Journal article
Eliciting conditioned taste aversion in lizards: Live toxic prey are more effective than scent and taste cues alone
Integrative Zoology, Vol.12(2), pp.112-120
2017
Abstract
Conditioned taste aversion (CTA) is an adaptive learning mechanism whereby a consumer associates the taste of a certain food with symptoms caused by a toxic substance, and thereafter avoids eating that type of food. Recently, wildlife researchers have employed CTA to discourage native fauna from ingesting toxic cane toads (Rhinella marina), a species that is invading tropical Australia. In this paper, we compare the results of 2 sets of CTA trials on large varanid lizards (“goannas,” Varanus panoptes). One set of trials (described in this paper) exposed recently-captured lizards to sausages made from cane toad flesh, laced with a nausea-inducing chemical (lithium chloride) to reinforce the aversion response. The other trials (in a recently-published paper, reviewed herein) exposed free-ranging lizards to live juvenile cane toads. The effectiveness of the training was judged by how long a lizard survived in the wild before it was killed (fatally poisoned) by a cane toad. Both stimuli elicited rapid aversion to live toads, but the CTA response did not enhance survival rates of the sausage-trained goannas after they were released into the wild. In contrast, the goannas exposed to live juvenile toads exhibited higher long-term survival rates than did untrained conspecifics. Our results suggest that although it is relatively easy to elicit short-term aversion to toad cues in goannas, a biologically realistic stimulus (live toads, encountered by free-ranging predators) is most effective at buffering these reptiles from the impact of invasive toxic prey.
Details
- Title
- Eliciting conditioned taste aversion in lizards: Live toxic prey are more effective than scent and taste cues alone
- Authors/Creators
- G. Ward-Fear (Author/Creator) - The University of SydneyJ. Thomas (Author/Creator) - Murdoch UniversityJ.K. Webb (Author/Creator) - University of Technology SydneyD.J. Pearson (Author/Creator) - Department of Parks and WildlifeR. Shine (Author/Creator) - The University of Sydney
- Publication Details
- Integrative Zoology, Vol.12(2), pp.112-120
- Publisher
- Wiley-Blackwell
- Identifiers
- 991005545056307891
- Copyright
- © 2016 International Society of Zoological Sciences, Institute of Zoology/Chinese Academy of Sciences and John Wiley & Sons Australia, Ltd
- Murdoch Affiliation
- School of Veterinary and Life Sciences
- Language
- English
- Resource Type
- Journal article
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- Citation topics
- 3 Agriculture, Environment & Ecology
- 3.35 Zoology & Animal Ecology
- 3.35.790 Amphibian Ecology
- Web Of Science research areas
- Zoology
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- Plant & Animal Science