Refinement Database

Database on Refinement of Housing, Husbandry, Care, and Use of Animals in Research

This database, created in 2000, is updated every three months with newly published scientific articles, books, and other publications related to improving or safeguarding the welfare of animals used in research.

Links to the full text for publications that appear in open access journals or are published on the AWI website are provided under the abstract.

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 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. Most publications older than 2010 can only be searched by keyword. 
McIndoe, K. S., Saunders, R., Blackwell, E. J. et al. 2022. The effect of blindfolding and swaddling on the stress response to handling in domestic rabbits. Animal Welfare 31(1), 27-36.
Stress during handling can negatively impact the welfare of an animal. Gradual habituation or systematic desensitisation can reduce this but is not always possible. Blindfolding has been shown to decrease stress indicators, including heart rate...
Brucks, D., Drews, B., Ulbrich, S. E. 2022. Exploring the social network of European roe deer (Capreolus capreolus) in captivity. Applied Animal Behaviour Science 246, 105526.
Socially flexible species might be at an advantage when facing environmental unpredictability, human-induced rapid environmental changes, or unnatural conditions such as encountered in captivity. The European roe deer (Capreolus capreolus) was originally described as solitarily...
Nguyen, T. T. H., Nguyen, T. M. D. 2022. Non-invasive assessment of physiological stress in captive common palm civets (Paradoxurus hermaphroditus) in Vietnam. Journal of Animal Behaviour and Biometeorology 10(2), 2219.
Common Palm Civet (Paradoxurus hermaphroditus) is a rare mammal appearing in South and Southeast Asia, first described in 1777. Because of the detrimental effects of stress, studying stress responses is important for this wildlife conservation...
Caven, A. J., Leung, K. G., Vinton, C. et al. 2022. A behavioral index for assessing bison stress level during handling and demographic predictors of stress response. Journal of Applied Animal Welfare Science 25(1), 41-53.
There are an estimated half-a-million Plains Bison (Bison bison) present in North America in commercial and conservation herds. Most bison are rounded up and “worked” annually for parasite control, veterinarian attention, and processing, making it...
Bertoni, V., Spiezio, C., Regaiolli, B. et al. 2022. Group reunion in zoo European wildcats using cat appeasing pheromone (CAP) and gradual release of the animals in the exhibit—A case study. Animals 12(10), 1302.
The union or reunion of animals with social groups can be a challenging situation, and little has been published about it when solitary species are concerned. Therefore, the aim of the present study was two-fold...
Deacon, F., Daffue, W., Nel, P. 2022. Effective field immobilisation and capture of giraffe (Giraffa camelopardalis). Animals 12(10), 1290.
One of the highest occurrences of mortalities among giraffes (Giraffa camelopardalis) takes place during immobilisations, captures and translocations. Common mistakes, human error, unforeseen risks, the awkward anatomy and the sheer size of the animal are...
Johansson, Ö, Kachel, S., Weckworth, B. 2022. Guidelines for telemetry studies on snow leopards. Animals 12(13), 1663.
Animal-borne tracking devices have generated a wealth of new knowledge, allowing us to better understand, manage and conserve species. Fitting such tracking devices requires that animals are captured and often chemically immobilized. Such procedures cause...
Knaebe, B., Weiss, C. C., Zimmermann, J. et al. 2022. The promise of behavioral tracking systems for advancing primate animal welfare. Animals 12(13), 1648.
Recent years have witnessed major advances in the ability of computerized systems to track the positions of animals as they move through large and unconstrained environments. These systems have so far been a great boon...
Houstin, A., Zitterbart, D. P., Winterl, A. et al. 2022. Biologging of emperor penguins—Attachment techniques and associated deployment performance. PLoS ONE 17(8), e0265849.
An increasing number of marine animals are equipped with biologgers, to study their physiology, behaviour and ecology, often for conservation purposes. To minimise the impacts of biologgers on the animals’ welfare, the Refinement principle from...
Trondrud, L. M., Ugland, C., Ropstad, E. et al. 2022. Stress responses to repeated captures in a wild ungulate. Scientific Reports 12(1), 16289.
While capture-mark-recapture studies provide essential individual-level data in ecology, repeated captures and handling may impact animal welfare and cause scientific bias. Evaluating the consequences of invasive methodologies should be an integral part of any study...
Lasky, M., Campbell, J., Osborne, J. A. et al. 2021. Increasing browse and social complexity can improve zoo elephant welfare. Zoo Biology 40(1), 9–19.
While recent work has assessed how environmental and managerial changes influence elephant welfare across multiple zoos, few studies have addressed the effects of management changes within a single institution. In this paper, we examine how...
