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Guinea pig pups produce typical distress whistles when isolated. Whistles' frequency is decreased or abolished when they contact with the mother and, to a lesser degree, a sibling or even an unfamiliar female, is regained. Those non-aggressive companions were considered social support providers for reducing pup physiological stress responses and whistling rate in an unfamiliar environment. However, what would happen if the isolated pup would be in contact with an adult male, normally indifferent to pups, in such distress situation? The role of attachment and familiarity to males in promoting changes in distress responses of isolated pups was verified. Tests consisted of separating three week old pups from their family, in a familiar or an unfamiliar environment, and introducing a conspecific in the cage after one minute (mother, sibling, father or a strange male). Whistling and other behaviors were compared between the alone period and the accompanied period. Main factors were prior presence/absence of father (pups were raised with father until testing or only for the first week after birth), sex of pup, novelty of test environment and companion. It was verified that (1) all conspecifics reduced whistling rate ( F 4,88 =77.89, p F 1,22 =7.68, p F 1,22 =10.63, p F 1,22 =6.18, p

Contrafreeloading occurs when animals spend time and effort to obtain food in the presence of freely available food. There are several interpretations for such an apparent contradiction to optimal foraging models, with an emphasis either on the need to gather and update information about the environment or on the value of performing species-typical responses. Evidence suggests that both gathering information about the environment and the expression of species-typical behaviour are important for the welfare of captive animals. The aim of the present study was to assess the existence of contrafreeloading in maned wolves ( Chrysocyon brachyurus ), in a situation where animals could get food directly from a “free” source and/or search and handle hidden food items, an alternative that requires more effort and is probably more similar to natural foraging conditions. Eight captive, pair-housed maned wolves were given weekly choice tests in which they could obtain food either by approaching the usual food tray in one section of the enclosure (Tray), and/or by searching for food at variable sites amongst the vegetation in the other section of the enclosure (Scattered). Results indicate that maned wolves spent more time in the Scattered than in the Tray section of the enclosure ( P = 0.02) and that they obtained about half of the food from that section (48.54% ± SE 0.69). Our results, the first to demonstrate contrafreeloading in maned wolves, have implications for the husbandry and welfare of this endangered species.