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. 
Middelkoop, A., Costermans, N., Kemp, B. et al. 2019. Feed intake of the sow and playful creep feeding of piglets influence piglet behaviour and performance before and after weaning. Scientific Reports 9, 16140.

Creep feed intake is variable and may be partly homeostatically and exploratory driven. We studied effects of maternal feed restriction and a ‘play-feeder’ on piglet behaviour and performance. 37 Litters received creep feed in a...

Hill, R. L., Huskisson, S. M., Weigel, E. et al. 2019. Growth rates of juvenile Boa constrictor under two feeding regimes. Zoo Biology 38(2), 209-213.

Many husbandry routines in zoo herpetology are based on tradition, authoritarianism, anecdote, or speculation. However, relatively few empirical studies underlie many very common practices. We compared growth rates among littermates of Boa constrictor raised under...

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...

Weller, J. E., Camerlink, I., Turner, S. P. et al. 2019. Playful pigs: Early life play-fighting experience influences later life contest dynamics. Animal Behaviour 158, 269-279.

Animal contests are costly and predicted to be won by the individual with the higher resource-holding potential (RHP). Weight is often used a proxy for RHP; however, victory does not always go to the heaviest...

Pfefferle, D., Plümer, S., Burchardt, L. et al. 2018. Assessment of stress responses in rhesus macaques (Macaca mulatta) to daily routine procedures in system neuroscience based on salivary cortisol concentrations. PLOS ONE 13(1), e0190190.

Non-human primates participating in neurophysiological research are exposed to potentially stressful experimental procedures, such as dietary control protocols, surgical implants and their maintenance, or social separation during training and experimental session. Here, we investigated the...

Kallio, P. A, Janczak, A. M., Valros, A. E. et al. 2018. Case control study on environmental, nutritional and management-based risk factors for tail-biting in long-tailed pigs. Animal Welfare 27(1), 21-34.

A case control study with a questionnaire was carried out to compare feeding practices, diet composition, housing and management in 78 herds with or without a history of tail-biting in undocked pigs (Sus scrofa) in...

Anderson, J. H., Taggart, N. W., Edgerton, S. L. et al. 2018. Ultrasound guided percutaneous common carotid artery access in piglets for intracoronary stem cell infusion. Laboratory Animals 52(1), 88-92.

In pigs, the deep location of the common carotid artery and overlying sternomastoideus muscle in the neck has led to the recommendation for a surgical cutdown for common carotid access, as opposed to minimally invasive...

Clarke, T., Pluske, J. R., Miller, D. W. et al. 2018. Parity influences the demeanor of sows in group housing. Journal of Applied Animal Welfare Science 21(1), 17-26.

Across the globe, producers are moving from individual housing to group housing for sows during gestation. Producers typically group sows of a range of parities together, although the impacts are largely unknown. This study examined...

Verdon, M., Zegarra, N., Achayra, R. et al. 2018. Floor feeding sows their daily allocation over multiple drops per day does not result in more equitable feeding opportunities in later drops. Animals 8(6), 86.

This research studied whether floor feeding group-housed sows their daily allocation over multiple feed drops per day provides more equitable feeding opportunities in later drops. Over four time replicates, 275 sows were mixed into groups...

Li, Y., Zhang, H., Johnston, L. et al. 2018. Understanding tail-biting in pigs through social network analysis. Animals 8(1), 13.

The objective of this study was to investigate the association between social structure and incidence of tail-biting in pigs. Pigs (n = 144, initial weight = 7.2 ± 1.57 kg, 4 weeks of age) were...

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...

Cabana, F., Maguire, R., Hsu, C-D. et al. 2018. Identification of possible nutritional and stress risk factors in the development of marmoset wasting syndrome. Zoo Biology 37(2), 98–106.

Marmoset wasting syndrome (MWS) describes a series of symptoms in callitrichids that lead to general weakness and a failure to thrive in captive conditions such as zoological institutions. Though the cause of MWS has not...

Fuller, G., Murray, A., Thueme, M. et al. 2018. Behavioral and hormonal responses to the availability of forage material in Western lowland gorillas (Gorilla gorilla gorilla). Zoo Biology 37(1), 23–34.

We investigated how forage material affects indicators of welfare in three male Western lowland gorillas (Gorilla gorilla gorilla) at the Detroit Zoo. In addition to their maintenance diet and enrichment foods, the gorillas generally received...

Hawkins, P., McBride, A., Paiba, G. et al. 2018. Report of the 2017 RSPCA/UFAW Rodent and Rabbit Welfare Group meeting. Animal Technology and Welfare 17(2), 75-83. [Meeting Report]

The RSPCA/UFAW Rodent (and now Rabbit) Welfare Group held a one-day meeting on 14 November 2017 in Weybridge, UK. The first session addressed meeting animals' needs and aiming for a 'good life', with the needs...

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...

Verdon, M., Morrison, R. S., Hemsworth, P. H. 2018. Forming groups of aggressive sows based on a predictive test of aggression does not affect overall sow aggression or welfare. Behavioural Processes 150, 17-24.

This experiment examined the effects of group composition on sow aggressive behaviour and welfare. Over 6 time replicates, 360 sows (parity 1–6) were mixed into groups (10 sows per pen, 1.8 m2 /sow) composed of...

Ison, S. H., Bates, R. O., Ernst, C. W. et al. 2018. Housing, ease of handling and minimising inter-pig aggression at mixing for nursery to finishing pigs as reported in a survey of North American pork producers. Applied Animal Behaviour Science 205, 159-166.

Inter-pig aggression is a welfare issue that has undergone extensive research. Although management techniques have proven useful in minimising aggression in research settings, it is not known how often these are used on-farm. One objective...

Peden, R. S. E., Turner, S. P., Boyle, L. A. et al. 2018. The translation of animal welfare research into practice: The case of mixing aggression between pigs. Applied Animal Behaviour Science 204, 1-9.

Aggression between unfamiliar pigs at mixing is a major animal welfare problem in commercial farming. It has been studied since the 1970s and remains an important topic in animal welfare research. Methods to reduce pig...

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...

Reijgwart, M. L., Vinke, C. M., Hendriksen, C. F. M. et al. 2018. An explorative study on the effect of provision of preferred and non-preferred enrichment on behavioural and physiological parameters in laboratory ferrets (Mustela putorius furo). Applied Animal Behaviour Science 203, 64-72.

Environmental enrichment is often advocated to refine animal studies. Despite the increasing use of ferrets as an animal model in biomedical research, the knowledge on effects of the provision of enrichment on these animals is...

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...

Rosvold, E. M., Newberry, R. C., Framstad, T. 2018. Nest-building behaviour and activity budgets of sows provided with different materials. Applied Animal Behaviour Science 200, 36-44.

Domestic sows are still highly motivated to build a nest before farrowing. Many pig houses have slurry systems that do not allow use of long straw or other bulky materials that could block the drains...

Ocepek, M., Goold, C. M., Busančić, M. et al. 2018. Drinker position influences the cleanness of the lying area of pigs in a welfare-friendly housing facility. Applied Animal Behaviour Science 198, 44-51.

Understanding eliminative behaviour in pigs is a priority for designing pig facilities. Pigs prefer to lie in areas separated from where they eliminate (urinate, defecate). Welfare-friendly housing facilities include separate areas for lying (solid floors)...

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...