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. 
Robinson, L. M., Weiss, A. (Eds.) 2023. Nonhuman Primate Welfare: From History, Science, and Ethics to Practice. Springer, Cham, Switzerland. 671 p.

This volume reviews the broad topic of welfare in nonhuman primates under human care. Chapters detail the history of primates in captivity, ethical and legal issues surrounding the use of nonhuman primates as entertainment or...

Ausderau, K. K., Colman, R. J., Kabakov, S. et al. 2023. Evaluating depression- and anxiety-like behaviors in non-human primates. Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience 16, 1006065.

Depression and anxiety are some of the most prevalent and debilitating mental health conditions in humans. They can present on their own or as co-morbidities with other disorders. Like humans, non-human primates (NHPs) can develop...

Brando, S., Vitale, A., Bacon, M. 2023. Promoting good nonhuman primate welfare outside regular working hours. Animals 13(8), 1423.

Promoting good primate welfare outside of daylight hours is an important task. The responsibility to provide a complex environment and environmental enrichment is an essential element of primate wellbeing programs that should be approached from...

Cohen, S., Ho, C. 2023. Review of rat (Rattus norvegicus), Mouse (mus musculus), Guinea pig (Cavia procellus), and rabbit (Oryctolagus cuniculus) indicators for welfare assessment. Animals 13(13), 2167.

The monitoring and assessment of animals is important for their health and welfare. The appropriate selection of multiple, validated, and feasible welfare assessment indicators is required to effectively identify compromises or improvements to animal welfare...

Marks, C. A., Allen, L., Lindeberg, H. 2023. Non-lethal dose-response models replace lethal bioassays for predicting the hazard of para-animopropiophenone to Australian wildlife. Animals 13(3), 472.

Para-aminopropiophenone (PAPP) is a potent methaemoglobin (MetHb) forming agent used for the lethal control of exotic carnivores and mustelids. To assess the sensitivity of Australian wildlife to PAPP we developed an in vivo assay that...

Martín, J., Barja, I., Rodríguez-Ruiz, G. et al. 2023. Hidden but potentially stressed: A non-invasive technique to quantify fecal glucocorticoid levels in a fossorial amphisbaenian reptile. Animals 13(1), 109.

To understand wildlife responses to the changing environment, it is useful to examine their physiological responses and particularly their endocrine status. Here, we validated an enzyme immunoassay (EIA) to non-invasively quantify fecal corticosterone metabolites (FCM)...

Miller, L. J., Chinnadurai, S. K. 2023. Beyond the five freedoms: Animal welfare at modern zoological facilities. Animals 13(11), 1818.

The current manuscript highlights the aspects of an animal welfare program for a modern zoological facility. The program should be proactive to identify areas for continuous improvement as well as reactive to address any identified...

Morgado, J. N., Lamonaca, E., Santeramo, F. G. et al. 2023. Effects of management strategies on animal welfare and productivity under heat stress: A synthesis. Frontiers in Veterinary Science 10, 1145610.

Climate change includes different dramatic events, and among them, heat stress exposition is the strongest phenomenon affecting the livestock sector. The effects of heat stress events on animal welfare are complex and the economic impacts...

Morton, D. B. 2023. A model framework for the estimation of animal “suffering”: Its use in predicting and retrospectively assessing the impact of experiments on animals. Animals 13(5), 800.

This paper presents and illustrates, with a working example, a hypothesis for the assessment of ongoing severity before and during an experiment that will enable humane endpoints and intervention points to be applied accurately and...

Warwick, C., Pilny, A., Steedman, C. et al. 2023. Mobile zoos and other itinerant animal handling events: Current status and recommendations for future policies. Animals 13(2), 214.

Mobile zoos are events in which non-domesticated (exotic) and domesticated species are transported to venues such as schools, hospitals, parties, and community centres, for the purposes of education, entertainment, or social and therapeutic assistance. We...

Williams, E., Hunton, V., Hosey, G. et al. 2023. The impact of visitors on non-primate species in zoos: A quantitative review. Animals 13(7), 1178.

Visitors are a prominent feature in the lives of zoo animals, and their presence can cause a range of impacts on zoo animals (typically classed as positive, negative or neutral impacts), commonly referred to as...

O’Brien, S. L., Cronin, K. A. 2023. Doing better for understudied species: Evaluation and improvement of a species-general animal welfare assessment tool for zoos. Applied Animal Behaviour Science 264, 105965.

Accredited zoos and aquariums are required to have a welfare assessment process in place for the animals in their care. However, welfare assessment theoretical frameworks and methodologies vary widely. Previous studies have shown that taxonomic...

