Tolerance to Sodium Monofluoroacetate in Dasyurids in Western Australia.

Abstract

The tolerances to sodium fluoroacetate (1080) were estimated for Dasyurus geoffroii (LD*50, ca. 7.5 mg 1080 kg-1), D. hallucatus (ca. 7.5 mg kg-1), Antechinus flavipes (ca. 11.0 mg kg-1) and Phascogale calura (ca. 17.5 mg kg-1) from Western Australia and comparisons were made with D. viverrinus (ca. 1.5 mg kg-1) and A. flavipes (ca. 3.5 mg kg-1) from south-eastern Australia. The species from Western Australia have had evolutionary exposure to naturally occurring fluoroacetate and were more tolerant to the toxin than dasyurids from south-eastern Australia, Presumably, they have acquired this tolerance through feeding on prey which had fed on plants containing fluoroacetate.