title: Self-imposed food deprivation and wheel-running activity in field-trapped Norway rats as a function of environmental change, time in captivity and age at capture.
abstract: The tendency of juvenile and adult field-trapped Norway rats (Rattus norvegicus) to exhibit self-induced food deprivation in response to changes in their living environment was studied after different periods of residency in the laboratory environment. Self-imposed food deprivation resulting from the forced occupation of a novel environment (activity wheels) was greater for those animals tested immediately upon capture and after 25 weeks in captivity than for rats in captivity for 4 weeks. The deprivation response of juveniles was less than for adults immediately following capture but after 25 weeks in captivity the responses of the two age groups were similar. Deprivation responses following reintroduction to the home cage environment diminished over time in captivity. Wheel-running by adults was greatest immediately following capture whereas juveniles continued to show relatively high levels of wheel-running at 4 weeks in captivity. The results are discussed in terms of habituation to the laboratory environment and time-dependent changes in response to novelty.
authors.affiliation: Department of Zoology, State University College of Environmental Science and Forestry, Syracuse, N.Y. 13210, U.S.A.
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Price
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Stehn