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12 February 2024 The Relationships between Adult Males and Infants in a Group of the Egyptian Fruit Bats (Rousettus aegyptiacus)
Anastasia Dudorova, Elena Kruchenkova, Dmitriy A. Podgrudkov
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Abstract

Affiliative relationships between adult males and immature group members have been studied in multimale-multifemale groups of Egyptian fruit bats (Rousettus aegyptiacus) at the Moscow Zoo. At 3–4 weeks of age, when the mothers leave the pups in the colony and fly off to forage, the offspring actively seek contact with other members of the group. Adult males show no sign of avoidance or aggression toward the infants. They sniff, groom and huddle with them. An infant can remain in physical contact with an adult male for more than 50% of the time its mother is away. We found significant differences in the time infants spent with the three adult males of the group. One of them showed a much higher affiliation with infants than the others. At 100–120 days of age, the infants feed on solid food and start to fly. At this point, adult males begin to react aggressively to young males, and adult males exhibit mating behavior with young females.

Anastasia Dudorova, Elena Kruchenkova, and Dmitriy A. Podgrudkov "The Relationships between Adult Males and Infants in a Group of the Egyptian Fruit Bats (Rousettus aegyptiacus)," Acta Chiropterologica 25(2), 251-255, (12 February 2024). https://doi.org/10.3161/15081109ACC2023.25.2.005
Received: 21 December 2021; Accepted: 1 November 2023; Published: 12 February 2024
KEYWORDS
aggression
bats
male alloparental behavior
Rousettus aegyptiacus
social development
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