Abstract
Dietary intake of distilled water versus solutions of sodium chloride, sucrose, sodium saccharin, and quinine hydrochloride (QHCl) was studied in the Virginia opossum. The study utilized a paired-choice, 48-hr. continuous intake measure in which Ss, two male and two female opossums, could choose between distilled water and one of the other solutions. The procedure replicates the one used by Carpenter (1956), who compared these solutions for cats, rabbits, and hamsters, with the exception that distilled water rather than tap water was used as the control solution in the present experiment. Consistent with Carpenter's findings of significant species differences in taste preferences, the intakes of opossums did not mirror those of any of the species studied by Carpenter. One of the more notable findings was that opossums displayed a preference for low concentrations of QHCl.
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