| Titre : | Not just a matter of taste: palatability of bait markers is influenced by the need to search for alternative food |
| Auteurs : | Malith K. Weerakoon, Auteur ; Peter B. Banks, Auteur |
| Type de document : | Article |
| Dans : | Wildlife Research (38(7) 2011) |
| Article en page(s) : | 596-602 |
| Langues: | Anglais |
| Résumé : | Context. Bait palatability is a key issue influencing the uptake of toxic baits or non-toxic bait markers. Animals often reject baits with high concentrations of the active compound (whether it is a toxin, vaccine or marker) because of poor palatability, thus reducing the efficacy of baiting. Foraging theory predicts that palatability will be affected not only by the taste of active ingredients in bait but also by an animal's ability to access alternative foods. Yet few studies of bait palatability are measured in the context of an animal's need to search and forage for other food types. Aims. The present study examined whether the palatability of Rhodamine B (RB) baits for black rats (Rattus rattus) was affected when foraging constraints were placed on access to alternative food compared with when alternative food was freely accessible. Rhodamine B is a bait marker and was used as a surrogate for other active ingredients likely to be used in pest control management. Methods. Each day, RB bait at one of four concentrations was provided to an individual rat along with an alternative food that was either freely available (spatially clumped with foraging constraints absent) or hidden within a matrix of tubes (spatially scattered, thus with foraging constraints present). Key results. Black rats exhibited a gradient in how palatable they found |