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...
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...
Bista, D., Lama, S. T., Weerman, J. et al. 2021. Improved trapping and handling of an arboreal, montane mammal: Red panda Ailurus fulgens. Animals 11(4), 921.
It is sometimes essential to have an animal in the hand to study some of their ecological and biological characteristics. However, capturing a solitary, cryptic, elusive arboreal species such as the red panda in the...
Huber, N., Mahr, K., Tóth, Z. et al. 2021. The stressed bird in the hand: Influence of sampling design on the physiological stress response in a free-living songbird. Physiology & Behavior 238, 113488.
Despite the widely used application of standardized capture-handling protocols to collect blood and assess the physiological stress response, the actual sampling design (e.g., timing and the number of blood samples) often differs between studies, and...
Kimm, S., Rauterberg, S. L., Bill, J. et al. 2021. Use of space, active and resting behaviour in fattening rabbits (Oryctolagus cuniculus) housed in a combi park system: A case study. Animal Welfare 30(4), 493-506.
In this case study, a housing system for rabbits (Oryctolagus cuniculus) was developed, complying with the new German Welfare Regulation, and evaluated on-farm with regard to the rabbits' behaviour during four fattening periods. The housing...
Hörner, F., Oerke, A.-K., Müller, D. W. H. et al. 2021. Monitoring behaviour in African elephants during introduction into a new group: Differences between related and unrelated animals. Animals 11(10), 2990.
The introduction of elephants into new groups is necessary for breeding programmes. However, behavioural studies on the reactions of these animals at first encounters are missing. In the present study, female African elephants (Loxodonta africana)...
Bergvall, U. A., Morellet, N., Kjellander, P. et al. 2021. Settle down! Ranging behaviour responses of roe deer to different capture and release methods. Animals 11(11), 3299.
The fitting of tracking devices to wild animals requires capture and handling which causes stress and can potentially cause injury, behavioural modifications that can affect animal welfare and the output of research. We evaluated post...
Seeley, K. E., Proudfoot, K. L., Wolfe, B. et al. 2021. Assessing allostatic load in ring-tailed lemurs (Lemur catta). Animals 11(11), 3074.
Responses to stress are unavoidable, adaptive mechanisms in humans and non-human animals. However, in humans, chronic stress has been linked to poor health outcomes and early mortality. Allostatic load, the physiologic dysregulation that occurs when...
Gartland, K. N., Carrigan, J., White, F. J. 2021. Preliminary relationship between overnight separation and wounding in bachelor groups of western lowland gorillas (Gorilla gorilla gorilla). Applied Animal Behaviour Science 241, 105388.
Despite no significant difference in wounding between bachelor and mixed-sex groups of western lowland gorillas (Gorilla gorilla gorilla) in zoological settings, anecdotal concerns around the frequency and severity of wounding in bachelor groups have perpetuated...
Falendysz, E. A., Calhoun, D. M., Smith, C. A. et al. 2020. Outside the box: Working with wildlife in biocontainment. ILAR Journal 61(1), 72-85.
Research with captive wildlife in Animal Biosafety Level 2 (ABSL2) and 3 (ABSL3) facilities is becoming increasingly necessary as emerging and re-emerging diseases involving wildlife have increasing impacts on human, animal, and environmental health. Utilizing...
Pfoh, R., Tiddi, B., Di Bitetti, M. S. et al. 2021. Grooming site preferences in black capuchin monkeys: Hygienic vs. social functions revisited. American Journal of Primatology 83(12), e23336.
When primates groom each other, they tend to concentrate on those parts of the body they cannot efficiently self-groom (i.e., not visually accessible), and prefer to intensify grooming in areas with high hair density, thus...
Kalafut, K. L., Kinley, R. 2020. Using radio frequency identification for behavioral monitoring in little blue penguins. Journal of Applied Animal Welfare Science 23(1), 62-73.
A common goal of captive animal institutions is to create environments that allow for the most naturalistic behavior from their animals. Behavioral data is often used as a measure of how an animal is thriving...
Burn, C. C., Shields, P. 2020. Do rabbits need each other? Effects of single versus paired housing on rabbit body temperature and behaviour in a UK shelter. Animal Welfare 29(2), 209-219.
In the wild, rabbits (Oryctolagus cuniculus) are social but territorial. Recent surveys suggest that over half of pet rabbits are housed singly. We aimed to compare welfare in single versus paired rabbits. We predicted singletons...
Dal Bosco, A., Cartoni Mancinelli, A., Hoy, S. et al. 2020. Assessing the preference of rabbit does to social contact or seclusion: Results of different investigations. Animals 10(2), 286.
The aim of this study was to verify the motivation of rabbit does to social contact or seclusion. The results of two different research activities assessed in Italy (experiment 1) and Germany (experiment 2) through...

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