Circumstantial Evidence for Infanticide of Chicks of the Communal Smooth-billed Ani (Crotophaga ani)

Abstract

The Smooth-billed Ani (Crotophaga ani) is a plural-breeding, joint-nesting species that engages in both cooperation and reproductive competition. We report circumstantial evidence for infanticide of chicks by adults that joined a group after completion of the communal clutch. We provide evidence that some of the group adults captured after the infanticide were unrelated to any of the chicks and may have acted to increase chances of renesting.