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. 
Coleman, K., Shapiro, S. J. (Eds.). 2021. Behavioral Biology of Laboratory Animals (1st ed). CRC Press, Boca Raton, FL.

This 30-chapter volume informs students and professionals about the behavioral biology of animals commonly housed in laboratory and other captive settings. Each species evolved under specific environmental conditions, resulting in unique behavioral patterns, many of...

Tatemotoa, P., Valença-Silva, G., Queiroz, M. R. et al. 2021. Living with low environmental complexity increases fear indicators in Nile tilapia. Animal Behaviour 174, 169-174.

Animals are often kept in conditions with low environmental complexity and for long periods in barren artificial environments. This has been shown to lead to poor welfare in many species of animals. We assessed the...

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...

Reckendorf, A., Schmicke, M., Bunskoek, P. et al. 2021. Is harbor porpoise (Phocoena phocoena) exhaled breath sampling suitable for hormonal assessments? Animals 11(3), 907.

Over the last decades, exhaled breath sampling has been established for laboratory analysis in various cetacean species. Due to their small size, the usability of respiratory vapor for hormone assessments was questionable in harbor porpoises...

Chmurska-Gąsowska, M., Sowińska, N., Pałka, S. et al. 2021. Non-invasive measurement of thyroid hormones in domestic rabbits. Animals 11(5), 1194.

Thyroid hormones are essential for metabolism, energy homeostasis and reproduction. Hormones can be measured in various biological source materials: blood, feces, urine, saliva and others. The aim of our study was to verify usefulness of...

Delfour, F., Vaicekauskaite, R., García-Párraga, D. et al. 2021. Behavioural diversity study in bottlenose dolphin (Tursiops truncatus) groups and its implications for welfare assessments. Animals 11(6), 1715.

In the recent past, animal welfare studies have tried to determine the best animal welfare measures and indicators. Expression of behavioural diversity is considered a potential positive welfare indicator, and to the authors’ knowledge, it...

Manthey, T., Nagel-Riedasch, S., Dülsner, A. 2021. The interactive stress assessment in basic animal science training. Animals 11(7), 2145.

In order to assess the extent to which the legally prescribed training for the acquisition of animal experimentation expertise provides scientific personnel with the necessary competence and expertise to carry out a correct harm-benefit analysis...

Huettner, T., Dollhaeupl, S., Simon, R. et al. 2021. Activity budget comparisons using long-term observations of a group of bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus) under human care: Implications for animal welfare. Animals 11(7), 2107.

Zoos and aquaria must provide optimal husbandry conditions and the highest welfare standards for their animals. How the welfare state of an animal or a group of animals can be precisely assessed is currently under...

dos Santos Gauy, A. C., Bolognesi, M. C., Martins, G. D. et al. 2021. Preference and motivation tests for body tactile stimulation in fish. Animals 11(7), 2042.

We tested whether territorial fish (Nile tilapia) perceive body tactile stimulation as a positive or negative resource. Individual male fish were placed for eight days in an aquarium containing a rectangular PVC frame, which was...

Wahltinez, S. J., Kroll, K. J., Nunamaker, E. A. et al. 2021. Practical euthanasia method for common sea stars (Asterias rubens) that allows for high-quality RNA sampling. Animals 11(7), 1847.

Sea stars in research are often lethally sampled without available methodology to render them insensible prior to sampling due to concerns over sufficient sample quality for applied molecular techniques. The objectives of this study were...

Úbeda, Y., Ortín, S., Robeck, T. R. et al. 2021. Personality of killer whales (Orcinus orca) is related to welfare and subjective well-being. Applied Animal Behaviour Science 237, 105297.

Questionnaires are very useful tools when it comes to assessing zoo based animal measures and caretakers of these animals (such as keepers, trainers and veterinarians) are in the best position to provide accurate answers to...

Soriano Jimenez, A. I., Drago, M., Vinyoles, D. et al. 2021. Play behavior in two captive bottlenose dolphin calves (Tursiops Truncatus): Ethogram, ontogeny, and individual differences. Journal of Applied Animal Welfare Science 24(3), 292-320.

This research focused on different aspects of play behavior including ethogram, ontogeny, and individual differences, in one male and one female captive bottlenose dolphin calves (Tursiops truncatus) from November 2003 to June 2004. We presented...

Levina, A. D., Mikhailova, E. S., Kasumyan, A. O. 2021. Taste preferences and feeding behaviour in the facultative herbivorous fish, Nile tilapia Oreochromis niloticus. Journal of Fish Biology 98(5), 1385-1400.

