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...

Neal Webb, S., Schapiro, S. 2023. Locomotion as a measure of well-being in captive chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes). Animals 13(5), 803.

Locomotion in non-human primates, including walking, climbing, and brachiating among other types of movement (but not pacing), is a species-typical behavior that varies with age, social housing conditions, and environmental factors (e.g., season, food availability...

Whitham, J. C., Hall, K., Lauderdale, L. K. et al. 2023. Integrating reference intervals into chimpanzee welfare research. Animals 13(4), 639.

Animal welfare researchers are committed to developing novel approaches to enhance the quality of life of chimpanzees living in professional care. To systematically monitor physical, mental, and emotional states, welfare scientists highlight the importance of...

Fultz, A., Lewis, R., Kelly, L. et al. 2023. Behavioral welfare research for the management of sanctuary chimpanzees (pan troglodytes). Animals 13(16), 2595.

Chimp Haven is a sanctuary for chimpanzees retired from biomedical research, rescued from the pet trade, or re-homed after other organizations could no longer care for them. To provide optimal care for over 300 chimpanzees...

Cordoni, G., Ciarcelluti, G., Pasqualotto, A. et al. 2023. Is it for real? Structural differences between play and real fighting in adult chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes). American Journal of Primatology 85(9), e23537.

In primates, as well as in other mammals, play fighting (PF) is a complex form of playful activity that is structurally similar to real fighting (RF) and may also be used in a competitive way...

Rosati, A. G., Sabbi, K. H., Bryer, M. A. H. et al. 2023. Observational approaches to chimpanzee behavior in an African sanctuary: Implications for research, welfare, and capacity-building. American Journal of Primatology 85(9), e23534.

Research in African ape sanctuaries has emerged as an important context for our understanding of comparative cognition and behavior. While much of this work has focused on experimental studies of cognition, these animals semi-free-range in...

Hopper, L. M., Lake, B. R., Leinwand, J. G. et al. 2022. Assessing chimpanzees’ fluency of movement: Applications for monitoring health and welfare. Applied Animal Behaviour Science 250, 105612.

With age, primates’ activity levels and ease of movement may decline and changes in locomotory behaviour may reflect changes in health. Thus, developing quick and reliable measures of movement has important applications for measuring recovery...

Hirata, S. 2022. Sky after 30 years: A brief biography of three biomedical research chimpanzees in Japan. Primates 63(2), 105–108.

This article describes the strategies employed by Kumamoto Sanctuary in Japan to integrate 3 retired chimpanzees – who each spent 30 years singly housed in a biomedical facility – with the sanctuary’s other residents.

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...

Slocum, S. K., Morris, K. L. 2022. Assessing preference in a paired-stimulus arrangement with captive vultures (Aegypius monachus). Journal of Applied Animal Welfare Science 25(4), 362-367.

Vultures play an important role in our ecosystem by filtering out bacteria and viruses harmful to humans (e.g., rabies, botulism). However, many vultures remain in human care due to skill deficits and behavioral excesses, which...

Adams, C. R., Park, T. J. 2022. The husbandry and management of naked mole-rats (Heterocephalus glaber). Laboratory Animal Science Professional 10(4) (July/August), 16-18.

Naked mole-rats (NMRs) have unique husbandry requirements that need to be considered when maintaining them in captivity. We have successfully maintained NMRs at the University of Illinois at Chicago for more than 20 years. This...

Escribano, D., Doldán-Martelli, V., Cronin, K. A. et al. 2022. Chimpanzees organize their social relationships like humans. Scientific Reports 12(1), 16641.

Human relationships are structured in a set of layers, ordered from higher (intimate relationships) to lower (acquaintances) emotional and cognitive intensity. This structure arises from the limits of our cognitive capacity and the different amounts...

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...

Hall, K., Bryant, J., Staley, M. et al. 2021. Behavioural diversity as a potential welfare indicator for professionally managed chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes): Exploring variations in calculating diversity using species-specific behaviours. Animal Welfare 30(4), 381-392.

