Acceptance of Cations as Chlorides in Drinking Tests With Two Species of Birds and Three Species of Mammals

The assumption of species differences in taste sensibilities rests primarily upon results from two-bottle drinking tests which are typically interpreted in terms of acceptance, indifference, and rejection of the test solutions. These categories may obscure possible equivalence among species with respect to orders of acceptance for items in a set of taste stimuli. In the present study, rank orders of acceptance for six cations as chlorides were determined in two-bottle tests with squirrel monkeys, Mongolian gerbils, white rats, starlings, and Japanese quail. Twelve subjects from each species were randomly placed in six pairs, and each pair was offered a different chloride opposite distilled water at two concentrations of the assigned solution. Orders of acceptance for the chlorides were based on intakes in ml/100 g of body weight/day. Coefficients of concordance in the acceptance orders for the five species were significant (P < .01) at both concentrations. A 1.0 correlation appears to exist between the mean order of diminishing acceptance for the cations as chlorides and the decreasing abundance of the cations in saliva.