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. 
Brooker, J. S. 2016. An investigation of the auditory perception of western lowland gorillas in an enrichment study. Zoo Biology 35(5), 398-408.

Previous research has highlighted the varied effects of auditory enrichment on different captive animals. This study investigated how manipulating musical components can influence the behavior of a group of captive western lowland gorillas (Gorilla gorilla...

O'Keefe, S. 2016. Non-human primate housing facility at Newcastle University. Animal Technology and Welfare 15(2), 131-132.

Monkeys first arrived in the Comparative Biology Centre (CBC) at Newcastle University in 2000. They were housed in three small separate units consisting of steel and wooden cages. In 2011 a decision was made to...

Gray, G. 2016. Enhancing welfare of Zebra finches through the use of environmental enrichment. Animal Technology and Welfare 15(3), 147-150.

This article will describe alterations made by the University of Glasgow to increase the welfare of our Zebra finches by providing them with a more complex environment to engage with. It will describe how we...

Kim-McCormack, N. N. E., Smith, C. L., Behie, A. M. 2016. Is interactive technology a relevant and effective enrichment for captive great apes? Applied Animal Behaviour Science 185, 1-8.

All non-human great apes are endangered, and for these animals, captive individuals play an important role in the species’ conservation management plan. Therefore, information about their current enrichment activities is essential for maintaining a healthy...

Bashaw, M. J., Gibson, M. D., Schowe, D. M. et al. 2016. Does enrichment improve reptile welfare? Leopard geckos (Eublepharis macularius) respond to five types of environmental enrichment. Applied Animal Behaviour Science 184, 150-160.

Animal welfare is a high priority for pet owners and accredited zoos and aquariums. Current approaches to measuring welfare focus on identifying consensus among behavioral and physiological indicators of positive and negative emotions. Environmental enrichment...

Januszczak, I. S., Bryant, Z., Tapley, B. et al. 2016. Is behavioural enrichment always a success? Comparing food presentation strategies in an insectivorous lizard (Plica plica). Applied Animal Behaviour Science 183, 95-103.

Staggering food availability through a delivery device is a common way of providing behavioural enrichment as it is usually thought to increase the amount of natural behaviour due to the unpredictability of the food source...

Krause, E. T., Ruploh, T. 2016. Captive domesticated zebra finches (Taeniopygia guttata) have increased plasma corticosterone concentrations in the absence of bathing water. Applied Animal Behaviour Science 182, 80-85.

Keeping animals in captivity should always favour conditions that aim to improve their welfare with respect to species-specific requirements. For laboratory animals, the majority of welfare issues have been explored in rodents thus far, whereas...

Kieffer, J. 2016. The scratch factor – Using free, recycled street sweeping brooms as enrichment devices for cattle. Laboratory Animal Science Professional 4(1) (March), 33-36.

There is an increasing amount of consideration being paid to cattle welfare and enrichment, both at agricultural research institutions and via welfare audits on commercial operations. A crucial element of these welfare and enrichment evaluations...

Leeds, A., Elsner, R., Lukas, K. 2016. The effect of positive reinforcement training on an adult female western lowland gorilla’s (Gorilla gorilla gorilla) rate of abnormal and aggressive behavior. Animal Behavior and Cognition 3(2), 78–87.

Positive reinforcement training (PRT) has become a widely used tool in improving the ease with which husbandry and veterinary procedures are performed for animals under human care. PRT provides positive social interaction, cognitive stimulation, and...

Reijgwart, M. L., Vinke, C. M., Hendriksen, C. F. M., et al. 2015. Workaholic ferrets: Does a two-chamber consumer demand study give insight in the preferences of laboratory ferrets (Mustela putorius furo)? Applied Animal Behaviour Science 171, 161-69.

Although provision of environmental enrichment is an effective tool to refine laboratory animal experiments, it is currently unknown which enrichments ferrets prefer. This study aimed to assess the suitability of a closed economy, two-chamber consumer...

Sullivan, M., Lawrence, C., Blache, D. 2016. Why did the fish cross the tank? Objectively measuring the value of enrichment for captive fish. Applied Animal Behaviour Science 174, 181-88.

There has been very little research into the enrichment preferences of ornamental fish, even though there are billions of fish kept in captivity as pets and research animals. We used preference and motivational testing to...

Snowdon, C. T., Teie, D., Savage, M. 2015. Cats prefer species-appropriate music. Applied Animal Behaviour Science 166, 106-111.

Many studies have attempted to use music to influence the behavior of nonhuman animals; however, these studies have often led to conflicting outcomes. We have developed a theoretical framework that hypothesizes that in order for...

Rehnberg, L. K., Robert, K. A., Watson, S. J. et al. 2015. The effects of social interaction and environmental enrichment on the space use, behaviour and stress of owned housecats facing a novel environment. Applied Animal Behaviour Science 169, 51-61.

