To exploit a rich food resource that remains largely inaccessible to most predators, Europe’s largest bat captures, kills, and consumes nocturnally migrating birds in flight high above the ground, according to a new study. The findings confirm this behavior of the greater noctule (Nyctalus lasiopterus) using direct biologger observations. Billions of birds seasonally migrate at night and over long distances at high altitude. These massive flocks represent an enormous – albeit challenging – food resource for predators. Yet only three fast-flying echolocating bat species, including the greater noctule, are known to exploit this opportunity, hunting passerine birds at night and in flight, despite the birds’ relatively large size and evasive aerial abilities. However, direct evidence of these activities is scarce and based largely on bird remains in bat feces. It remains unknown where and how these bats hunt such formidable prey.

To address this gap, Laura Stidsholt and colleagues equipped 14 greater noctules with high-resolution biologging tags that recorded altitude, echolocation, and 3D movement, and tracked their hunting behavior. In contrast to the typical short, low-altitude insect hunts, Stidsholt et al. observed two notable attacks; the bats climbed above 400 meters before spotting prey and then executed prolonged, high-speed downward chases. Each chase included over 40 echolocation buzzes at rapid intervals, indicating sustained pursuit of a single target. Although one attack ended unsuccessfully, the other resulted in the capture of a European robin, which was confirmed by recorded audio of the bird’s distress calls. After capture, the bat dispatched the bird, likely via a lethal bite. Subsequent chewing sounds, recorded between echolocation calls, indicate that the bat consumed the bird continuously during flight for 23 min without losing altitude. Analyses of bird wings collected beneath the bats’ hunting grounds, using predator DNA barcoding and x-rays, revealed distinctive bite marks from greater noctule bats. According to the authors, this suggests that the bats, while in flight, remove the wings to immobilize their prey, reduce drag, and ease prey handling – a technique reminiscent of aerial-hawking strategies used for capturing large insects. This aerial handling contrasts sharply with birds of prey and other carnivorous bats, which typically consume large prey while perched.

The secret to the naked mole-rats’ extraordinarily long life may lie in subtle changes to just four amino acids, researchers report. According to a new study, evolutionary mutations in cGAS – an enzyme in the innate immune system that senses DNA to trigger immune responses – may enhance the animal’s ability to repair aging-related genetic damage, whereas in other species, such as mice and humans, cGAS can suppress DNA repair. Wrinkled and unassuming though they appear, the naked mole-rat (Heterocephalus glaber) is an exceptionally long-lived rodent, with a maximum life span of nearly 40 years – roughly 10 times longer than similarly sized species. Moreover, the creatures’ genetic makeup is surprisingly closer to humans than to mice, which makes it a valuable model for studying the molecular mechanisms underlying the species’ longevity. One key aspect of long life is genome stability. However, the ways naked mole-rats maintain DNA integrity, particularly through repair mechanisms, remain poorly understood. Homologous recombination (HR) is a critical DNA repair pathway, and defects in HR are linked to premature aging. In humans and mice, the DNA sensor cGAS (cyclic guanosine monophosphate–adenosine monophosphate synthase) can suppress HR repair, potentially promoting cancer and shortening lifespan.

Yu Chen and colleagues investigated whether cGAS similarly inhibits HR in long-lived naked mole-rats. Chen et al. found that, in naked mole-rats, four specific amino acid substitutions in mole-rat cGAS reduce ubiquitination and degradation, allowing the protein to persist for longer and at higher levels after DNA damage. This increased abundance strengthens interactions with key repair factors, FANCI and RAD50, thereby boosting HR repair. When cGAS was depleted from naked mole-rat cells, DNA damage accumulated. The authors further showed that fruit flies engineered to express human cGAS containing the four naked mole-rat–specific mutations lived longer than flies expressing unaltered human cGAS. The findings suggest that these specific evolutionary amino acid mutations in naked mole-rat cGAS not only enhance DNA repair but may also contribute directly to the extraordinary longevity of the species. “The findings from Chen et al. describe an unexpected role for naked mole-rat cGAS in the nucleus that influences longevity, write John Martinez and colleagues in a related Perspective. “Further research will be required to establish the roles that cGAS may play in the nucleus in other organisms, both short- and long-lived, but the answer may be substantially more complex than originally predicted.”

Some dogs show behaviours towards their toys that resemble behavioural addictions in humans, such as gambling and internet gaming, according to a study of 105 dogs published in Scientific Reports.