A hyperlipidemia-and-atherosclerosis-prone (LAP) quail model was developed by dietary cholesterol feeding through genetic selection of commercially available (CA) Japanese quail. The response of serum lipids and the aortic wall to dietary cholesterol feeding was compared in CA and LAP quails. Ten groups were fed a combination diet with different levels of cholesterol and corn oil for 12 weeks. In CA quail, dietary feeding of cholesterol only failed to induce significant hypercholesterolemia or atherosclerotic lesion. The respective optimal dietary levels of cholesterol and corn oil to induce hyperlipidemia and atherosclerotic lesion, were 2% and 15%, respectively. Ad-libitum feeding of only 0.5% cholesterol without corn oil induced significant hypercholesterolemia and aortic atherosclerosis in LAP quail. The main proliferating cellular component of the aortic atherosclerotic lesion was phenotypically transformed fibroblasts from medial fibroblasts. These results suggest that the LAP quail is a useful animal model for the study of atherosclerosis.