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. 
Takeshita, R. S. C. 2022. Validation of an enzyme immunoassay for measurement of fecal dehydroepiandrosterone sulfate in gibbons and siamangs. Zoo Biology 41(6), 544–553.

Monitoring wildlife stress levels is essential to ensure their quality of life in captivity or in the wild. One promising method to assess the stress response is the comeasurement of glucocorticoids (GC) and dehydroepiandrosterone sulfate...

Yamanashi, Y., Nemoto, K., Alejandro, J. 2021. Social relationships among captive male pygmy slow lorises (Nycticebus pygmaeus): Is forming male same-sex pairs a feasible management strategy? American Journal of Primatology 83, e23233.

Little is known about the social behavior of pygmy slow lorises, in particular, the social relationships of same‐sex individuals have rarely been investigated. The Slow Loris Conservation Center was built at the Japan Monkey Center...

Navarro-Castilla, A., Garrido, M., Hawlena, H. et al. 2021. Non-invasive monitoring of adrenocortical activity in three sympatric desert gerbil species. Animals 11(1), 75.

The study of the endocrine status can be useful to understand wildlife responses to the changing environment. Here, we validated an enzyme immunoassay (EIA) to non-invasively monitor adrenocortical activity by measuring fecal corticosterone metabolites (FCM)...

Idris, M., Uddin, J., Sullivan, M. et al. 2021. Non-invasive physiological indicators of heat stress in cattle. Animals 11(1), 71.

Cattle are susceptible to heat stress, especially those kept on high levels of nutrition for the purpose of maximising growth rates, which leads to a significant heat increment in their bodies. Consequences include compromised health...

Kim, S., Hidaka, Y. 2021. Breathing pattern analysis in cattle using infrared thermography and computer vision. Animals 11(1), 207.

Breathing patterns can be considered a vital sign providing health information. Infrared thermography is used to evaluate breathing patterns because it is non-invasive. Our study used not only sequence temperature data but also RGB images...

Wang, M., Youssef, Al., Larsen, M. et al. 2021. Contactless video-based heart rate monitoring of a resting and an anesthetized pig. Animals 11(2), 442.

Heart rate (HR) is a vital bio-signal that is relatively easy to monitor with contact sensors and is related to a living organism’s state of health, stress and well-being. The objective of this study was...

Rox, A., van Vliet, A. H., Langermans, J. A. M. et al. 2021. A stepwise male introduction procedure to prevent inbreeding in naturalistic macaque breeding groups. Animals 11(2), 545.

Male introductions into captive primate breeding groups can be risky and unsuccessful. However, they are necessary to prevent inbreeding in naturalistic breeding groups. The procedure used to introduce new individuals may affect the success and...

Norscia, I., Collarini, E.,Cordoni, G. 2021. Anxiety behavior in pigs (Sus scrofa) decreases through affiliation and may anticipate threat. Frontiers in Veterinary Science 8, 630164.

Anxiety is a physio-psychological state anticipating an imminent threat. In social mammals it is behaviorally expressed via displacement activities and buffered via affiliation. Anxiety research on domestic pigs (Sus scrofa) has mostly focused on abnormal/stereotypic...

Wiechers, D.-H., Brunner, S., Herbrandt, S. et al. 2021. Analysis of hair cortisol as an indicator of chronic stress in pigs in two different farrowing systems. Frontiers in Veterinary Science 8, 605078.

Confinement to farrowing crates is known to prevent sows from performing natural behavior, impairing animal welfare and possibly causing chronic stress. Hair cortisol analyses are increasingly used to detect chronic stress in animals. In the...

Bailey, K. L., Young, L. A., Long, C. E. et al. 2021. Use of introduction enclosures to integrate multimale cohorts into groups of female rhesus macaques (Macaca mulatta). JAALAS 60(1), 103-111.

Integrating animals into a new group is a challenge for both free-ranging and captive adult male rhesus monkeys (Macaca mulatta), and for females in groups receiving new males. To ensure the genetic viability of the...

Bader, L., Janavaris, M., Coleman, K. et al. 2021. It takes a village: A case study in improving animal welfare with a team approach. Laboratory Animal Science Professional 9(1) (January/February), 38-40.

There are many factors that need to be considered when caring for groups of nonhuman primates (NHPs) in research, including clinical, behavioral, and scientific issues. Otherwise, there is the potential that decisions are made without...

Funkhouser, J. A., Mayhew, J. A., Mulcahy, J. et al. 2021. Human caregivers are integrated social partners for captive chimpanzees. Primates 62(2), 297–309.

In a captive environment, it is challenging to ensure the highest level of social and psychological well-being for species with naturally complex social organizations and structures. There is a growing need to meet the social...

Kovács, L., Kézér, F. L., Bodó, S. et al. 2021. Salivary cortisol as a non-invasive approach to assess stress in dystocic dairy calves. Scientific Reports 11(1), 6200.

