Operant Conditioning of Virginia Opossum

Laboratory-raised Virginia opossum have been found to readily acquire a lever-press response for water reinforcement. Fixed ratio behavior is comparable to that observed in other species. Fixed interval behavior, however, tends to move fairly rapidly toward an economical response style in which very few responses are emitted per reinforcement. Neither introduction of limited hold procedures nor lengthening of the deprivation schedule had any effect upon the FI responding.