BAIT SHYNESS AND ITS PREVENTION IN THE RABBIT ORYCTOLAGUS-CUNICULUS L

Caged New Zealand white rabbits were examined for the development, and prevention, of a learned aversion to toxic feed. Two familiar feeds w ere offered. One feed, a paste, contained sublethal amounts of sodium monofluoroacetate (1080); the other feed, cereal-based pellets, was un poisoned. On initial poisoning, consumption of both feeds decreased, b ut more markedly for the 1080-dosed pastes. Suppressed feed consumptio n was observed for several days and may have been illness induced. A s econd poisoning elicited a significant depression of consumption of pa stes but not pellets. The addition of a mixture of certain drugs (neur otransmitter antagonists) to the poisoned paste appeared to prevent th e characteristic depression of this paste intake. We speculate that th e drugs disrupted the associative process linking 1080 to recognisable attributes of the toxin or bait itself. The implications of these res ults on aversion formation in rabbits and pest control are discussed.