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. 
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...

Gomes Correa, M., Ferreira Rodrigues e Silva, C., Antunes Dias, L. et al. 2020. Welfare benefits after the implementation of slow-feeder hay bags for stabled horses. Journal of Veterinary Behavior 38, 61-66.

Horse confinement is a common practice worldwide. However, preventing horses from grazing and denying them social interaction can compromise their welfare and lead to undesirable consequences. Considering the hypothesis that increasing the forage consumption time...

Lundberg, P., Hartmann, E., Roth, L. S. V. 2020. Does training style affect the human-horse relationship? Asking the horse in a separation–reunion experiment with the owner and a stranger. Applied Animal Behaviour Science 233, 105144.

Humans have shared a long history with horses and today we mainly consider horses as companions for sports and leisure activities. Previously, the human perspective of the human-horse relationship has been investigated but there has...

Sabiniewicz, A., Tarnowska, K., Świątek, R. et al. 2020. Olfactory-based interspecific recognition of human emotions: Horses (Equus ferus caballus) can recognize fear and happiness body odour from humans (Homo sapiens). Applied Animal Behaviour Science 230, 105072.

Emotional recognition has been demonstrated to occur between members of different species. However, the majority of studies on interspecific communication of emotions so far focused on the senses of vision and hearing while the contribution...

Verspeek, J., Stevens, J. M. G. 2020. Food preference and nutrient composition in captive bonobos (Pan paniscus). Primates 61(5), 661-671.

Food preference has been studied in a range of Hominoidea in the wild and in captivity, allowing for interspecific comparisons. Chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) and gorillas (Gorilla gorilla gorilla) prefer low-fibre, high-sugar foods, suggesting that frugivory...

McMahon, S. A., Wigham, E. 2020. ‘All Ears’: A questionnaire of 1516 owner perceptions of the mental abilities of pet rabbits, subsequent resource provision, and the effect on welfare. Animals 10(10), 1730.

Pet rabbit welfare is a hidden crisis: Inappropriately housed, fed, and not routinely provided healthcare—rabbits can often suffer painful conditions and shortened lifespans. This study provides novel understanding of owners’ perceptions of rabbits’ mental capabilities...

Rault, J.-L., Waiblinger, S., Boivin, X. et al. 2020. The power of a positive human–animal relationship for animal welfare. Frontiers in Veterinary Science 7, 590867.

Domestic animals often seek and enjoy interacting with humans. Positive human–animal relationships can elicit positive emotions and other positive welfare outcomes. Nevertheless, our understanding of the underlying processes that govern the positive perception of humans...

Scopa, C., Greco, A., Contalbrigo, L. et al. 2020. Inside the interaction: Contact with familiar humans modulates heart rate variability in horses. Frontiers in Veterinary Science 7, 582759.

A human–animal relationship can be developed through subsequent interactions, affected by the positive or negative emotional valence of the proceeding one. Horses implement a process of categorization to classify humans with whom they interact as...

Coda, K. A., Fortman, J. D., García, K. D. 2020. Behavioral effects of cage size and environmental enrichment in New Zealand white rabbits. JAALAS 59(4), 356-364.

One of the goals of environmental enrichment is to encourage species-typical behaviors, while discouraging abnormal behaviors or stereotypies. Assessing the effectiveness of various enrichment modalities can be challenging, particularly for prey species such as rabbits...

Rojas, D., Broom, D. M., Orihuela, A. et al. 2020. Effects of human-animal relationship on animal productivity and welfare. Journal of Animal Behaviour and Biometeorology 8(3), 196-205.

This is a literature review of the effects of humans' relationships with farm animals on animal productivity and welfare, including the following topics: definition of the concept and description of different tests that have been...

Butler, J. L., Kennerley, S. W. 2019. Mymou: A low-cost, wireless touchscreen system for automated training of nonhuman primates. Behaviour Research Methods 51, 2559–2572.

Training nonhuman primates (NHPs) to perform cognitive tasks is essential for many neuroscientific investigations, yet laboratory training is a time-consuming process with inherent limitations. Habituating NHPs to the laboratory staff and experimental equipment can take...

Arechavala-Lopez, P., Saraiva, J. L. 2019. Welfare of Cultured and Experimental Fishes. Basel, Switzerland: MDPI, 132 pages.

This open access book is a printed edition of the Special Issue on Welfare of Cultured and Experimental Fishes that was published in the journal Fishes. The PDF is free for download.

Mastellone, V., Bovera, F., Musco, N. et al. 2019. Mirrors improve rabbit natural behavior in a free-range breeding system. Animals 9(8), 533.

The aim of this research was to evaluate the possible usefulness of mirrors in improving rabbit behavior in a free-range breeding system. Three groups (each consisting of nine replicates of three animals) were compared: isolated...

