Poison shyness

A typical experiment tested food aversion learning in squirrel monkeys (Saimiri sciureus) and common marmosets (Callithrix jacchus), using several kinds of cues.

[3] The nematode C. elegans was shown to learn and transmit to their offspring avoidance after exposure to non-coding RNA of a bacterial pathogen.

[6] Rodents: Rats and mice develop bait shyness very readily; it can persist for weeks or months and may be transferred to nontoxic foods of similar types.

For this purpose, baits containing anticoagulants such as Warfarin were long used; they kill relatively slowly through internal bleeding, which is not associated with ingestion.

Again, with sub-lethal doses of this chemical, the animal cannot learn the association between the odour of the food and its toxicity, thereby preventing poison shyness from developing.

[9][10] However, another study tested if carrion crow (Corvus corone) predation on little tern (Sterna albifrons) eggs could be decreased by conditioned taste aversion.

The study failed to find an effect because the crows were able to distinguish treated eggs during handling, without consuming a significant amount of the illness-inducing compound.

[17] Olfactory (cologne) and visual (a red collar on the sheep) cues increased the suppression of predation through conditioned learned aversion in coyotes, although this was for a limited duration.

can benefit from having animals e.g. sheep and goats, grazing the same area as their faeces nourish the soil thereby reducing the use of herbicides and fertilisers.

Lithium chloride has been used to develop conditioned taste aversion to olive leaves and shoots in sheep and goats.