Refinement Database

Data collection can help facilitate the progress of social housing programs within individual institutions and in the industry as a whole. One benefit is that it provides the ability to address preconceived ideas (“myths”) with...

Refinement of social housing practices is paramount to improving animal welfare in laboratory environments, especially with regard to non-human primates. Even though social housing of the same species should be considered the optimal paradigm, cynomolgus...

Social species of nonhuman primates, such as macaques, should be given the opportunity for social access to conspecifics. In captive laboratory settings, creating a system to provide this opportunity can be challenging, especially concerning sexually...

Regulatory mandates promoting the psychologic wellbeing and addressing the social needs of nonhuman primates have been well described. In response to these directives, in 1992, we initially reported a successful group housing strategy for instrumented...

Group-housing of rabbit does may be preferred from welfare point of view. However, group-housing causes agonistic behaviour which may cause severe injuries. Severe injuries may be prevented by offering hiding places for attacked does. Providing...

Pairing laboratory macaques is a high priority goal for many behavioral management programs. There are numerous methodological differences in introduction procedures across facilities, including the intermediate stages used between single housing and full contact. A...

In a biomedical research environment, research or management procedures may render continuous full contact pairing of rhesus macaques (Macaca mulatta) unfeasible. This study aimed to determine whether separation on a frequent basis or housing in...

At Charles River Laboratories, we are committed to ensuring all animals have the highest level of care and welfare. To this end, our social housing program includes placing all nonhuman primates in pairs or groups...

We are committed to ensuring all our animals have the highest level of care and welfare. To this end, our social housing program includes placing all animals in pairs or groups. We have a rate...

Social isolation is associated with depression, anxiety and negative health outcomes. Environmental enrichment, including environmental and cognitive stimulation with inanimate objects and opportunities for physical exercise, may be an effective strategy to include in treatment...

Early social housing is known to benefit cognitive development in laboratory animals. Pre-weaned dairy calves are typically separated from their dam immediately after birth and housed alone, but no work to date has addressed the...

The question of whether it is better to house animals in groups rather than alone deals with the unresolved issues at the heart of animal welfare. In particular, we need to be able to rank...

Although rabbit does are generally single housed on rabbit farms worldwide, it has been suggested by some specialists and recommendation of organic rabbit production systems that group housing of does is more comfortable and similar...

Primates are notable for having a rich and detailed understanding of their social environment and there has been great interest in the evolution and function of social knowledge in primates. Indeed, primates have been shown...

Animal welfare regulations have required social housing of primates for more than two decades, although many veterinary and scientific exemptions have been approved with oversight by Institutional Animal Care and Use Committees (IACUCs). In recent...

In research centers that study primates, pairing unfamiliar subjects is the most costly and difficult problem that staff face. Recent studies in adult rhesus macaques suggest that social competence and sociality, as measured by ease...

This is the third volume of discussions that took place on the Laboratory Animal Refinement & Enrichment Forum (LAREF). This forum is dedicated to the exchange of personal experiences of refining the conditions under which...

Recently, there has been an increase in the implementation of social housing as an effective behavioral management strategy to improve the psychological well-being of captive nonhuman primates. Social housing nonhuman primates with conspecifics provides many...

Captive rhesus macaques sometimes exhibit undesirable abnormal behaviors, such as motor stereotypic behavior (MSB) and self-abuse. Many risk factors for these behaviors have been identified but the list is far from comprehensive, and large individual...

To ensure both regulatory compliance and high animal welfare standards a program was initiated in our facility to allow sexually mature male macaques the opportunity for social housing. Historically, there had been concern over social...

The eighth edition of the Guide for the Care and Use of Laboratory Animals (the Guide) states that appropriate social interaction among members of the same species is essential for normal animal development and wellbeing...

Social enrichment is increasingly employed to improve the welfare of laboratory animals, including rabbits. However, the high levels of injurious aggression that can occur when unfamiliar adult rabbits are introduced to one another are a...

Goat enrichment can be incredibly rewarding, not only for the goat, but for personnel as well. In our facility, we often refer to goatenrichment tasks as technician (or vet!) enrichment. Somewhere in the evolutionary development...

Fear in farm animals has been extensively studied because of its close relation to animal welfare. Numerous studies have categorized the behavioral responses of animals to stimuli that can elicit a fear reaction under social...

Social housing of nonhuman primates (NHP) in an infectious disease setting presents unique challenges, and individual housing is often scientifically justified. At our institute, we recognized an opportunity to limit individual housing to the minimal...