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. 
Norman, K. I., Weeks, C. A., Pettersson, I. C. et al. 2018. The effect of experience of ramps at rear on the subsequent ability of layer pullets to negotiate a ramp transition. Applied Animal Behaviour Science 208, 92-99.

In commercial situations, laying hens must negotiate levels to reach resources such as food, water and litter. Providing ramps in aviary systems reduces collisions and resultant keel bone fractures in adults. We investigated whether providing...

Cole, J., Fraser, D. 2018. Zoo animal welfare: The human dimension. Journal of Applied Animal Welfare Science 21(S1), 49-58.

Standards and policies intended to safeguard nonhuman animal welfare, whether in zoos, farms, or laboratories, have tended to emphasize features of the physical environment. However, research has now made it clear that very different welfare...

Edwards, G. L., Michael, J. A., Parks., A. 2018. Agricultural animals as biomedical models: Occupational health and safety considerations. ILAR Journal 59(2), 161-167.

The use of agricultural animals in biomedical research is increasing. Their overall size and metabolic rate, organ size, longer gestation period, and other physiological similarities make them good candidates for animal models of human disease...

Zepp, M., Louton, H., Erhard, M. et al. 2018. The influence of stocking density and enrichment on the occurrence of feather pecking and aggressive pecking behavior in laying hen chicks. Journal of Veterinary Behavior 24, 9-18.

The housing conditions and environments experienced during the rearing period can influence the development of feather pecking in chickens during this time and in the subsequent laying period. The aim of this study was to...

Volkmann, J. L., Evans, C. A., Buckmaster, C. 2018. Pigeons: Flying to new heights. Laboratory Animal Science Professional 6(1) (March), 33-34.

When singly or pair housed in cages, pigeons have a relatively small area in which to walk and stretch or flap their wings. More space is required to allow pigeons to be housed in numbers...

Unakafov, A. M., Möller, S., Kagan, I. et al. 2018. Using imaging photoplethysmography for heart rate estimation in non-human primates. PLOS ONE 13(8), e0202581.

For humans and for non-human primates heart rate is a reliable indicator of an individual’s current physiological state, with applications ranging from health checks to experimental studies of cognitive and emotional state. In humans, changes...

Green, T. J., Wolfenden, D. C. C., Sneddon, L. U. 2018. An investigation on the impact of substrate type, temperature, and iodine on moon jellyfish production. Zoo Biology 37(6), 434-439.

Jellyfish are a popular public aquarium species, however, their collection from natural populations is undesirable due to impact on species abundance and bycatch. Thus, a sustainable supply of jellyfish bred in-house would be highly desirable...

Larsen, H., Cronin, G., Smith, C. L. et al. 2017. Behaviour of free-range laying hens in distinct outdoor environments. Animal Welfare 26(3), 255-264.

The outdoor range in free-range, egg-production systems contains features that aim to promote the performance of natural behaviours. It is unclear what features of the range laying hens prefer and how these influence hen behaviour...

Bestman, M., Verwer, C., Brenninkmeyer, C. et al. 2017. Feather-pecking and injurious pecking in organic laying hens in 107 flocks from eight European countries. Animal Welfare 26(3), 355-363.

Feather-pecking and cannibalism may reduce the potential of organic husbandry to enhance the welfare of laying hens. We report risk factors for these issues based on a large survey of 107 commercial flocks in eight...

Sommerville, R., Ruiz, R., Averós, X. 2017. A meta-analysis on the effects of the housing environment on the behaviour, mortality, and performance of growing rabbits. Animal Welfare 26(2), 223-238.

Although the number of rabbits (Oryctolagus cuniculus) produced in Europe is important, they are under-represented in welfare research. Studies on the effects of housing conditions have focused on performance and mortality. We conducted a meta-analysis...

Lahvis, G. 2017. Unbridle biomedical research from the laboratory cage. eLife 6, e27438.

Many biomedical research studies use captive animals to model human health and disease. However, a surprising number of studies show that the biological systems of animals living in standard laboratory housing are abnormal. To make...

Nordquist, R., van der Staay, F., van Eerdenburg, F. et al. 2017. Mutilating procedures, management practices, and housing conditions that may affect the welfare of farm animals: Implications for welfare research. Animals 7(2), 12.

A number of mutilating procedures, such as dehorning in cattle and goats and beak trimming in laying hens, are common in farm animal husbandry systems in an attempt to prevent or solve problems, such as...

