diff --git a/rest_framework/negotiation.py b/rest_framework/negotiation.py
index ca1b59f12..32e01ef38 100644
--- a/rest_framework/negotiation.py
+++ b/rest_framework/negotiation.py
@@ -93,5 +93,11 @@ class DefaultContentNegotiation(BaseContentNegotiation):
         Given the incoming request, return a tokenized list of media
         type strings.
         """
-        header = request.META.get('HTTP_ACCEPT', '*/*')
+        header = request.META.get('HTTP_ACCEPT')
+        if not header:
+            if 'headers' in request.META.keys():
+                header = request.META['headers'].get('Accept', '*/*')
+            else:
+                header = '*/*'
+
         return [token.strip() for token in header.split(',')]