ISSN : 2287-8327
We investigated the responses of red squirrels to pine nuts (Pinus koraiensis) treated with Lithium Chloride (LiCl) and the potential of the chemical for inducing conditioned taste aversion (CTA) in red squirrels. In red squirrels, nut feeding declined dramatically during the first 4 days after feeding with LiCl-treated nuts. The ratio of LiCl-treated nuts eaten to total nuts eaten declined from the 1st day in LC-¹ and the 2nd day in LC-², along with a general reduction in quantity eaten. Thus, feeding with LiCl-treated nuts induced CTA from the 2nd day after feeding, and CTA remained constant until the 4th day, but disappeared on the 5th day. The squirrels ate an average of 757.0 ± 106.1 mg (n = 2, range 682.0~832.0) of LiCl before dying on the 16th day of the study. The lethal dose of LiCl was 2.32 mg LiCl/g body weight, and the average amount of LiCl needed to induce CTA was 23.0 ± 4.24 mg (20 mg in LC-¹ and 26 mg in LC-²).
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