Food-sharing vampire bats are more nepotistic under conditions of perceived risk

Abstract

Lay Summary When rescue behavior is more risky, rescuers should be more biased towards closer kin. We tested this idea using food-sharing vampire bats. We created a risky “rescue condition” where donors had to descend from the safety of dark roosting locations and feed a bat trapped in an illuminated cage on the floor. As expected, the increased risk for donors led to smaller and less frequent food donations that were also more kin-biased. Risk exaggerated nepotism.