The ontogeny of a natural food aversion in domestic rats (Rattus norvegicus) and house mice (Mus musculus).

During a 1-hr feeding test, 34 hungry male Long-Evans rats that had been reared individually from weaning with a Swiss Webster house mouse were less likely to feed on the intact carcass of a freshly sacrificed mouse than were 39 rats that had been reared individually with another rat. Likewise, 42 hungry mice that had been reared individually with a rat were less likely to feed on a dead rat than were 29 mice that had been reared individually with another mouse. Regardless of the social conditions during rearing, hungry mice were more likely to feed on a dead mouse than were hungry rats to feed on a dead rat. Findings suggest that the tendency by rats to reject conspecific flesh stems, at least in part, from prior experience with conspecifics and with their own bodies. The experiential factors mediating the tendency by mice to reject conspecific flesh remain unclear. (35 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)