Species Differences in Activity During Hunger and Thirst

Byron A. Campbell and N.F. Smith, J.R. Misanin, Julian Jaynes, Journal of Comparative and Physiological Psychology, 1966, 61, 1, 123-7.

Abstract: Activity was estimated by stabilimeter for groups of 6 or 7 juvenile and young adult Hartley guineapigs, golden hamsters or weanling American Dutch rabbits, of 13 or 14 Leghorn chickens within 12 h of hatching, and by running wheel for groups of 8 guineapigs or hamsters. All except chickens had time to adapt to the measuring device, then one group of each species was deprived of food, one of water, and one was not deprived, until all those deprived were dead. Without food, in the stabilimeter, activity of chickens increased definitely, that of guineapigs and hamsters increased then decreased, and that of rabbits did not increase. In the wheel, activity of guineapigs and hamsters increased markedly and that of guineapigs remained high longer than in the stabilimeter. Without water, all mammals in either device became progressively less active and this was most apparent in the most active, that is, rabbits in the stabilimeter and hamsters in the wheel. Chickens generally became more active than without food; with either deprivation their activity rose to a peak on the 4th day then fell sharply. Loss per cent of initial bodyweight occurred at about the same rate without food as without water within species, and the rate differed little between species. Most survived deprivation until at least 30% of initial bodyweight was lost; rabbits and hamsters lived 30% longer without water than without food but guineapigs lived as long without one as the other. Hamsters lived much longer in the stabilimeter than in the wheel.