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FIRST EVIDENCE OF GREGARIOUS DENNING IN OPOSSUMS (DIDELPHIMORPHIA, DIDELPHIDAE), WITH NOTES ON THEIR SOCIAL BEHAVIOUR
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Universidade Federal de Pernambuco. Departamento de Zoologia. Laboratório de Mastozoologia. Recife, PE, Brasil.
Universidade Federal de Pernambuco. Departamento de Zoologia. Laboratório de Mastozoologia. Recife, PE, Brasil.
Universidade Federal de Pernambuco. Departamento de Zoologia. Laboratório de Mastozoologia. Recife, PE, Brasil.
Universidade Federal da Paraíba. Departamento de Ecologia e Sistemática. Laboratório de Mamíferos. João Pessoa, PB, Brasil.
Fundação Oswaldo Cruz. Instituto Oswaldo Cruz. Laboratório de Biologia e Parasitologia de Mamíferos Silvestres Reservatórios. Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brasil.
Universidade Federal de Pernambuco. Departamento de Zoologia. Laboratório de Mastozoologia. Recife, PE, Brasil.
Universidade Federal de Pernambuco. Departamento de Zoologia. Laboratório de Mastozoologia. Recife, PE, Brasil.
Universidade Federal da Paraíba. Departamento de Ecologia e Sistemática. Laboratório de Mamíferos. João Pessoa, PB, Brasil.
Fundação Oswaldo Cruz. Instituto Oswaldo Cruz. Laboratório de Biologia e Parasitologia de Mamíferos Silvestres Reservatórios. Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brasil.
Abstract
The Didelphidae are considered solitary opossums with few social interactions,
usually limited to mating-related or mother–pouch young interactions.
Anecdotal reports suggest that additional interactions occur, including den
sharing by a few individuals, usually siblings. Here, we report novel observations
that indicate opossums are more social than previously thought.
These include nest sharing by males and females of Marmosa paraguayana,
Gracilinanus microtarsus and Marmosops incanus prior to the onset of the breeding
season and without signs of sexual activity; this is taken to indicate early pairbonding
matching and cooperative nest building. We also recorded den sharing
among recently weaned siblings of Didelphis aurita and Caluromys philander.
In addition, we observed 13 individuals of Didelphis albiventris representing
three age classes resting without agonistic interactions in a communal den.
These are the first reports of gregarious behaviour involving so many individuals,
which are either unrelated or represent siblings from at least two litters,
already weaned, sharing the same den with three adults. Sociality in opossums
is probably more complex than previously established, and field experimental
designs combining the use of artificial nests with camera traps or telemetry
may help to gauge the frequency and extent of these phenomena.
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