Trocino, A., Zomeño, C., Filiou, E. et al. 2019. The use of environmental enrichments affects performance and behavior of growing rabbits housed in collective pens. Animals 9(8), 537.

This study assessed the effects of an elevated plastic-slatted platform and/or a plastic hiding tube in collective pens with large group sizes (27 or 36 rabbits/pen; 16 rabbits/m2) on the performance and welfare of rabbits...

Euet, A., Lemarchand, J., Parias, C., Mach, N. et al. 2019. Housing horses in individual boxes is a challenge with regard to welfare. Animals 9(9), 621.

Horses are mainly housed in individual boxes. This housing system is reported to be highly detrimental with regard to welfare and could trigger the expression of four behavioural indicators of a compromised welfare state: stereotypies...

Baba, C., Kawai, M., Takimoto-Inose, A. 2019. Are horses (Equus caballus) sensitive to human emotional cues? Animals 9(9), 630.

Emotions are important for social animals because animals' emotions function as beneficial cues to identify valuable resources such as food or to avoid danger by providing environmental information. Emotions also enable animals to predict individuals'...

Semin, G. R., Scandurra, A., Baragli, P. et al. 2019. Inter- and intra-species communication of emotion: Chemosignals as the neglected medium. Animals 9(11), 887.

Human body odors contain chemosignals that make species-specific communication possible. Interspecies communication studies were conducted on dogs and horses subjected to human chemosignals produced in happiness and fear emotional states. Dogs showed behaviors consistent with...

Raillard, M., Detotto, C., Grepper, S. et al. 2019. Anaesthetic and perioperative management of 14 male New Zealand white rabbits for calvarial bone surgery. Animals 9(11), 896.

Calvarial bone surgery on rabbits is frequently performed. This report aims to document a simple and practical anaesthetic and perioperative management for this procedure. Fourteen male New Zealand white rabbits were included in the study...

Lansade, L., Bonneau, C., Parias, C. et al. 2019. Horse’s emotional state and rider safety during grooming practices, a field study. Applied Animal Behaviour Science 217, 43-47.

Care given to animals, such as grooming for horses, can be a source of well-being when carried out correctly. However, it can cause discomfort when badly perceived and lead to potentially dangerous reactions. This study...

Zhang, Z., Zhang, X., Li, Z. et al. 2019. Effects of different levels of environmental enrichment on the sheltering behaviors, brain development and cortisol levels of black rockfish Sebastes schlegelii. Applied Animal Behaviour Science 218, 104825.

Environmental enrichment is a promising way to increase the fitness and survival of fish released for stock enhancement and biological conservation programs. However, the effects of enrichment in different studies on the fish behavior, physiology...

Lee, L. Y., Lee, D., Ryu, H. et al. 2019. Capnography-guided endotracheal intubation as an alternative to existing intubation methods in rabbits. JAALAS 58(2), 240-245.

Rabbits provide a unique challenge for routine endotracheal intubation in clinical practice because of various distinctive anatomic and physiologic features. Many previously proposed methods for endotracheal intubation in rabbits are limited by several factors, including...

Bartley, K. A., Johnson, C. H. 2019. Human infant pants for postoperative protection during social housing of New Zealand white rabbits (Oryctolagus cuniculus). JAALAS 58(4), 510-516.

Elizabethan collars (E-collars) are commonly used in various species to safeguard healing wounds. However, E-collars inadvertently restrict the expression of normal species-typical behaviors, including coprophagy, self-grooming, and social housing. To maintain social housing in accordance...

Association of Primate Veterinarians. 2019. Association of Primate Veterinarians’ Position Statement: Cerebrospinal fluid aspiration for nonhuman primates in biomedical research. JAALAS 58(4), 428-429.

The Association of Primate Veterinarians (APV) recognizes that CSF collection may be required for both clinical and research purposes in nonhuman primates (NHP). Because there are inherent risks associated with the technique, the laboratory animal...

Winter, E. R., Nyqvist, M., Britton, J. R. 2019. Non-lethal sampling for stable isotope analysis of pike Esox lucius: How mucus, scale and fin tissue compare to muscle. Journal of Fish Biology 95(3), 956-958.

Stable isotope analysis (SIA) was used to examine the isotopic relationships between dorsal muscle and fin, scale and epidermal mucus in pike Esox lucius. δ13C and δ15N varied predictably within each tissue pairing, with conversion...

Jones, N. A. R., Spence, R., Jones, F. A. M. et al. 2019. Shade as enrichment: Testing preferences for shelter in two model fish species. Journal of Fish Biology 95(4), 1161-1165.

We compared preferences shown by zebrafish (Danio rerio) and three-spined stickleback (Gasterosteus aculeatus) for shelter provided by above-tank shade and artificial plants. Zebrafish showed no preference for either shelter, whereas sticklebacks showed a preference for...