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. 
Pierard, M., McGreevy, P., Geers, R. 2019. Effect of density and relative aggressiveness on agonistic and affiliative interactions in a newly formed group of horses. Journal of Veterinary Behavior 29, 61-69.

Group housing provides horses with social contact, a lack of which is associated with health and behavior problems. Despite the benefits of group housing for horses, horse owners are concerned about aggression and resulting injuries...

Heyworth, C. 2019. Inventive enrichment to facilitate weight gain in the common marmoset (Callithrix jacchus) during invasive studies. Laboratory Animal Science Professional 7(4) (December), 38-41.

To provide the highest standard of care to marmosets during invasive surgical studies, studies that often lead to weight loss, it is paramount to call upon inherent species-specific enrichment tactics to mitigate weight loss. Weight...

Brown, J. L., Carlstead, K., Bray, J. D. et al. 2019. Individual and environmental risk factors associated with fecal glucocorticoid metabolite concentrations in zoo-housed Asian and African elephants. PLOS ONE 14(9), e0217326.

A recent large-scale welfare study in North America involving 106 Asian (Elephas maximus) and 131 African (Loxodonta africana) elephants at 64 accredited facilities identified links (i.e., risk factors) between zoo environmental factors and a number...

Bučková, K., Špinka, M., Hintze, S. 2019. Pair housing makes calves more optimistic. Scientific Reports 9, 20246.

Individual housing of dairy calves is common farm practice, but has negative effects on calf welfare. A compromise between practice and welfare may be housing calves in pairs. We compared learning performances and affective states...

Green, A., Clark, C., Favaro, L. et al. 2019. Vocal individuality of Holstein-Friesian cattle is maintained across putatively positive and negative farming contexts. Scientific Reports 9, 18468.

Cattle mother-offspring contact calls encode individual-identity information; however, it is unknown whether cattle are able to maintain individuality when vocalising to familiar conspecifics over other positively and negatively valenced farming contexts. Accordingly, we recorded 333...

Leeds, A., Lukas, K. E. 2019. Monitoring the social behavior of a bachelor mandrill (Mandrillus sphinx) dyad participating in touchscreen-mediated cognitive testing. Zoo Biology 38(4), 397-402.

Cognitive testing of primates in zoos is becoming increasingly common. Cognition experiments are generally thought to be beneficial as they provide participants with an opportunity to engage in species-specific cognitive functioning, perhaps more so than...

Cox, R. J., Nol, P., Ellis, C. K. et al. 2019. Research with agricultural animals and wildlife. ILAR Journal 60(1), 66-73.

In fiscal year 2016, agricultural animals such as swine, sheep, goats, and cattle represented 10% of the 820 812 animals used in USDA-regulated research. In addition to traditional agricultural animals, research studies using captive wildlife...

Manteca Vilanova, X., De Briyne, N., Beaver, B. et al. 2019. Horse welfare during equine chorionic gonadotropin (eCG) production. Animals 9(12), 1053.

Collection of blood from pregnant mares for extraction of equine chorionic gonadotropin (eCG) is a critical but relatively unknown and poorly regulated practice in the countries in which it occurs. Equine chorionic gonadotropin is a...

Wooddell, L. J., Beisner, B., Hannibal, Darcy L. et al. 2019. Increased produce enrichment reduces trauma in socially-housed captive rhesus macaques (Macaca mulatta). American Journal of Primatology 81(12), e23073.

Due to primate adaptations for sociality, captive rhesus macaques have optimal welfare and utility as a biomedical model when they can be maintained in outdoor social groups. As a despotic species; however, aggression can result...

Mather, J. A., Carere, C. 2019. Consider the individual: Personality and welfare in invertebrates. In: The Welfare of Invertebrate Animals. Carere, C., Mather, J. (eds), 229-245. Springer, Cham.

Personality, defined as consistent between-individual variation in clusters of behavioral traits independent of factors such as age or sex, emerges in most animal species tested so far. The number of invertebrate species discovered to have...

Schiffmann, C., Clauss, M. 2019. Impact of a new exhibit on stereotypic behavior in an elderly captive African elephant. Journal of Zoo and Aquarium Research 7(1), 37-43.

Stereotypic behavior in zoo elephants is considered an indicator of impaired welfare. The underlying causes are diverse and many aspects are still unexplored. Nevertheless, many zoological institutions take huge efforts to improve the well-being of...

Mason, S., Premereur, E., Pelekanos, V. et al. 2019. Effective chair training methods for neuroscience research involving rhesus macaques (Macaca mulatta). Journal of Neuroscience Methods 317, 82-93.

Background: Neuroscience research using macaques remains fundamental in our endeavours to understand how the human brain functions. Applying the refinement principle of the 3Rs is essential to optimise the monkeys’ welfare and still produces high...

McGreevy, P., Berger, J., de Brauwere, N. et al. 2018. Using the five domains model to assess the adverse impacts of husbandry, veterinary, and equitation interventions on horse welfare. Animals 8(3), 41.

The aim of this study was to conduct a series of paper-based exercises in order to assess the negative (adverse) welfare impacts, if any, of common interventions on domestic horses across a broad range of...

Stammen, R. L., Cohen, J. K., Meeker, T. L. et al. 2018. Effect of chronic social stress on prenatal transfer of antitetanus immunity in captive breeding rhesus macaques (Macaca mulatta). JAALAS 57(4), 357-367.

