次成功捕猎事件中的追击行为展开分析。该物种依赖缓慢且机动性极强的飞行模式在植被附近觅食，这与迄今已被研究的其他类群的运动能力及摄食生态均存在显著差异。研究结果显示，该物种会先采取隐秘接近的策略，该策略在多数情况下足以成功捕获猎物（44次尝试中有32次）。当初始接近不足以发起捕猎尝试时（44次尝试中有12次），汤森大耳蝠会通过响应猎物移动继续追击，其行为模式最适合用纯追踪（pure pursuit，即直接跟随猎物）与比例导航（proportional navigation，即向拦截点移动）的组合模型来描述。