. The Canadian field-naturalist. 174 The Canadian Field-Naturalist Vol. 108. CORN E-WORM Figure 1. Mean rank preference scores for all Raccoons combined for both years (88 Raccoon/days, 1991; 76 Raccoon/days, 1992). Lower scores indicate more preferred items. Whiskers overlain onto bars represent ± 2 standard errors. corn in males more often than in females in all regions. While the differences we observed in food preferences between the sexes are interesting, the small sample size in this experiment (particularly females) precludes definitive conclusions. We recommend the elimination of incom
. The Canadian field-naturalist. 174 The Canadian Field-Naturalist Vol. 108. CORN E-WORM Figure 1. Mean rank preference scores for all Raccoons combined for both years (88 Raccoon/days, 1991; 76 Raccoon/days, 1992). Lower scores indicate more preferred items. Whiskers overlain onto bars represent ± 2 standard errors. corn in males more often than in females in all regions. While the differences we observed in food preferences between the sexes are interesting, the small sample size in this experiment (particularly females) precludes definitive conclusions. We recommend the elimination of incomplete tri- als in experiments such as this one in order to ensure that results from different studies measure the same degree of choice made by test animals. Experiments in which incomplete feeding trials are filled out with assigned ties (1) presume food choices not actually demonstrated by test animals and (2) hide possible deficiencies in procedures that make comparisons with this and other similar experiments invalid. Tests of the optimal diet theory normally rank foods based on calorie or mass units, associated han- dling time, and searching effort. The optimum diet is then determined by listing ranked foods in order from the highest down, until the ratio of a subse- quent food's value to its handling time becomes less than the net rate of consumption for all previously listed foods (Pyke et al. 1977). However, in addition to energy content, the currency used in dietary analy- ses should also include consideration of important constraints such as protein, mineral, and cellulose composition, as well as the presence of toxins and digestive inhibitors (Robbins 1983). While it would be interesting to calculate a predictive rank order for the foods used in this experiment based on optimal diet theory and compare that with observed results, nutritional assays of food items were beyond the scope of this investigation. Results presented here suggest that Raccoons are not purely o
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