CONICET | Buscador de Institutos y Recursos Humanos

Understanding why social relationships vary among conspecifics is central to studies of animal behaviour. For manyspecies, patterns of space use provide important insights into social behaviour. To characterize the social organizationof the highland tuco-tuco (Ctenomys opimus), we used visual observations and radiotelemetry to quantify spatialrelationships among adults in a population at Laguna de los Pozuelos, Jujuy Province, Argentina. Specifically, wesought to confirm anecdotal reports that these subterranean rodents are social, meaning that adults share burrowsystems and nest sites. Our data indicate that the animals live in spatially distinct groups, although the number ofindividuals per group varies markedly. Although these relationships were robust with regard to location (above vs.below ground) and type of data (visual vs. telemetry), some groups identified during the daytime fissioned duringthe night. We suggest that the population of C. opimus at Pozuelos is facultatively social, meaning that individualsdisplay predictable, adaptive differences in social relationships with conspecifics. More generally, our findings add tothe growing number of subterranean species of rodents recognized as social, thereby generating new opportunitiesfor comparative studies of these animals aimed at assessing the causes and consequences of variation in socialorganization.

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