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. 
Grimberg-Henrici, C. G. E., Büttner, K., Lohmeier, R. Y. et al. 2019. The effect of group-housing with free-farrowing pens on reproductive traits and the behaviour of low-risk and high-risk crushing sows. Applied Animal Behaviour Science 211, 33-40.

Free-farrowing systems and group-housing systems for lactating sows are sensitive systems and require an optimal interaction of different environmental factors to be successful. The aim of the present study was to compare sows’ reproductive traits...

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.

McNamara, A., Allen, L. 2019. Bottle or bowl? Feeding and dosing in juvenile Göttingen minipigs. Animal Technology and Welfare 18(2), 153-154. (IAT Congress 2018 Poster Presentation)

The Laboratory Animal Technology department at Envigo were engaged to perform a toxicity study in juvenile Göttingen Minipigs. The test compound was a human milk formula additive. Therefore, to mimic the conditions of clinical administration...

Association of Primate Veterinarians. 2019. Association of Primate Veterinarians’ guidelines for nonhuman primate restraint. JAALAS 58(3), 282-284.

The Association of Primate Veterinarians (APV) recognizes that several forms of restraint, including physical and chemical, are necessary for the safe handling of nonhuman primates (NHPs). The following guidelines aim to provide information to researchers...

Cox, R. J., Nol, P., Ellis, C. K. et al. 2019. Research with agricultural animals and wildlife. ILAR Journal 60(1), 66-73.

In fiscal year 2016, agricultural animals such as swine, sheep, goats, and cattle represented 10% of the 820 812 animals used in USDA-regulated research. In addition to traditional agricultural animals, research studies using captive wildlife...

Currie, G. L., Angel-Scott, H. N., Colvin, L. et al. 2019. Animal models of chemotherapy-induced peripheral neuropathy: A machine-assisted systematic review and meta-analysis. PLOS Biology 17(5), e3000243.

We report a systematic review and meta-analysis of research using animal models of chemotherapy-induced peripheral neuropathy (CIPN). We systematically searched 5 online databases in September 2012 and updated the search in November 2015 using machine...

Weller, J. E., Camerlink, I., Turner, S. P. et al. 2019. Playful pigs: Early life play-fighting experience influences later life contest dynamics. Animal Behaviour 158, 269-279.

Animal contests are costly and predicted to be won by the individual with the higher resource-holding potential (RHP). Weight is often used a proxy for RHP; however, victory does not always go to the heaviest...

Schapiro, S. J., Neal Webb, S. J., Mulholland, M. M. et al. 2019. Behavioral management is a key component of ethical research. ILAR Journal 60(3), 389-396.

Behavioral management programs aim to enhance the welfare of animal subjects that participate in research, thereby enhancing our ability to conduct ethical research projects. Socialization strategies, environmental enrichment techniques, opportunities for subjects to voluntarily participate...

Clarke, T., Pluske, J. R., Miller, D. W. et al. 2018. Parity influences the demeanor of sows in group housing. Journal of Applied Animal Welfare Science 21(1), 17-26.

Across the globe, producers are moving from individual housing to group housing for sows during gestation. Producers typically group sows of a range of parities together, although the impacts are largely unknown. This study examined...

Li, Y., Zhang, H., Johnston, L. et al. 2018. Understanding tail-biting in pigs through social network analysis. Animals 8(1), 13.

The objective of this study was to investigate the association between social structure and incidence of tail-biting in pigs. Pigs (n = 144, initial weight = 7.2 ± 1.57 kg, 4 weeks of age) were...

Wiley, J. N., Leeds, A., Carpenter, K. D. et al. 2018. Patterns of wounding in hamadryas baboons (Papio hamadryas) in North American zoos. Zoo Biology 37(2), 74–79.

In North American zoos, hamadryas baboons (Papio hamadryas) have traditionally been housed as single one‐male units (single male groups). In recent years, efforts have been made to house hamadryas in groups composed of multiple one‐male...

Coke, C., Skoumbourdis, E., Rodgers, J. C. et al. 2018. Blunting/cutting canines of adult male monkeys: A discussion by the Laboratory Animal Refinement & Enrichment Forum. Animal Technology & Welfare 17(2), 105-107.

"When you keep adult Rhesus macaque (Macaca mulatta) males, adult Cynomolgus (Macaca fascicularis) males or adult Vervet males (Chlorocebus pygerythrus), in the same enclosure, is it advisable to have the canines of the males blunted...

Verdon, M., Morrison, R. S., Hemsworth, P. H. 2018. Forming groups of aggressive sows based on a predictive test of aggression does not affect overall sow aggression or welfare. Behavioural Processes 150, 17-24.