The intensity and the magnitude of saliva cortisol responses were investigated during the first 48 h following birth in newborn dairy calves which underwent normal (eutocic, EUT, n = 88) and difficult (dystocic, DYS, n = 70) calvings. The...

Leeds, A., Boyer, D., Ross, S. R. et al. 2021. Patterns of wounding in mixed-sex social groups of western lowland gorillas (Gorilla gorilla gorilla). Applied Animal Behaviour Science 236, 105226.

Long-term, multi-institutional assessments have become a reliable tool for evaluating patterns of wounding in zoo-living primates, with results informing on best practices for species-specific care protocols and population management strategies. For western lowland gorillas (Gorilla...

Camerlink, I., Proßegger, C., Kubala, D. et al. 2021. Keeping littermates together instead of social mixing benefits pig social behaviour and growth post-weaning. Applied Animal Behaviour Science 235, 105230.

The importance of social stability and its influence on the expression of the social behaviour repertoire in domestic animals remains poorly understood, especially for affiliative behaviours and other putative socio-positive behaviours such as social play...

Robinson, L. M., Waran, N. K., Handel, I. et al. 2021. Happiness, welfare, and personality in rhesus macaques (Macaca mulatta). Applied Animal Behaviour Science 236, 105268.

When we treat an animal’s welfare as an individual experience, we should consider the possibility that it may be associated with individual differences in personality. We tested for such associations in 44 socially housed rhesus...

Prior, H., Holbrook, M. 2021. Strategies to encourage the adoption of social housing during cardiovascular telemetry recordings in non-rodents. Journal of Pharmacological and Toxicological Methods 108, 106959.

The National Centre for the Replacement, Refinement and Reduction of Animals in Research (NC3Rs) is working with industry to promote social housing during cardiovascular telemetry recordings within non-rodent safety pharmacology and toxicology studies. Following surveys...

Cowl, V. B., Walker, S. L., Shultz, S. 2021. Reproductive males are effective at managing conflict in captive Sulawesi crested macaques (Macaca nigra). American Journal of Primatology 83(7), e23266.

Group size, density, and composition significantly influence the expression of agonism and, as demography is frequently manipulated in captivity, natural mechanisms of conflict management may be disrupted. Here, we examine how changes to the social...

Sørensen, D., Cloutier, S., Gaskill, B. (Eds.). 2021. Animal-centric Care and Management - Enhancing Refinement in Biomedical Research. CRC Press, Boca Raton, FL.

The concept of the 3Rs (Refinement, Reduction and Replacement) has been used as a framework for improving the welfare of laboratory animals for the last half century. By establishing an animal-centric view on housing and...

Mahendran, S. A., Wathes, D. C., Booth, R. E. et al. 2021. The health and behavioural effects of individual versus pair housing of calves at different ages on a UK commercial dairy farm. Animals 11(3), 612.

Housing management of dairy calves is one of the factors that contributes to a successful rearing outcome. Individual housing of pre-weaned calves is thought to provide enhanced biosecurity and easier monitoring of the individual, and...

Schmid, S. M., Büscher, W., Steinhoff-Wagner, J. 2021. Suitability of different thermometers for measuring body core and skin temperatures in suckling piglets. Animals 11(4), 1004.

Monitoring the temperature of piglets after birth is critical to ensure their well-being. Rectal temperature measurement is time-consuming, requires fixation of the animal and is stressful for piglets. This study aims to evaluate the effectiveness...

Liu, X., Song, P., Yan, H. et al. 2021. Comparison of the behavior, physiology, and offspring resilience of gestating sows when raised in a group housing system and individual stalls. Animals 11(7), 2076.

Being in a confined environment causes chronic stress in gestating sows, which is detrimental for sow health, welfare and, consequently, offspring physiology. This study assessed the health and welfare of gestating sows housed in a...

Ji, W., Bi, Y., Cheng, Z. et al. 2021. Impact of early socialization environment on social behavior, physiology and growth performance of weaned piglets. Applied Animal Behaviour Science 238, 105314.

Weaning and mixing cause substantial social stress among piglets and frequently lead to stress, injury, inflammation, immunosuppression and growth retardation. This study aimed to investigate the effects of different early social environments on social behavior...

Zhang, C., Juniper, D. T., Meagher, R. K. 2021. Effects of physical enrichment items and social housing on calves’ growth, behaviour and response to novelty. Applied Animal Behaviour Science 237, 105295.

The objective of this study was to determine the effects of social housing, the provision of physical enrichment, and the interaction between the two on calf growth, behaviour and fearfulness. Forty-eight calves were randomly allocated...

Bailey, K. L., Bloomsmith, M. A., Michopoulos, V. et al. 2021. Influence of female coalitionary aggressive behavior on the success of male introductions to female groups of rhesus macaques (Macaca Mulatta). Applied Animal Behaviour Science 237, 105293.

Migration patterns of wild rhesus macaque males are often mimicked in captivity by introducing unfamiliar males to female groups every few years. This strategy prevents inbreeding and has been shown to encourage group stability once...