Abstract
Defined as the killing of a newborn individual by a conspecific, infanticide by males is widespread in mammals. Results from this paper used genetic analysis to confirm and characterize the first report of non-parental infanticide in giant armadillos. Genetic evidence demonstrates that the killer male is unrelated to the killed infant but is the father of the next offspring. This evidence supports the sexual selection hypothesis, in which infanticide is used to obtain increased access to breeding females.
Funding source: Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior, Brazil
Award Identifier / Grant number: CAPES, finance Code 001
Funding source: Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico
Award Identifier / Grant number: CNPq, 303524/2019-7
Funding source: Fundação de Amparo a Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo
Award Identifier / Grant number: FAPESP, 2022/01741-3
Acknowledgments
We are grateful to the owners of the Fazenda Baía das Pedras for their hospitality, generous support, and permission to work on their land.
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Research ethics: This study was performed under license no. 27587 (Chico Mendes Institute for Biodiversity Conservation) that granted permission to capture, immobilize, and manipulate armadillos and collect/store biological samples.
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Author contributions: All authors confirm contribution to the paper as follows: study conception and design: ALJD; data collection: ALJD, GFM, DK; data analysis: NTR, CCG, BHS, PMGJr; interpretation of results: all authors; draft manuscript preparation: NTR, ALJD. All authors reviewed the results and approved the final version of the manuscript.
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Competing interests: The authors declare no conflict of interest.
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Research funding: This work is part of the Giant Armadillo Conservation Program which receives multiple grants listed at www.icasconservation.org.br. NTR thanks Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior – Brazil (CAPES, finance Code 001). CCG thanks the Nashville Zoo for financial support. PMGJ thanks Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq, 303524/2019-7). BHS thanks Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP, 2022/01741-3).
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Data availability: The raw data can be obtained on request from the corresponding author.
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