Note to users. If you're seeing this message, it means that your browser cannot find this page's style/presentation instructions -- or possibly that you are using a browser that does not support current Web standards. Find out more about why this message is appearing, and what you can do to make your experience of our site the best it can be.

Science 8 April 1983:
Vol. 220. no. 4593, pp. 212 - 214
DOI: 10.1126/science.220.4593.212
Prev | Table of Contents | Next

Articles

Taste-Aversion Conditioning of Crows to Control Predation on Eggs

LOWELL K. NICOLAUS 1, J. FRANK CASSEL 1, ROBERT B. CARLSON 2, and CARL R. GUSTAVSON 3

1 Department of Zoology, North Dakota State University, Fargo 58102
2 Department of Entomology, North Dakota State University
3 Department of Psychology, North Dakota State University

Free-ranging crows (Corvus brachyrhynchos) that ate chicken eggs that were painted green and contained a nonlethal toxin subsequently avoided green eggs at various locations, whether or not they contained toxin. The crows also continued to eat unpainted and nontoxic chicken eggs. Illness-induced aversions among predators in nature may be a powerful determiner of the evolution of Batesian mimicry and, in human hands, serve as a practical tool for wildlife ecologists.

Submitted on March 2, 1982
Revised on October 27, 1982

To Advertise     Find Products

Science. ISSN 0036-8075 (print), 1095-9203 (online)