This experiment examined the effects of group composition on sow aggressive behaviour and welfare. Over 6 time replicates, 360 sows (parity 1–6) were mixed into groups (10 sows per pen, 1.8 m2 /sow) composed of...

Ison, S. H., Bates, R. O., Ernst, C. W. et al. 2018. Housing, ease of handling and minimising inter-pig aggression at mixing for nursery to finishing pigs as reported in a survey of North American pork producers. Applied Animal Behaviour Science 205, 159-166.

Inter-pig aggression is a welfare issue that has undergone extensive research. Although management techniques have proven useful in minimising aggression in research settings, it is not known how often these are used on-farm. One objective...

Peden, R. S. E., Turner, S. P., Boyle, L. A. et al. 2018. The translation of animal welfare research into practice: The case of mixing aggression between pigs. Applied Animal Behaviour Science 204, 1-9.

Aggression between unfamiliar pigs at mixing is a major animal welfare problem in commercial farming. It has been studied since the 1970s and remains an important topic in animal welfare research. Methods to reduce pig...

Camerlink, I., Farish, M., D’Eath, R. B. et al. 2018. Long term benefits on social behaviour after early life socialization of piglets. Animals 8(11), 192.

Early life socialization of piglets has been shown to reduce piglet aggression at weaning, but information on sow health and long-term benefits is lacking. We aimed to assess how socialization impacts sow udder quality and...

Salazar, L. C., Ko, H.-L., Yang, C.-H. et al. 2018. Early socialisation as a strategy to increase piglets’ social skills in intensive farming conditions. Applied Animal Behaviour Science 206, 25-31.

Socialisation is a process in which animals interact with unfamiliar conspecifics, that allows them to develop their social abilities. Socialisation has been proposed as a method in pig husbandry to increase piglets’ social skills and...

Camacho, J., Morris, J. 2018. Breaking down the barriers: Social housing of previously single-housed adult baboons. Laboratory Animal Science Professional 5(4) (December), 55-57.

An important responsibility of each institution is to challenge preconceived notions that may limit social housing. At our institution’s center for comparative medicine (CCM), we recently challenged a historical mindset that 2 large (>25 kg)...

Bulens, A., Van Beirendonck, S., Van Thielen, J. et al. 2017. Hiding walls for fattening pigs: Do they affect behavior and performance? Applied Animal Behaviour Science 195, 32-37.

The prevalence of harmful and unwanted behavior in fattening pigs is influenced by different factors including housing. Housing may include the opportunity to hide from aggressive pen mates and this ability is related to pen...

Mesarec, N., Prevolnik Povše, M., Škorjanc, D. et al. 2017. Gangs of piglets: Welfare and growth of imprinted and guided weaners. Applied Animal Behaviour Science 195, 44-49.

Weaning stress accompanied by outburst of aggression is a critical point in pig production as it compromises piglets’ welfare and leads to poor growth rate and health problems. Therefore, a weaning methods to smoothen the...

Reimert, I., Fong, S., Rodenburg, T. B. et al. 2017. Emotional states and emotional contagion in pigs after exposure to a positive and negative treatment. Applied Animal Behaviour Science 193, 37-42.

After-effects of events that elicit an emotional state on both the animals that experienced these events and on their group members have only scarcely been studied. We investigated effects of a positive vs. negative treatment...

Turner, S. P., Nevison, I. M., Desire, S. et al. 2017. Aggressive behaviour at regrouping is a poor predictor of chronic aggression in stable social groups. Applied Animal Behaviour Science 191, 98-106.

Commercial pigs globally are routinely mixed into new social groups. This results in regrouping aggression predominantly during the first 24h which compromises welfare and productivity. Chronic aggression persists thereafter and is also undesirable. Management strategies...

Greenwood, E. C., Plush, K. J., van Wettere, W.H.E.J. et al. 2017. A novel method for the analysis of social structure allows in-depth analysis of sow rank in newly grouped sows. Applied Animal Behaviour Science 189, 29-35.

Chronic stress response in fearful animals can result in depression of growth and reproductive performance. It is therefore important to be aware of at risk animals in the herd. Thus far ‘hierarchy’ calculations have involved...

Parois, S., Larzul, C., Prunier, A. 2017. Associations between the dominance status and sexual development, skin lesions or feeding behaviour of intact male pigs. Applied Animal Behaviour Science 187, 15-22.

In boars, social relationships could influence pubertal development and feeding behaviour. The objectives of the present study were to determine the relationships between behaviour (agonistic, mounting and feeding behaviours), plasma sex steroids (oestradiol, testosterone) and...

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...