Taste preferences in rabbits for acids, sucrose, saccharin and quinine.

Taste preferences of adult rabbits were investigated using a 4-hr two-bottle testing situation. Tastants presented for choice against double-distilled water included several concentrations each of citric, acetic and ascorbic acids and 2 concentrations each of sucrose, sodium saccharin, and quinine hydrochloride. Increasing concentrations of acids resulted in decreasing preferences. Sucrose was significantly preferred, and quinine rejected, to a degree comparable to results obtained in another laboratory using a 24-hr, two-bottle procedure [4]. Saccharin preferences were not exactly equivalent in the 2 studies. It is concluded that rabbits are not unlike other mammals in their rejection of sour taste stimuli and that results obtained in different laboratories may have validity across different breeds of rabbits and different testing durations.