Taste preferences in fishes are known mainly for carnivorous species, whereas herbivorous consumers were rarely used in such studies. The main goal of the present study was to evaluate the taste preferences in the herbivorous...

Ellis, T., Katsiadaki, I. 2021. Clarification of early end-points for refinement of animal experiments, with specific reference to fish. Laboratory Animals 55(3), 244-253.

Appropriate end-points are integral to the refinement of laboratory animal experiments. Our recent experience has highlighted that ambiguity around end-points is hampering their adoption in experiments that cause severe suffering to fish. In toxicology, the...

Lambert, K. 2021. DIY: Dehydrated watermelon training chips. Laboratory Animal Science Professional 9(4) (July/August), 48.

This simple DIY training treat is great for NHP, swine, rabbits, rodents, and dogs. Note that dehydrated watermelon may resemble muscle tissue!

Benato, L., Murrell, J., Knowles, T. G. et al. 2021. Development of the Bristol Rabbit Pain Scale (BRPS): A multidimensional composite pain scale specific to rabbits (Oryctolagus cuniculus). PLOS ONE 16(6), e0252417.

A species-specific composite pain scale is a prerequisite for adequate pain assessment. The aim of this study was to develop a multidimensional pain scale specific to rabbits (Oryctolagus cuniculus) called the Bristol Rabbit Pain Scale...

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...

Travain, T., Valsecchi, P. 2021. Infrared thermography in the study of animals’ emotional responses: A critical review. Animals 11(9), 2510.

Whether animals have emotions was historically a long-lasting question but, today, nobody disputes that they do. However, how to assess them and how to guarantee animals their welfare have become important research topics in the...

Segura-Göthlin, S., Fernández, A., Arbelo, M. et al. 2021. The validation of a non-invasive skin sampling device for detecting cetacean Poxvirus. Animals 11(10), 2814.

Poxvirus-like lesions are widely used as a potential health indicator in cetaceans, although for this application, corroboration of Poxvirus skin disease is imperative. Aiming to address skin biopsies intrusiveness, a preliminary investigation of a non-invasive...

Camargo-dos-Santos, B., Carlos, C. L., Favero-Neto, J. et al. 2021. Welfare in Nile tilapia production: Dorsal fin erection as a visual indicator for insensibility. Animals 11(10), 3007.

In aquaculture, to ensure animal welfare in pre-slaughter and slaughter stages, it is fundamental that fish are insensible. A method for evaluating fish insensibility is based on visual sensibility indicators (VSI) assessment (i.e., self-initiated behavior...

Prior, H., Blunt, H., Crossman, L. et al. 2021. Refining procedures within regulatory toxicology studies: Improving animal welfare and data. Animals 11(11), 3057.

During the development of potential new medicines or agrochemicals, an assessment of the safety profile to humans and environmental species is conducted using a range of different in silico and in vitro techniques in conjunction...

Mondin, C., Trestini, S., Trocino, A. et al. 2021. The economics of rabbit farming: A pilot study on the impact of different housing systems. Animals 11(11), 3040.

This research evaluates the economic sustainability of rabbit farms using different housing systems—bicellular (BI), conventional dual-purpose (DP) and enriched cages designed according to the World Rabbit Science Association guidelines (WRSA)—through a field-based study involving six...

Saraiva, J. L., Nogueirinha, M., Teodósio, R. et al. 2021. The effect of tank cover on welfare of farmed Nile tilapia. Applied Animal Behaviour Science 241, 105396.

Welfare in aquaculture is a pressing topic. One of the main measures to improve the life of farmed fish is implementing environmental enrichment, which can include the addition of structural covers to rearing tanks. Here...

Zemanova, M. A. 2021. Noninvasive genetic assessment is an effective wildlife research tool when compared with other approaches. Genes 12(11), 1672.

Wildlife research has been indispensable for increasing our insight into ecosystem functioning as well as for designing effective conservation measures under the currently high rates of biodiversity loss. Genetic and genomic analyses might be able...

Fusco, A., Douglas, H., Barba, A. et al. 2021. V-Gel® guided endotracheal intubation in rabbits. Frontiers in Veterinary Science 8, 684624.

Background: General anesthesia in rabbits is associated with higher morbidity and mortality relative to other mammalian species commonly anesthetized. Unique challenges related to endotracheal intubation (ETI) in rabbits contribute to this risk. Objective: To improve...