Because tetanus can cause significant morbidity and mortality in NHP, colonywide vaccination with tetanus toxoid is recommended for outdoor breeding colonies of rhesus macaques, with primary immunizations commonly given to infants at 6 mo of...

Hannibal, D. L., Cassidy, L. C.,Vandeleest, J. et al. 2018. Intermittent pair-housing, pair relationship qualities, and HPA activity in adult female rhesus macaques. American Journal of Primatology 80(5), e22762.

Laboratory rhesus macaques are often housed in pairs and may be temporarily or permanently separated for research, health, or management reasons. While both long‐term social separations and introductions can stimulate a stress response that impacts...

Coke, C., Skoumbourdis, E., Rodgers, J. C. et al. 2018. Blunting/cutting canines of adult male monkeys: A discussion by the Laboratory Animal Refinement & Enrichment Forum. Animal Technology & Welfare 17(2), 105-107.

"When you keep adult Rhesus macaque (Macaca mulatta) males, adult Cynomolgus (Macaca fascicularis) males or adult Vervet males (Chlorocebus pygerythrus), in the same enclosure, is it advisable to have the canines of the males blunted...

Zomeño, C., Birolo, M., Gratta, F. et al. 2018. Effects of group housing system, pen floor type, and lactation management on performance and behaviour in rabbit does. Applied Animal Behaviour Science 203, 55-63.

This work aimed at evaluating the effects of housing system, pen floor type, and lactation management on rabbit doe and kit performance throughout a reproductive cycle, including categorization of aggressiveness and injuries. Forty multiparous pregnant...

Duarte, R. B., Maior, R. S., Barros, M. 2018. Behavioral and cortisol responses of adult marmoset monkeys (Callithrix penicillata) to different home-cage social disruption intervals. Applied Animal Behaviour Science 201, 117-124.

Social separation is an increasingly used strategy to experimentally assess psychogenic stress in nonhuman primates, yet it is also inherently required for captive management. Surprisingly, little is known on the effects of an individual left...

Gottlieb, D. H., Del Rosso, L, Sheikhi, F. et al. 2018. Personality, environmental stressors, and diarrhea in Rhesus macaques: An interactionist perspective. American Journal of Primatology 80(12), e22908.

Previous research has repeatedly shown both personality and psychological stress to predict gastrointestinal disorders and chronic diarrhea in humans. The goal of the present research was to evaluate the role of personality, as well as...

Linden, J.B., Capitanio, J.P., McCowan, B. et al. 2018. Coping style and cortisol levels in infancy predict hair cortisol following new group formation in captive rhesus macaques (Macaca mulatta). American Journal of Primatology 80(12), e22938.

Social instability in primate groups has been used as a model to understand how social stress affects human populations. While it is well established that individual cercopithecines have different temperaments or personalities, little is known...

Moomaw, H., Abney, D., Duffy, A. et al. 2018. A successful strategy for social housing adult male cynomolgus macaques in triads. American Journal of Primatology 80(S1), 31-32 (40th Meeting of the American Society of Primatologists Scientific Program, Abstract #62).

At Charles River, we are committed to ensuring all animals have the highest level of care and welfare. For juvenile, subadult and adult female cynomolgus macaques (Macaca fascicularis), we have a near 100% success rate...

Truelove, M. A., Martin, A. L., Perlman, J. E. et al. 2018. Behavioral predictors of successful pairing of rhesus macaques (Macaca mulatta) at the visual contact phase of social introduction. American Journal of Primatology 80(S1), 32 (40th Meeting of the American Society of Primatologists Scientific Program, Abstract #65).

Identification of behaviors early in the process of rhesus macaque social introductions that might predict social housing success would allow primate managers to best allocate resources and minimize animal stress by aborting introductions unlikely to...

Crast, J., Seelig, D., Meeker, T. L. et al. 2018. Rhesus monkey (Macaca mulatta) groups with more non-natal adult males per adult female have lower rates of aggression-induced trauma and greater reproductive success. American Journal of Primatology 80(S1), 45 (40th Meeting of the American Society of Primatologists Scientific Program, Abstract #140).

Limiting contact aggression and social stress is a principal animal welfare challenge in managing large groups of captive nonhuman primates. This challenge is especially pronounced in rhesus monkeys (macaca mulatta), a species characterized by a...

Heagerty, A. L., Coleman, K. 2018. Amount and reciprocity of affiliative behaviors can predict pairing success in captive rhesus macaques (Macaca mulatta). American Journal of Primatology 80(S1), 47 (40th Meeting of the American Society of Primatologists Scientific Program, Abstract #148).

Socialization is one of the most important forms of enrichment for rhesus macaques. However, pair introductions can result in aggression and injury if partners are incompatible, even days after the initial introduction. Identifying predictors of...

Hanniba, D., Beisner, B., Nathman, A. et al. 2018. Removals based on low within-matriline relatedness can reduce severe aggression in captive rhesus macaques. American Journal of Primatology 80(S1), 48 (40th Meeting of the American Society of Primatologists Scientific Program, Abstract #151).

Previous observational research of captive rhesus macaques suggests that higher coefficients of relatedness within matrilines are associated with lower rates of severe within‐matriline aggression and more cohesive grooming communities. We tested whether experimental removals targeted...