EFFECT OF AN UNFAMILIAR LOCATION ON THE CONSUMPTION OF NOVEL AND FAMILIAR FOODS BY SHEEP

We studied how moving lambs to an unfamiliar environment affected thei r intake of novel and familiar foods. In the first experiment, half th e lambs (n = 14) were conditioned to avoid a novel food (wheat) by pai ring its ingestion with lithium chloride (LiCl); the other half (n = 1 4) received wheat but no LiCl. Half of the lambs that received LiCl an d half that did not were moved to a location unfamiliar to the lambs. Lambs at both locations were offered wheat (familiar but aversive to h alf the lambs), oats (novel food), and alfalfa pellets (familiar food) . In the second experiment, one group of lambs (n = 16) remained at th e familiar location; the other group (n = 16) was moved to a novel loc ation. Both groups were offered alfalfa pellets (familiar food) with o r without onion powder (novel flavor), wheat bran (novel food), and ry e with 1% LiCl (novel and toxic food). We found that: (I) lambs consum ed a familiar but aversive food (wheat) more readily at the unfamiliar location than at the familiar location (P = 0.052); (2) lambs ate les s of the novel foods (oats and wheat bran) at the unfamiliar location (P = 0.09 and P < 0.001, respectively); (3) intake of the familiar foo d (alfalfa pellets) did not differ between locations on day 1 of eithe r experiment. These results suggest that: (1) food neophobia is greate r in unfamiliar than familiar environments, which may cause animals to eat more familiar foods in unfamiliar environments, even if the famil iar foods contain toxins. They further suggest that animals should be: (2) exposed to novel foods in familiar environments to expedite intak e of novel foods; (3) provided with familiar foods in novel environmen ts to prevent declines in intake; (4) conditioned to avoid foods (e.g. fruit trees, poisonous plants) in the environments where they will fo rage to increase the persistence of the aversion. (C) 1997 Elsevier Sc ience B.V.