Every day, millions of domestic cats are held temporarily in captive environments, such as boarding catteries and rescue shelters. Being in confinement can potentially invoke high levels of stress for these animals. Therefore, there is...

Bayne, K. A., Beaver, B. V., Mench, J. A. et al. 2015. Laboratory animal behavior. In: Laboratory Animal Medicine, 3rd edition. Fox, J. G., Anderson, L., Otto, G., et al. (eds). Elsevier, Inc., Amsterdam, NL. pp. 1617-1651.

The study of laboratory animal behavior has increased steadily over the last decade, with expanding emphasis on a variety of commonly used species. In the United States, this trend was initially focused on species for...

Arhant, C., Wogritsch, R., Troxler, J. 2015. Assessment of behavior and physical condition of shelter cats as animal-based indicators of welfare. Journal of Veterinary Behavior 10(5), 399-406.

Surveillance of cat shelters by official veterinarians in Austria is based on legal requirements and does not directly assess cat welfare. The aim of this study was to develop animal-based parameters that are feasible to...

Washburn, D. 2015. The four Cs of psychological wellbeing: Lessons from three decades of computer-based environmental enrichment. Animal Behavior and Cognition 2(3), 218–232.

Three decades ago, the Animal Welfare Act was amended to require researchers to provide environments that promoted the psychological, as well as the physical, wellbeing of nonhuman primates maintained for research purposes. We developed a...

Charmoy, K., Sullivan, T., Miller, L. 2015. Impact of different forms of environmental enrichment on foraging and activity levels in gorillas (Gorilla gorilla gorilla). Animal Behavior and Cognition 2(3), 233–240.

The maintenance of species-specific behaviors for animals in zoological institutions is of top priority, as this can help ensure high levels of animal welfare. Strict feeding schedules within institutions can often impact natural foraging behaviors...

Perret, A., Henry, L., Coulon, M. et al. 2015. Social visual contact, a primary “drive” for social animals? Animal Cognition 18(3), 657–666.

Social animals are always searching for conspecifics, thereby expressing a genuine “social need”. This need is illustrated by the fact that social isolation can induce isolation syndromes that can be attenuated by devices such as...

Monts de Oca, N., Diaz, L., McMahen, D. et al. 2014. The use of lean management principles to enhance a nonhuman primate environmental enrichment program. American Association for Laboratory Animal Science [AALAS] Meeting Official Program, 580-581. (Abstract #P122).

Sewage back-up and overflows in the rooms of our primate facility initiated an analysis of the factors contributing to the clogging of the drains. An investigation reviewing the materials responsible for the clogging of the...

Rose, A. M., Ferrecchia, C. E., Van Andel, R. 2014. Developing an enrichment plan for water-regulated nonhuman primates. American Association for Laboratory Animal Science [AALAS] Meeting Official Program, 565 (Abstract #P60).

Environmental enrichment for nonhuman primates is an essential requirement in laboratory animal research. The Animal Welfare Regulations and the Guide for the Care and Use of Laboratory Animals state that the facility’s enrichment program must...

Willey, S. 2014. Nonhuman primate enrichment room planning, design, and use. American Association for Laboratory Animal Science [AALAS] Meeting Official Program, 539 (Abstract #PS52).

Princeton University continually makes efforts to improve and enhance the quality of life of our NHPs used in research. A part of this effort is to continue to improve our environmental enrichment program, promoting the...

Qi, K., De-mi, S., Chuan, Q. 2014. Current understanding and use of environmental enrichment in China. Enrichment Record 20, 8-11.

In practice, consideration is given to providing most of the species used in research,testing and education withsome level of environmental enrichment. However, although the current level of awareness and understanding about the benefits of environmental...

Watson, C., Garman, K. A. 2014. Freebies for felines. American Association for Laboratory Animal Science [AALAS] Meeting Official Program, 573. (Abstract #P93).

Institutions are in a never-ending budget battle and items like environmental enrichment tend to get overshadowed. The challenge for laboratory animal technicians is to put on their thinking caps and find novel, low-cost enrichment items...

Nowlan, S. Y., Burlingame, L. A., Na, J. et al. 2014. Toys and technicians: 2 keys to a successful enrichment program for singly housed felines. American Association for Laboratory Animal Science [AALAS] Meeting Official Program, 583. (Abstract #P132).

Social or group housing is well known as the ideal environment for maintaining cats in a research setting as it allows specific behaviors such as play, grooming, and climbing. When social housing is not possible...

Damasceno, J., Genaro, G. 2014. Dynamics of the access of captive domestic cats to a feed environmental enrichment item. Applied Animal Behaviour Science 151, 67-74.

Providing feed enrichment to captive felids that are obligate carnivores is crucial for eliciting natural hunting behaviours. However, studies of the efficacy of enrichment techniques usually analyse the whole group, overlooking the different behaviours of...