Behavioural diversity may serve as a positive indicator of animal welfare that can be applied in long-term monitoring schemes in managed settings (eg zoos, laboratories, farms). Behavioural diversity is often higher when animals live in...

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...

Diana, A., Salas, M., Pereboom, Z. et al. 2021. A systematic review of the use of technology to monitor welfare in zoo animals: Is there space for improvement? Animals 11(11), 3048.

A top priority of modern zoos is to ensure good animal welfare (AW), thus, efforts towards improving AW monitoring are increasing. Welfare assessments are performed through more traditional approaches by employing direct observations and time-consuming...

Ross, S. R., Lake, B. R., Fultz, A. et al. 2021. An evaluation of thermal imaging as a welfare monitoring tool for captive chimpanzees. Primates 62(6), 919-927.

Among the growing list of novel tools with which to assess animal welfare is the use of thermal (infrared) imaging. The technology has already been utilized to identify emotional arousal in several nonhuman primate species...

Glaspell, S. 2020. Flight to freedom: Behavior modification of an undomesticated pigeon using human interaction. Laboratory Animal Science Professional 8(2) (March/April), 58-61.

The white-crowned pigeon, Patagioenas leucocephala, is a species of bird not often used in research. This may be related to its anxiety during normal human interactions, such as with cage changing. Our institution acquired a...

Reese, L., Ladwig-Wiegard, M., von Fersen, L. et al. 2020. Deflighting zoo birds and its welfare considerations. Animal Welfare 29(1), 69-80.

For over a century, the practice of deflighting has taken place in zoological collections in order to ensure birds remain in open-topped enclosures. Over time, efforts have been made to improve or develop new (surgical)...

Ross, S. R., Leinwand, J. G. 2020. A review of research in primate sanctuaries. Biology Letters 16(4), 1620200033.

While non-human primate studies have long been conducted in laboratories, and more recently at zoological parks, sanctuaries are increasingly considered a viable setting for research. Accredited sanctuaries in non-range countries house thousands of primates formerly...

Morrin, Y. 2020. No bullies allowed! Co-operative feeding as a means to enhance the welfare of 'sub-ordinates'. RATEL (Journal of the Association of British and Irish Wild Animal Keepers) 47(1), 18-19.

This article describes a protocol for training capuchins for co-operative feeding. Three months after beginning the training, the two dominant individuals consistently stay stationed, calmly focused, and the keeper is able to hand the subordinate...

Inoue, N., Shimada, M. 2020. Comparisons of activity budgets, interactions, and social structures in captive and wild chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes). Animals 10(6), 1063.

Chimpanzees in zoos with sufficient and appropriate environmental enrichment devices are expected to exhibit behaviors, interactions, and societies similar to those in the wild. In this study, we compared the activity budgets of each observed...

Allanic, M., Hayashi, M., Matsuzawa, T., 2020. Investigating the function of mutual grooming in captive bonobos (Pan paniscus) and Chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes). Folia Primatologica 91, 481-494.

Social grooming is often exchanged between individuals in many primate species. Rates of bidirectional (or simultaneous mutual) grooming vary across primate species, and its function is not yet fully understood. For example, mutual grooming is...

Strait, K.,Chisholm, A., Kusovska, C. et al. 2020. Water pigs! Capybara husbandry in a biomedical research lab. Laboratory Animal Science Professional 8(5) (September/October), 14-18.

Capybaras, also known as “water pigs,” are the world’s largest rodent. Although these animals are closely related to guinea pigs, with a shoulder height of approximately 2 ft, coarse brown fur, and partially webbed feet...

Baskir, E. A., Kucharski, S., Powell, D. M. 2020. Chinchilla (Chinchilla lanigera) behavioral responses to a visual signal preceding handling. Zoo Biology 39(6), 391-396.

Zoos use ambassador animals in educational programs featuring close contact with humans. Chinchillas (Chinchilla lanigera) at the Saint Louis Zoo are retrieved for programs by a keeper wearing brown handling gloves, but green cleaning gloves...