Characteristics of Rabbit Food-Procuring Behavior as an Indicator of Changes in the Level of Hunger Motivation

Abstract

We proposed new method for measuring dynamic changes in hunger motivation in rabbits in the course of satisfaction of nutritional need by weight, time, and rate parameters of effective food-procuring behavior. Transformation of the amount of food eaten into the electric signals was performed using electronic weighing machine incorporated into hardware and software system. The most conclusive characteristic for decrease in hunger motivation in the course of first effective food-procuring act was the period of food-procuring cycles, which values increase significantly as animal satisfies its nutritional need, whereas amount of the food consumed for each food-procuring cycle remains constant. Integral characteristics of food-procuring behavior reflect higher level of food motivation in the course of first effective food-procuring act in comparison to the subsequent ones.