Holmes, J., Waters, D., Maisonave, I. et al. 2017. Social interaction for non-sibling pregnant New Zealand white rabbits on reproductive toxicology. Animal Technology and Welfare 16(2), 139-141.

Rabbits are gregarious animals that live in social groups in the wild so individually housing our animals, while meeting the present scientific objectives, restricts their natural social behaviour. How to meet the social needs of...

Vargas-Galicia, A. J., Sosa-Montes, E. Rodríguez-Ortega, L. T. et al. 2017. Effect of litter material and stocking density on bone and tendon strength, and productive performance in broilers. Canadian Journal of Animal Science 97(4), 673-682.

Litter material and stocking density were evaluated on welfare-related variables and productive performance in broilers. Male chicks (n = 744, “Ross 308” strain) were raised on either tezontle (TEZ) or wood shavings (WS) litter, with...

Zomeño, C., Birolo, M., Zuffellato, A. et al. 2017. Aggressiveness in group-housed rabbit does: Influence of group size and pen characteristics. Applied Animal Behaviour Science 194, 79-85.

The aim of this work was to study how the group size and the number of doorways in a pen may influence the aggressive interactions throughout the reproductive cycle among does kept in a part-time...

Hunniford, M. E., Widowski, T. M. 2017. Nest alternatives: Adding a wire partition to the scratch area affects nest use and nesting behaviour of laying hens in furnished cages. Applied Animal Behaviour Science 186, 29-34.

Furnished cages (FC) are designed to accommodate highly motivated behaviour patterns like nesting; however, how hens perceive the resources provided in FCs is not fully understood. Our previous research of hens in FCs with a...

Pettersson, I. C., Weeks, C. A., Nicol, C. J. 2017. The effect of ramp provision on the accessibility of the litter in single and multi-tier laying hen housing. Applied Animal Behaviour Science 186, 35-40.

Level changes in commercial laying hen loose-housing systems may be physically difficult for birds to negotiate, preventing or limiting access to resources such as the litter area and the outdoor range, and potentially increasing injury...

Stadig, L. M., Rodenburg, T. B., Ampe, B. et al. 2017. Effect of free-range access, shelter type and weather conditions on free-range use and welfare of slow-growing broiler chickens. Applied Animal Behaviour Science 192, 15-23.

Free-range access for broiler chickens can benefit animal welfare because the birds have access to a more natural environment and more opportunities to perform natural behaviours than in indoor systems. Also, they have more space...

Rault, J.-L., Taylor, P. S. 2017. Indoor side fidelity and outdoor ranging in commercial free-range chickens in single- or double-sided sheds. Applied Animal Behaviour Science 194, 48-53.

The ranging behaviour of broiler chickens kept in free-range housing systems remains poorly understood, despite access to the outdoor range being their main feature. We investigated the impact of allowing chickens to have range access...

Yin, L., Yang, H., Xu, L. et al. 2017. Feather performance, walking ability, and behavioral changes of geese in response to different stocking densities. Applied Animal Behaviour Science 196, 108-112.

In recent decades, goose production has become more specialized and widespread, and rearing geese in plastic wire-floor pens is common in China. This type of rearing pattern is more productive than other rearing patterns since...

McMillan, J. L., Bloomsmith, M. A., Prescott, M. J. 2017. An international survey of approaches to chair restraint of nonhuman primates. Comparative Medicine 67(5), 442–451.

Specifically designed restraint chairs are the preferred method of restraint for research studies that require NHP to sit in place for sustained periods of time. In light of increasing emphasis on refinement of restraint to...

Meng, F., Chen, D., Li, X. et al. 2017. The effect of large or small furnished cages on behaviors and tibia bone of laying hens. Journal of Veterinary Behavior 17, 69-73.

This study aimed to investigate the effects of large furnished cages (LFCs) or small furnished cages (SFCs) on behavior and tibia bone of laying hens. Three hundred and sixty Hyline brown hens at 16 weeks...

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...

Knapek, K. J., Adams, M. K., Ayers, J. D. 2017. What’s in our chamber of secrets? Python housing in a laboratory setting. Laboratory Animal Science Professional 5(4) (December), 16-19.

At Colorado State University we have an investigator who requested care for 2 different species of pythons, the green tree python (Morelia viridis) and the ball python (Python reguis), to study the pathology of an...

Małecki, W., Pawłowski, B., Sorokowski, P. 2016. Literary fiction influences attitudes toward animal welfare. PLOS ONE 11(12), e0168695.

Literary fiction has been credited with considerable power to improve attitudes toward outgroups. It was even argued that it has been an important factor behind the global decline of violence against various minorities in the...