Abstract
Alloparental care has been reported in over 120 mammalian species. Here, we describe the first observed cases of induced alloparental care in Seba’s short-tailed fruit bat ( Carollia perspicillata ) at Macaregua cave (Santander, Colombia). As a part of a reproductive study, specimens of C. perspicillata were sampled between June and August 2015. During two separate occasions, we observed the willingness of lactating females to accept and carry abandoned pups, after we put a female and a non-parental pup together. Additional data is needed to confirm adoption capacity of Seba’s short-tailed fruit bat. This is the first observation of potentially cooperative behavior in this species. Keywords: alloparenting, Chiroptera, cooperative behavior, Colombia, lactating females.
Highlights
O cuidado aloparental tem sido relatado em mais de 120 espécies de mamíferos
Alloparental care or alloparenting is defined as the care provided by an individual to a non-descendent young (Wilson, 1975)
As a part of a reproductive study at Macaregua cave, individuals of C. perspicillata were sampled following the guidelines of the American Society of Mammalogists (Sikes et al, 2016) between June and August 2015 (Bohlender et al, 2018)
Summary
Descrevemos os primeiros casos observados de cuidado aloparental induzido no morcego-de-cauda-curta (Carollia perspicillata) na caverna Macaregua (Santander, Colômbia). Alloparental care includes behaviors such as allonursing (Wilkinson, 1992; Fanis and Jones, 1996) and adoption (LeBlanc, 2001). We report two cases of potential alloparenting behavior in Seba’s short-tailed fruit bat (Carollia perspicillata Linnaeus 1758).
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