title: Unlearned appetite controls: watersnakes (Nerodia) take smaller meals when they have the choice.
abstract: Studies of appetite in mammals emphasize that meal size is learned, but lactation and parental care constrain testing of naive individuals. Neonatal reptiles, in contrast, are self-sufficient foragers. The authors examined the effect of prey size on meal size in primivorous (at first feeding) northern watersnakes (Nerodia sipedon). When offered an excess of small prey (2%-20% of snake mass), neonates ate significantly smaller meals (M = 23.5% of snake mass) than when offered a single huge item (range = 32%-55%). The authors conclude that (a) the taking of smaller meals is not a learned effect, (b) there may be a satiety threshold for meal size rather than a target, (c) oropharyngeal stimuli may provide satiety cues, and (d) huge meals may have fitness costs.
authors.affiliation: University of Tennessee, Knoxville, USA. nerodia@denison.edu
authors.forename: Paul T
authors.initials: PT
authors.lastname: Andreadis
authors.forename: Gordon M
authors.initials: GM
authors.lastname: Burghardt
mesh_terms: D000367:Age Factors; D000818:Animals; D001069:Appetite Regulation; D005247:Feeding Behavior; D005508:Food Deprivation; D005518:Food Preferences; D009042:Motivation; D011235:Predatory Behavior; D012528:Satiety Response; D012858:Size Perception; D012911:Snakes