Dear MARMAM colleagues, We are please to announce the publication of the following paper in Scientific Reports: Mai Sakai, Yuki F. Kita, Kazunobu Kogi, Masanori Shinohara, Tadamichi Morisaka, Takashi Shiina & Miho Inoue-Murayama Title A wild Indo-Pacific bottlenose dolphin adopts a socially and genetically distant neonate Abstract Alloparental behaviour and adoption have been reported in many mammals and birds. Such behaviours are energetically costly, and their causes and functions remain unclear. We observed the adoption behaviour of a wild Indo-Pacific bottlenose dolphin (Tursiops aduncus) near Mikura Island, Japan. A calf was seen with its mother on six observation days. Following the mother’s death, the calf was observed with a sub-adult female on all 18 observation days from May to September 2012. On three days, the calf was observed swimming with this female in the suckling position and milk was seen leaking from the female’s mammary slit. A five-year dataset revealed no significant social or kin relationships between the biological mother and allomother, indicating that kinship and social relationships did not play an important role in the observed adoption. This paper is freely available at http://www.nature.com/articles/srep23902 Best regards, Mai Sakai ―――――――――― Mai Sakai Ph.D., Lecturer Marine Mammal Research Laboratory Department of Fisheries, Faculty of Agriculture, Kindai University 3327-204 Nakamachi, Nara, 631-8505, Japan Tel: +81-742-43-4463 Email: sakaimai@nara.kindai.ac.jp Web page: http://mm-kindaiuniv.jimdo.com/