Animals’ sensitivity to taste varies widely by species, but animals do have food preferences and many have taste buds.
Animals also seek out food based on consistency, color and smell.
Certain snakes that have poor eyesight have powerful receptors for the heat of their prey and make their choices based on that, and some animals seek out special nutrients.
Because the diet of zoo animals like lions is prepared to provide certain levels of vitamins and minerals, their preferences are not the best guide to what a lion would eat in the wild.
That would usually be what they can catch, for example, small hoofed stock like antelopes.
Animals may sense whether what they are about to eat is rotten, but whether they will select against it, we don’t necessarily know.
They usually prefer fresh.
As for wolves, they are close relatives of the domestic dog, and it is assumed that their taste buds are somewhat similar.
The gusto shown, however, depends on when they last ate.
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