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. 
Ekesbo, I., Gunnarsson, S. 2018. Farm Animal Behaviour: Characteristics for Assessment and Welfare (2nd ed). CABI, Wallingford, UK.

Completely updated and revised, and with a new author team, this second edition of Farm Animal Behaviour continues to provide essential information on normal and stereotypic behaviors in a wide variety of farm animals to...

Tan, A. W. Y., Dominy, N. J. 2018. Validation of a noninvasive hair trapping method for extractive-foraging primates. Folia Primatologica 89(6), 415–422.

Hair is a useful source of biological information. For example, the bulb can be a source of high-quality genetic material, whereas the shaft can be useful for measuring heavy metals and some hormones, such as...

Cronin, K. A., Bethell, E. J., Jacobson, S. L. et al. 2018. Evaluating mood changes in response to anthropogenic noise with a response-slowing task in three species of zoo-housed primates. Animal Behavior and Cognition 5(2), 209–221.

In the zoo environment, anthropogenic noise is common as sound levels fluctuate due to visitors, construction, habitat design, and special events. In this study, changes in the mood of three species of zoo-housed primates in...

Reupke, V., Walliser, K., Perl, T. et al. 2017. Total intravenous anaesthesia using propofol and sufentanil allows controlled long-term ventilation in rabbits without neuromuscular blocking agents. Laboratory Animals 51(3), 284-291.

The aim of this study was to evaluate a total intravenous anaesthesia (TIVA) protocol using propofol and sufentanil without neuromuscular blocking agents (NBAs) for a non-recovery lung pathology study in rabbits including 10 h of...

Williams, M. D., Long, C. T., Durrant, J. R. et al. 2017. Oral transmucosal detomidine gel in New Zealand White rabbits (Oryctolagus cuniculus). JAALAS 56(4), 436-442.

Handling and restraining rabbits for routine procedures may be impossible without prior sedation, result in unnecessary stress or injury to the rabbit or handler, and increase experimental variability. Parenteral administration of sedatives can cause stress...

Chinnadurai, S. K., Johnson III, J. G., Langan, J. N. 2017. Comparison of 3 methods for preventing perianesthetic hypothermia in callimicos (Callimico goeldii). JAALAS 56(3), 318-321.

Perianesthetic hypothermia is one of the most common complications in veterinary anesthesia, especially in small patients with a large body surface area to mass ratio. During anesthesia, body heat can be lost through 4 mechanisms—radiation...

Johnston, J. M., Wilson, J. M., Smith, A. L. et al. 2017. Using a cageside device for testing glycosylated hemoglobin in cynomolgus macaques (Macaca fascicularis). JAALAS 56(1), 90-94.

Recording an accurate body temperature is important to assess an animal's health status. We compared temperature data from sedated cynomolgus macaques (Macaca fascicularis) to evaluate differences between rectal, infrared (inguinal and chest), and implanted telemetry...

Heagerty, A., Wales, R. A., Prongay, K. et al. 2017. Social hair pulling in captive rhesus macaques (Macaca mulatta). American Journal of Primatology 79(12), e22720.

Alopecia is common among captive populations of nonhuman primates. There are many potential causes of alopecia, including physiological conditions such as hormonal imbalance and infection, features of the captive environment such as housing type, ground...

Novak, M. A., Menard, M. T., El-Mallah, S. N. et al. 2017. Assessing significant (>30%) alopecia as a possible biomarker for stress in captive rhesus monkeys (Macaca mulatta). American Journal of Primatology 79(1), e22547.

Hair loss is common in macaque colonies. Very little is known about the relationship between psychological stress and hair loss. We initially examined alopecia and hair cortisol concentrations in 198 (89 male) rhesus macaques from...

Kroeker, R., Lee, G. H., Bellanca, R. U. et al. 2017. Prior facility affects alopecia in adulthood for rhesus macaques. American Journal of Primatology 79(1), e22551.

Alopecia has proven to be a persistent problem for captive macaques; many cases continue to elude explanations and effective treatments. Although almost all captive populations exhibit alopecia rates higher than those seen in the wild...

Dettmer, A. M., Rosenberg, K., Menard, M. T. et al. 2017. Differential relationships between chronic hormone profiles in pregnancy and maternal investment in rhesus monkey mothers with hair loss in the neonatal period. American Journal of Primatology 79(1), e22489.

Hair loss is commonly used as an indicator of well being in primate facilities, yet it has been shown to also occur in otherwise healthy pregnant and postpartum females. There is significant variability in the...

Martin, A. L. 2017. Theprimatologist as a behavioral engineer. American Journal of Primatology 79, e22500.

The field of primate behavior management has had only limited success in preventing and treating abnormal behaviors, such as stereotypy and self‐injury, in captive non‐human primates (NHP). In contrast, applied behavior analysts have had great...

Stanwicks, L. L., Hamel, A. F., Novak, M. A. 2017. Rhesus macaques (Macaca mulatta) displaying self-injurious behavior show more sleep disruption than controls. Applied Animal Behaviour Science 197, 62-67.

