Poison Aversion and Sexual Behavior in the Golden Hamster

Abstract

Disruption of 10 male Golden hamsters sexual behavior following pairing of lithium chloride poisoning and female vaginal secretion was studied using male and female hamsters that had been isolated for 5 wk. prior to poisoning. Sniff/lick latencies were longer for poisoned males than for controls but mount times and intromission times were unaffected. These results are consistent with cue-uniqueness effects and also demonstrate conditioned aversion to olfactory sexual cues is not necessarily sufficient to disrupt the male sexual response sequence.