Refinement Database

Database on Refinement of Housing, Husbandry, Care, and Use of Animals in Research

This database, created in 2000, is updated every four months with newly published scientific articles, books, and other publications related to improving or safeguarding the welfare of animals used in research.

Tips for using the database:

  • This landing page displays all of the publications in the database.
  • Use the drop-down menus to filter these publications by Animal Type, Setting, and/or Topic.
  • Clicking on a parent category (e.g., Rodent) will include publications relating to all the items in that category (e.g., Chinchilla, Gerbil, Guinea Pig, etc.).
  • You may also add a keyword to further narrow your search.
  • Please note that at this time, only publications dated 2010 or later (with some exceptions) can be filtered by Animal Type and Topic, and only publications dated 2020 or later (with some exceptions) can be filtered by Setting. Most publications older than 2010 can only be searched by keyword. 
Kohler, W. 1927. The Intelligence of Apes. Metheun, London, UK.

It is hardly an exaggeration to say that a chimpanzee kept in solitude is not a real chimpanzee at all.

Richter, C. P. 1927. Animal behavior and internal drives. Comparative Psychology Monographs 1, 1-55.

Rats run up to 43 km/24 h in running wheels.

Hadley, C. V. D. 1927. Transfer experiments with guinea-pigs. British Journal of Psychology 18, 189-224.
Yerkes, R. M. 1925. Almost Human. Jonathan Cape, London, UK.

Almost all of the primates like companionship, but there is good reason to believe that the gorilla cannot live normally without it. He becomes sulky, despondent, and - like chimpanzees or orang-utans captured when adult...

Nicholls, E. E. 1922. A study of the spontaneous activity of guinea pigs. Journal of Comparative Psychology 2, 303-330.
Köhler, W. 1921. Intelligenzprüfungen an Menschenaffen. Springer Verlag, Berlin, Germany.

Chimpanzees readily use tools in most intelligent ways to retrieve food items.

Hammett, F. S. 1921. Studies of the thyroid apparatus. I. The stability of the nervous system as a factor in the resistance of the albino rat to the loss of the parathyroid secretion. American Journal of Physiology 56, 196-204.

The relative mortality subsequent to thyroparathyroidectomy and parathyroidectomy of rats was much lower (13%) in animals who had been handled compared with animals who had not been handled (79%).

Davies, C. J. 1912. Fancy Mice, Fifth Edition. L Upcott Gill, London, UK.

Adult males, on the other hand, must be housed separately, for, if put together, they will fight to the death. As already mentioned, young males of the same litter if never separated from birth may...

Basedow, H. 1906. Anthropological notes on the western coastal tribes of the Northern Territory of South Australia. Tansactions of the Royal Society of South Australia 31, 1-62.
Hallopeau, H. 1894. Sur un nouveau cas de trichotillomanie. Annales de Dermatologie et de Syphiligraphie 5, 541-543.

Suggests that trichotillomania is a type of insanity which lacks a cure.

Hallopeau, H. 1889. Alopecie par grattage (trichomania ou trichotillomania). Annales de Dermatologie et de Syphiligraphie 10, 440-441.

Suggests the term trichotillomania .

Tardif, S. D., Bales, K., Williams, L. et al. 2006. Preparing New World monkeys for laboratory research. ILAR Journal 47(4), 307-315.

New World monkeys represent an important but often poorly understood research resource. The relatively small size and low zoonotic risk of these animals make them appealing as research subjects in a number of areas. However...