Nesting behavior of <i>Didelphis aurita</i>: twenty days of continuous recording of a female in a coati nest

Monticelli, Patrícia Ferreira; Gasco, Aline

doi:10.1590/1676-0611-BN-2018-0550

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Short Communication • Biota Neotrop. 18 (3) • 2018 • https://doi.org/10.1590/1676-0611-BN-2018-0550 copy

Nesting behavior of Didelphis aurita: twenty days of continuous recording of a female in a coati nest

Comportamento de nidificação de Didelphis aurita: vinte dias de gravação contínua de uma fêmea em um ninho de quati

Authorship SCIMAGO INSTITUTIONS RANKINGS

Abstract:

Choosing the nest site to raise a litter has consequences on female fitness in mammalian species with no male participation in the parental care. We accidentally video recorded a coati's nest appropriation by a female opossum Didelphis aurita, at Parque Ecológico do Tietê, State of São Paulo, Brazil. For 29 days, from December 22, 2011, to January 19th, 2012, the activity of the female was video recorded 24h/day with a camera trap installed close to the nest. At her first appearance, she had infants in her pouch. After taking leaves to the nest twice on the first night, she kept a routine of going out after sunset and returning to the nest before dawn, carrying leaves on the tail on seven occasions. During the last days of recording, infants were seen attached to the female's body. Another episode of a female opossum with infants using a nest previously constructed by a coati was registered in 2013. To our knowledge, this is the first continuous description of the daily activity of opossums during the nesting phase.

Keywords:
Nasua nasua; marsupial; nest appropriation; nidification; common opossum; parental behavior

Date	Time (hh:mm)	Activity in the nest	Items on tail?
Dec 22nd and 23rd	22:58 to 01:16	First visit (Figura 3); smelling the surroundings; looking down to the nest, pulling a leaf with the mouth; leaving; arriving with nest material	yes
	04:12	Coming back and entering the nest with leaves	yes
	19:14	Leaving, going down the tree
Dec 24th	03:14	Arriving, smelling nest before entering (infants at pouch opening)
	22:01	Entering the nest with leaves	yes
Dec 25th	05:02	Entering the nest
	18:59	Grooming in the nest
Dec 26th	04:21	Entering the nest; voluminous pouch (Figure 3)
	19:04	Grooming in the nest
Dec 27th	04:53	Entering the nest
	19:21	Leaving, going down the tree
Dec 28th	03:40	Entering the nest and grooming
	19:05	Smell nest, exit before going down the tree
Dec 29th	03:58	Entering the nest; keeping tail up inside the nest
	19:10	Leaving, going down the tree
Dec 30th	04:33	Entering the nest
	19:12	Sitting then grooming in the nest
Dec 31st	04:26	Entering the nest
	21:52^* * Raining;	Entering the nest with leaves	yes
Jan 1st	18:57	Leaving, going down the tree
Jan 2nd^* ***** Wind.	04:28	Entering the nest
	19:03	Smelling nest surroundings and going down the tree
Jan 3rd	04:04	Entering the nest
Jan 4th^* ***** Wind.	04:17	Entering the nest
	19:15	Smelling nest surroundings and going down the tree
Jan 5th^* ***** Wind.	18:00	Entering the nest? (just the final part of the tail is seen entering the nest)
Jan 6th	18:45	Grooming
Jan 7th^* ***** Wind.	23:18	Entering the nest with leaves	yes
	00:34	Leaving, going down the tree (just the tail is seen going down the tree)
	04:22	Entering the nest
	19:02	Grooming
Jan 8th^* ***** Wind.	04:12	Entering the nest with leaves	yes
	19:14	Grooming
Jan 9th	02:57	Entering the nest
	19:17	Grooming
Jan 10th	03:25 [08:09]	Arriving and smelling surroundings before entering [a monkey approaches and leaves]
	19:20	Grooming and leaving; infant's tail is seen moving in its belly
Jan 11th	00:48^* * Raining;	Entering the nest
	19:24	Grooming; infant's tail is seen moving in its belly
Jan 2nd^* ***** Wind.	04:10	Entering the nest
	19:21	Grooming
Jan 3rd^* ***** Wind.	05:15	Entering the nest
	19:24	Leaving, going down the tree
Jan 4th^* ***** Wind.	04:15	Entering the nest
	19:21	Grooming
Jan 5th^* ***** Wind.	05:21	Entering the nest
	20:12^* * Raining;	Leaving, going down the tree
Jan 16th	05:11	Entering the nest
	19:19	Grooming
Jan 17th	05:11^ Mistness;	Entering the nest
	19:05^ Mistness;	Grooming and going down the tree
Jan 18th	05:04	Entering the nest; infant's tail crossing her underbelly (Figure 3)
	18:52 [21:49]	Grooming; 3 infants are seen [a smaller opossum appears]
Jan 19th	05:06	Entering nest with wet leaves	yes

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[1] *Corresponding author: Patrícia Ferreira Monticelli, e-mail: patrimonticel@gmail.com