this post was submitted on 05 Aug 2025
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iirc mice don't have the same response to capsaicin as humans - they can taste it, and don't particularly like the taste, but it doesn't cause them pain like it does in humans.
I'm sure birds are immune as well as Steve-O, can't say for sure of rodents.
From a tiny amount of reading (and a complete lack of a biology degree...) it's that the rodent taste buds just react differently to the capsaicin, so it doesn't hit the sodium channels in the pain receptor 'stack' in the same way as it does in humans. It's not the total lack of reaction like you get with birds or some ungulates.
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I think.
As a self proclaimed "marine biologist," I can neither confirm nor deny.
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This is interesting. A popular squirrel deterrent for bird feeders is to put spicy stuff on the seed. Iβve been trying that lately and the squirrels have completely left my bird feeder alone. So there must be something rodents donβt like β unless squirrels are just built different?
Squirrels just need to nut up.
I thought all mammals responded to capsaicin
Seeing the videos of goats just casually chomping through the carolina reapers, I would bet there are differences in species.
Sharks aren't bothered at all. There's probably lots of animals that respond differently than humans. I believe birds enjoy capsaicin.
I was mostly referencing the mammals, because that was the top comment, but sure.
Just putting interesting info out there. Kinda weird to seem defensive over that?
I mean airplanes are immune to capsaicin as well. I don't think they have the right type of pain receptors to sense it.
Not like Lemmy needs more engagement or anything but sure, no harmless tangents allowed. Got it. You guys have fun. I'm taking a break from Lemmy.
You thought right, at least based on this research:
capsaicin as a rodent aversion agent
I assume so. I have had critters gorging on my ghosts and reapers in the garden. Losing an entire plant overnight was the last straw so I have webbing up now, but they were clearly unaffected.
Lost a plant with peppers on it? I wonder what OG was eating that.
Well I didn't lose it, it just got FUBARed by something big. Either landed on it or tried to take it away. All peppers gone too, right when they were starting to turn red :(
Lame
By this researcher they do feel the "pain" from it:
capsaicin as a rodent aversion agent
Am I just missing where they claim that? From the conclusion:
That they avoid the taste has nothing inherently to do with the 'pain' experienced as a result of consuming it - in the preceding section they discuss other strategies to increase bait acceptance, including adding rodenticide to preferred bait foods. That rodents have taste preferences isn't really in question, that they have a pain response to consuming capsaicin is.
here is test that uses pain caused by capsicin to test local anesthesia:
orofacial capsaicin test in rats
Does this prove that capsicium causes pain?
Edit some more research regarding the rodents:
Tree shrews can tolerate hot peppers:
Changes in TRPV1-Mediated Physiological Function in Rats Systemically Treated With Capsaicin on the Neonate
The question was never if subcutaneous injections of capsaicin produce a pain reaction, nor how the effects of neonatal exposure to capsaicin effect the development of a rats life (even if there are impacts on the sensitivity of a response in TRPV1 as a result, your second link pretty clearly establishes that that is not a strong indicator of pain response to capsaicin in rodents, though it doesn't go on to establish specifics thereof). Neither of those have to do with the consumption of capsaicin, though the second article is pretty interesting! It doesn't establish a relationship between baseline "rodents" and TRPV1 response though, nor does it make any claims about severity of response or exposure sensitivity (which are not the goals of the paper), but that may be because the only english copy I can find of the article is a fairly abbreviated version of the full chinese text (and I uh... do not read written chinese very well at all, let alone discussions of technical biology).
Combination of these two should show you that mice react similarly to human reactions to oral ingestion of capsicin:
Innate liking and disgust reactions elicited by intraoral capsaicin in male mice
Acute oral toxicity of capsaicin in mice
Okay, I'm starting to question if you're reading the articles you're bringing out here?
First paper states in the abstract that it isn't measuring a pain response, the paper goes on to clarify that (and has some pretty horrifying descriptions of the surgical procedure...) and is explicit that any response is based on mouse behavior, making no attempt to compare it to human reactions (because that is a really tricky question to answer in a rigorous manner, lets be real)
The second is studying the LD-50 of capsaicin - and yeah I bet they had a pain response, since they were given so much of it some of them died of stomach ulcers. It does not at any point discuss the pain response from consuming it, beyond that they died, only the symptoms after consumption.
These are both fundamentally irrelevant to the topic at hand.