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Intraspecific killing and cannibalism in adult Alpine marmots Marmota marmota

Cannibalism, the consumption of individuals of the same species, associated with or without previous killing, is a widespread phenomenon across taxa, ranging from protists to vertebrates (FOX 1975a; POLIS 1981; ELGAR & CRESPI 1992). Episodes of cannibalism have been reported in different contexts and various factors can increase the rate of cannibalism in wild animals including food scarcity, overcrowding, stress, availability and behaviour of victims (FOX 1975a). In free living rodents cannibalism on adult individuals is rare, while it has been frequently reported following infanticide (the killing of parental or nonparental young) (HARE 1991; VESTAL 1991). The predation hypothesis (the nutritional benefit obtained by the cannibal) has been frequently suggested to explain this behaviour in rodents, since cannibalism appears to be negatively correlated with food availability (HOLMES 1977). However other hypotheses have been suggested to explain cannibalism and infanticide in rodents and in other taxa: the resource competition hypothesis (HRDY 1979; EBENSPERGER & BLUMSTEIN 2007), the lifeboat hypothesis (POLIS 1980), the sexual selection hypothesis (EBENSPERGER 1998; WOODWARD et al. 2005). In the genus Marmota infanticide has been reported in Alpine marmot (Marmota marmota) (one case directly observed plus evidence of 13 other cases, COULON et al. 1995), golden marmot (Marmota caudata aurea) (indirect evidence of several cases, BLUMSTEIN 1997), yellow bellied marmot (two cases, one in captive animals, Marmota flaviventris) (BRODY & MELCHER 1985), while, to the best of our knowledge, cannibalism in wild populations has been reported only in the yellow bellied marmot (three cases of adults consuming young, ARMITAGE et al. 1979). PLOTNIKOV (1997) reported 21 cases of cannibalism during 4 years in the steppe marmot (Marmota bobak), but individuals were kept in captivity and most episodes occurred on hibernating individuals. In this short note we report the direct observation of an episode of intraspecific killing and cannibalism on an adult free-ranging Alpine marmot in the Italian Alps. We also report about a singular injury found on the head a live trapped adult Alpine marmot, which presents similarities with the injury found on the cannibalized marmot and which probably caused the death of the marmot.