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. 
Golledge, H., Richardson, C. (Eds.) 2024. The UFAW Handbook on the Care and Management of Laboratory and Other Research Animals (9th ed.). Wiley-Blackwell. 1040 p.

The latest edition of the seminal reference on the care and management of laboratory and research animals. The newly revised ninth edition of The UFAW Handbook on the Care and Management of Laboratory and Other...

Valros, A., Norring, M., Ahlqvist, K. et al. 2024. Effects of repeated intramuscular injections on sow behaviour reactions and stress-related saliva biomarkers – A pilot study. Applied Animal Behaviour Science 271, 106173.

Medicating large production animals, such as sows, individually can be challenging, especially when repeated treatments are needed. Intramuscular (i.m.) injections have been shown to be aversive, and an increased reaction could be expected over consecutive...

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...

Ausderau, K. K., Colman, R. J., Kabakov, S. et al. 2023. Evaluating depression- and anxiety-like behaviors in non-human primates. Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience 16, 1006065.

Depression and anxiety are some of the most prevalent and debilitating mental health conditions in humans. They can present on their own or as co-morbidities with other disorders. Like humans, non-human primates (NHPs) can develop...

Łapiński, S., Niedbała, P., Markowska, K. et al. 2023. The effects of age, size, and cage complexity on the behaviour of farmed female chinchillas (Chinchilla lanigera). Scientific Reports 13(1), 6108.

Even though chinchillas have been farmed for a century, there are not many studies concerning their behaviour in captivity or their optimal housing conditions, both of which are important factors in the assessment of their...

Martín, J., Barja, I., Rodríguez-Ruiz, G. et al. 2023. Hidden but potentially stressed: A non-invasive technique to quantify fecal glucocorticoid levels in a fossorial amphisbaenian reptile. Animals 13(1), 109.

To understand wildlife responses to the changing environment, it is useful to examine their physiological responses and particularly their endocrine status. Here, we validated an enzyme immunoassay (EIA) to non-invasively quantify fecal corticosterone metabolites (FCM)...

Morgado, J. N., Lamonaca, E., Santeramo, F. G. et al. 2023. Effects of management strategies on animal welfare and productivity under heat stress: A synthesis. Frontiers in Veterinary Science 10, 1145610.

Climate change includes different dramatic events, and among them, heat stress exposition is the strongest phenomenon affecting the livestock sector. The effects of heat stress events on animal welfare are complex and the economic impacts...

Robles, I., Luna, S. P. L., Trindade, P. H. E. et al. 2023. Validation of the Unesp-Botucatu pig composite acute pain scale (UPAPS) in piglets undergoing castration. PLOS ONE 18(4), e0284218.

To accurately assess pain and support broadly-based analgesic protocols to mitigate swine pain, it is imperative to develop and validate a species-specific pain scale. The objective of this study was to investigate the clinical validity...

Zieliński, D. 2023. The effect of enrichment on leopard geckos (Eublepharis macularius) housed in two different maintenace systems (rack system vs. Terrarium). Animals 13(6), 1111.

The aim of this study was to test the usefulness of environmental enrichment for Eublepharis macularius depending on the maintenance method (terrarium vs. rack system). The hypothesis was that reptiles kept in an extremely low-stimulus...

Höne, U., Krause, E. T., Bussemas, R. et al. 2023. Usage of outdoor runs and defaecation behaviour of fattening pigs. Applied Animal Behaviour Science 258, 105821.

Access to an outdoor run improves the housing conditions of fattening pigs by an enlarged space allowance, access to different climatic conditions and environmental stimulation. One central conflicting issue regarding outdoor runs is the emission...

O’Brien, S. L., Cronin, K. A. 2023. Doing better for understudied species: Evaluation and improvement of a species-general animal welfare assessment tool for zoos. Applied Animal Behaviour Science 264, 105965.

Accredited zoos and aquariums are required to have a welfare assessment process in place for the animals in their care. However, welfare assessment theoretical frameworks and methodologies vary widely. Previous studies have shown that taxonomic...

Jain, A. K., Tansey, G., Hartig, R. et al. 2023. Trends and treatment approaches for complications in neuroscience experiments with monkey species. Comparative Medicine 73(3), 216–228.

Our goal in this manuscript is to advance the assessment and treatment of monkey species in neuroscience research. We hope to begin a discussion and establish baseline data on how complications are identified and treated...