Self-injurious behavior (SIB) is a pathology observed in both humans and animals. In humans, SIB has been linked to various mental health conditions that are also associated with significant sleep disruption. In rhesus macaques, SIB...

Adams, S. C., Guyot, C. M., Berry, K. M. et al. 2017. Hypercortisolemia and depressive-like behaviors in a rhesus macaque (Macaca mulatta) involved in visual research. Comparative Medicine 67(6), 529–536.

A 10-y-old cranially implanted rhesus macaque (Macaca mulatta) involved in visual research was presented for dull mentation and weight loss. Physical examination revealed alopecia and poor body conditioning, and bloodwork revealed marked hypercortisolemia (23 μg/dL)...

Greenwell, P. J., Montrose, V. T. 2017. The gray matter: Prevention and reduction of abnormal behavior in companion gray parrots (Psittacus erithacus). Journal of Veterinary Behavior 20, 44-51.

Gray parrots (Psittacus erithacus) are popular companion birds, particularly noted for their ability to mimic human speech, their intelligence, and longevity. They are also prone to developing abnormal behaviors such as feather damaging behavior. This...

Rose, P. E., Nash, S. M., Riley, L. M. 2017. To pace or not to pace? A review of what abnormal repetitive behavior tells us about zoo animal management. Journal of Veterinary Behavior 20, 11-21.

Performance of abnormal repetitive behavior (ARB) is noted in many captive wild species. ARB can be categorized into 2 basic forms: those whose aim appears to be to compulsively reach an inappropriate goal and those...

Cooke, G. M. 2017. Stereotypic behavior is not limited to terrestrial taxa: A response to Rose et al. Journal of Veterinary Behavior 22, 17-18.

This comment is in response to a recent review of stereotypical behavior in captive exotic animals (Rose et al., 2017). Negative stereotypical behavior occurs across most if not all taxa, including notable aquatic invertebrates. A...

Marino, L. 2017. Thinking chickens: A review of cognition, emotion, and behavior in the domestic chicken. Animal Cognition 20(2), 127–147.

Domestic chickens are members of an order, Aves, which has been the focus of a revolution in our understanding of neuroanatomical, cognitive, and social complexity. At least some birds are now known to be on...

Schlüns, H., Welling, H., Federici, J. R. et al. 2017. The glass is not yet half empty: Agitation but not Varroa treatment causes cognitive bias in honey bees. Animal Cognition 20(2), 233–241.

Honey bees (Apis mellifera) are prone to judge an ambiguous stimulus negatively if they had been agitated through shaking which simulates a predator attack. Such a cognitive bias has been suggested to reflect an internal...

Cannon, T. H., Heistermann, M., Hankison, S. J. et al. 2016. Tailored enrichment strategies and stereotypic behavior in captive individually housed macaques (Macaca spp.). Journal of Applied Animal Welfare Science 19(2), 171-182.

The welfare of nonhuman animals in captivity is widely dependent on the natural psychological, physical, and behavioral needs of the animals and how adequately these needs are met. Inability to engage in natural behaviors can...

Prior, H., Bottomly, A., Champéroux, P. et al. 2016. Social housing of non-rodents during cardiovascular recordings in safety pharmacology and toxicology studies. Journal of Pharmacological and Toxicological Methods 81, 75-87.

Introduction: The Safety Pharmacology Society (SPS) and National Centre for the Replacement, Refinement & Reduction of Animals in Research (NC3Rs) conducted a survey and workshop in 2015 to define current industry practices relating to housing...

Gottlieb D. H., Maier, A., Coleman, K. 2015. Evaluation of environmental and intrinsic factors that contribute to stereotypic behavior in captive rhesus macaques (Macaca mulatta). Applied Animal Behaviour Science 171,184-91.

Full body repetitive behaviors, known as motor stereotypic behaviors (MSBs), are one of the most commonly seen abnormal behaviors in captive non-human primates, and are frequently used as a behavioral measure of well-being. The main...

Edgar, J., Held, S., Paul, E. et al. 2015. Social buffering in a bird. Animal Behaviour 105, 11-19.

The presence of a conspecific can ameliorate an individual's stress response. This social buffering is known to be widespread in social mammals but the capacity of birds to act as social buffers has not yet...

Xing, G., Lu, J., Hu, M. et al. 2015. Effects of group housing on ECG assessment in conscious cynomolgus monkeys. Journal of Pharmacological and Toxicological Methods 75, 44-51.

Assessing the cardiovascular safety of new chemical or biological entities is important during pre-clinical development. Electrocardiogram (ECG) assessments in non-human primate (NHP) toxicology studies are often made using non-invasive telemetry systems. We investigated whether ECG...

Bayne, K. A., Beaver, B. V., Mench, J. A. et al. 2015. Laboratory animal behavior. In: Laboratory Animal Medicine, 3rd edition. Fox, J. G., Anderson, L., Otto, G., et al. (eds). Elsevier, Inc., Amsterdam, NL. pp. 1617-1651.

The study of laboratory animal behavior has increased steadily over the last decade, with expanding emphasis on a variety of commonly used species. In the United States, this trend was initially focused on species for...