Amino acids as the building blocks of proteins are presumed to have an importance in food selection and species with a low protein diet need to be able to maintain their protein requirements.

The aim of this project was to assess the sensitivity of the sense of taste in spider monkeys for L-amino acids by determining taste preference thresholds. A comparison between the threshold values among different species should allow for the assessment of possible correlations between dietary habits and taste sensitivity.

Using a two bottle preference test, four spider monkeys were tested for their ability to discriminate various concentrations of six L-amino acids from plain water until they reach their taste detection thresholds.