Campbell-Ward, M. 2023. Quality-of-life assessments in zoo animals: Not just for the aged and charismatic. Animals 13(21), 3394

Zoos should aim to provide all of their animals with a good quality of life (QoL) throughout all life stages. In parallel with the evolution of QoL assessment questionnaires and tools in human and domestic...

Ede, T., Parsons, T. D. 2023. Cognitive tasks as measures of pig welfare: A systematic review. Frontiers in Veterinary Science 10.

Cognitive approaches are increasingly used to assess animal welfare, but no systematic review has been conducted on pigs despite their cognitive capacities. Our aims were two-fold: first, to assess the popularity and heterogeneity of this...

Goma, A. A., Uddin, J., Kieson, E. 2023. Lateralised behavioural responses in livestock to environmental stressors: Implications for using infrared thermography to assess welfare conditions. Animals 13(23), 3663.

Lateralised behavioural responses to environmental stressors have become more frequently used as indicators of social welfare in animals. These lateralised behavioural responses are under the control of asymmetrical brain functions as part of the primary...

Manteuffel, C., Spitschak, M., Ludwig, C. et al. 2023. New perspectives in the objective evaluation of animal welfare, with focus on the domestic pig. Journal of Applied Animal Welfare Science 26(4), 518–529.

Animal welfare can be viewed as the result of integrating repeated affective evaluations of success in coping with environmental challenges, i.e., subjective challenge adequacy. The present work summarizes why established physiological and behavioral welfare parameters...

Titto, C. G., Ricci, G. D. 2023. Behavioral and physiological changes in sows and piglets maintained in farrowing cages or open stalls during summer. Journal of Veterinary Behavior 63, 36–41.

Containment cages are one of the main causes of chronic stress and reduced welfare during swine production as well as in hot environments. The objective of this study was to evaluate behavioral changes and physiological...

Augustine, L., Baskir, E., Kozlowski, C. P. 2022. Investigating welfare metrics for snakes at the Saint Louis zoo. Animals 12(3), 373.

Modern herpetoculture has seen a rise in welfare-related habitat modifications, although ethologically-informed enclosure design and evidence-based husbandry are lacking. The diversity that exists within snakes complicates standardizing snake welfare assessment tools and evaluation techniques. Utilizing...

Leeds, A., Riley, A., Terry, M. et al. 2022. Out of sight, out of mind or just something in the way? Visual barriers do not reduce intraspecific agonism in an all-male group of Nile crocodiles (Crocodylus niloticus). Animals 12(3), 269.

Here, we evaluated if visual barriers could reduce intraspecific agonism in an all-male group of Nile crocodiles (Crocodylus niloticus) living in a zoo. Crocodiles were monitored for nearly 100 h, and four “hotspots” of aggression...

Rowe, E., Mullan, S. 2022. Advancing a “good life” for farm animals: Development of resource tier frameworks for on-farm assessment of positive welfare for beef cattle, broiler chicken and pigs. Animals 12(5), 565.

There is increasing recognition that farm animal welfare standards should ensure positive welfare, as well as prevent negative welfare. Resources that are valued by an animal and that provide opportunities to engage in motivated behaviours...

Cargill, B. M., Benato, L., Rooney, N. J. 2022. A survey exploring the impact of housing and husbandry on pet snake welfare. Animal Welfare 31(2), 193-208.

Snake ownership is popular; however, housing and care may not always satisfy the animal's welfare needs. For example, snakes are often kept in environmental conditions that restrict their ability to stretch out fully or move...

Diggins, R., Burrie, R., Ariel, E. et al. 2022. A review of welfare indicators for sea turtles undergoing rehabilitation, with emphasis on environmental enrichment. Animal Welfare 31(2), 219-230.

For animals undergoing rehabilitation it is vital to monitor welfare in a way that is feasible, practical, and limits stress to the animal. The industry gold standard is to assess welfare under the Five Domains...

Zhang, J., Yu, L., Yin, G. 2022. Evaluation of behavior and affective state of different-parity sows with strong/weak pupil light reflex. Animals 12(9), 1184.

The stall-housing system is commonly used in the modern swine industry in many countries; however, long-term space restrictions can cause affective and physiological abnormalities in sows. The pupil light reflex (PLR) can reflect the psychological...

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...

Kinane, O., Butler, F., O’Driscoll, K. 2022. Freedom to move: Free lactation pens improve sow welfare. Animals 12(14), 1762.

Farrowing crates present a major animal welfare problem. This study investigated the effects of temporary confinement at farrowing on sow welfare and aimed to determine whether this type of system could improve sow welfare through...