Brando, S., Norman, M. 2023. Handling and training of wild animals: Evidence and ethics-based approaches and best practices in the modern zoo. Animals 13(14), 2247.

There is an ethical responsibility to provide all animals living in human care with optimal and positive well-being. As animals living in zoos and aquariums frequently interact with their human caregivers as part of their...

Campbell-Ward, M. 2023. Quality-of-life assessments in zoo animals: Not just for the aged and charismatic. Animals 13(21), 3394

Zoos should aim to provide all of their animals with a good quality of life (QoL) throughout all life stages. In parallel with the evolution of QoL assessment questionnaires and tools in human and domestic...

Cortés Pérez, E., Maldonado Reséndiz, R. I. 2023. Welfare indices in Anurans under human care. Journal of Zoological and Botanical Gardens 4(3), 613–622.

Certain species within the order Anura are relatively new in the context of exotic animals as pets, and the precise conditions required for their optimal care and well-being are still not well understood. This knowledge...

Goma, A. A., Uddin, J., Kieson, E. 2023. Lateralised behavioural responses in livestock to environmental stressors: Implications for using infrared thermography to assess welfare conditions. Animals 13(23), 3663.

Lateralised behavioural responses to environmental stressors have become more frequently used as indicators of social welfare in animals. These lateralised behavioural responses are under the control of asymmetrical brain functions as part of the primary...

Graves, A. E., Dias, J. E., Michaels, C. J. 2023. Effects of background color on stress-linked behavior in the critically endangered Lake Oku clawed frog (Xenopus longipes). Journal of Zoological and Botanical Gardens 4(1), 99–107.

Ex situ amphibian populations are a key component of global amphibian conservation strategy, and optimal husbandry is vital to ex situ conservation success. Animal behavior can be used to inform captive welfare and improve husbandry...

Krönke, F., Xu, L. 2023. Sensory stimulation as a means of sustained enhancement of well-being in leopard geckos, Eublepharis macularius (Eublepharidae, Squamata). Animals 13(23), 3595.

Although the private keeping of reptiles has boomed in most western countries since the millennium, studies dealing with the recognition and promotion of welfare in these reptiles seem to represent a blind spot of scientific...

Littlewood, K. E., Heslop, M. V., Cobb, M. L. 2023. The agency domain and behavioral interactions: Assessing positive animal welfare using the Five Domains Model. Frontiers in Veterinary Science 10.
Macdonald, D. W. 2023. Mitigating human impacts on wild animal welfare. Animals 13(18), 2906.

Human activities negatively impact the welfare of wild vertebrates in many different contexts globally, and countless individual animals are affected. Growing concern for wild animal welfare, especially in relation to conservation, is evident. While research...

Manenti, I., Viola, I., Ala, U. et al. 2023. Adaptation response in sheep: Ewes in different cortisol clusters reveal changes in the expression of salivary mirnas. Animals 13(20), 3273.

Farm procedures have an impact on animal welfare by activating the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis that induces a wide array of physiological responses. This adaptive system guarantees that the animal copes with environmental variations and it induces...

Olczak, K., Penar, W., Nowicki, J. et al. 2023. The role of sound in livestock farming—Selected aspects. Animals 13(14), 2307.

To ensure the optimal living conditions of farm animals, it is essential to understand how their senses work and the way in which they perceive their environment. Most animals have a different hearing range compared...

Rogers, L. J. 2023. Knowledge of lateralized brain function can contribute to animal welfare. Frontiers in Veterinary Science 10.

The specialized functions of each hemisphere of the vertebrate brain are summarized together with the current evidence of lateralized behavior in farm and companion animals, as shown by the eye or ear used to attend...

Augustine, L., Baskir, E., Kozlowski, C. P. 2022. Investigating welfare metrics for snakes at the Saint Louis zoo. Animals 12(3), 373.

Modern herpetoculture has seen a rise in welfare-related habitat modifications, although ethologically-informed enclosure design and evidence-based husbandry are lacking. The diversity that exists within snakes complicates standardizing snake welfare assessment tools and evaluation techniques. Utilizing...

Acharya, R. Y., Hemsworth, P. H., Coleman, G. J. et al. 2022. The animal-human interface in farm animal production: Animal fear, stress, reproduction and welfare. Animals 12(4), 487.

A negative human-animal relationship (HAR) from the perspective of the animal is a limiting factor affecting farm animal welfare, as well as farm animal productivity. Research in farm animals has elucidated sequential relationships between stockperson...