Food and water intake as functions of resource consumption costs in a closed economy

Article Abstract:

Organisms in a closed environment must efficiently distribute their time among various activities and resources. An experiment with rats in a closed economy was designed to demonstrate this. The rats had food and water, a running wheel and a nest. Bar-press requirements controlled the costs of consumption. In any bout of resource use, consumption decreased with the increase in consumption cost. Increase in bout frequency failed to compensate for the fall in bout size and total intake. When both food and water were expensive, the fall in the intake of both was greater than when only one of them was expensive.

Case studies, Animal experimentation, Food consumption, Rats, Water consumption

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Procurement time as a determinant of meal frequency and meal duration

Article Abstract:

An experiment to show procurement time as a determinant of meal frequency and duration by measuring meal patterns of rats reveals that they perceive time as a foraging cost. An increase in procurement interval reduces meal frequency and compensates it by increasing duration and size of the meal. Rats are unwilling to make efforts as they consider time as a currency to earn food. Time parameters related to foraging differ from those related to consumption, which conform to classical operant learning patterns.

Psychological aspects, Analysis, Time perception, Reinforcement (Psychology)

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Meal patterns of cats encountering variable food procurement cost

Article Abstract:

An experiment was conducted to determine the meal patterns of cats encountering variable foraging costs. Results show that mean of variable prices is directly proportional with meal size, and meal size rise as the mean variable prices increases. However, an inversely proportional relationship existed between mean of the variable prices and meal frequency, though daily intake remained constant. This proves that meal size is not limited by the specific time or effort consumed in the procurement of food.

Domestic cats, Cats

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