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...

Kumar, P., Abubakar, A. A., Ahmed, M. A. et al. 2023. Electroencephalogram and physiological responses as affected by slaughter empathy in goats. Animals 13(6), 1100.

Recent advances in emotions and cognitive science make it imperative to assess the emotional stress in goats at the time of slaughter. The present study was envisaged to study the electroencephalogram and physiological responses as...

Vickery, H. M., Neal, R. A., Stergiadis, S. et al. 2023. Gradually weaning goat kids may improve weight gains while reducing weaning stress and increasing creep feed intakes. Frontiers in Veterinary Science 10, 1200849.

Most dairy goat farms rear kids on ad libitum milk replacer; calf research suggests this improves growth and welfare, but solid feed intakes are problematic. Weaning can be gradual (incremental milk reduction) or abrupt (sudden...

Warwick, C., Pilny, A., Steedman, C. et al. 2023. Mobile zoos and other itinerant animal handling events: Current status and recommendations for future policies. Animals 13(2), 214.

Mobile zoos are events in which non-domesticated (exotic) and domesticated species are transported to venues such as schools, hospitals, parties, and community centres, for the purposes of education, entertainment, or social and therapeutic assistance. We...

Clark, F. E. 2023. In the zone: Towards a comparative study of flow state in primates. Animal Behavior and Cognition 10(1), 62–88.

Flow is an altered state of feeling ‘in the zone’ when fully absorbed in a challenge and is associated with positive affective state (feelings). Despite almost five decades of research, Flow has not yet been...

Szabo, B., Ringler, E. 2023. Fear of the new? Geckos hesitate to attack novel prey, feed near objects and enter a novel space. Animal Cognition 26(2), 537–549.

Neophobia, the fear of novelty, is an ecologically important response which enables animals to avoid potentially harmful situations. Neophobia is a cognitive process by which individuals distinguish novelty from familiarity. In this study, we aimed...

Acharya, R. Y., Hemsworth, P. H., Coleman, G. J. et al. 2022. The animal-human interface in farm animal production: Animal fear, stress, reproduction and welfare. Animals 12(4), 487.

A negative human-animal relationship (HAR) from the perspective of the animal is a limiting factor affecting farm animal welfare, as well as farm animal productivity. Research in farm animals has elucidated sequential relationships between stockperson...

Celozzi, S., Battini, M., Prato-Previde, E. et al. 2022. Humans and goats: Improving knowledge for a better relationship. Animals 12(6), 774.

There is consensus that the quality of the human–animal relationship (HAR) is relevant to guarantee appropriate levels of animal welfare. Given the impact that HAR may have on both goats and human beings, the aim...

Spitzer, H. B., Meagher, R. K., Proudfoot, K. L. 2022. The impact of providing hiding spaces to farmed animals: A scoping review. PLOS ONE 17(11), e0277665.

Many wild animals perform hiding behaviours for a variety of reasons, such as evading predators or other conspecifics. Unlike their wild counterparts, farmed animals often live in relatively barren environments without the opportunity to hide...

Mota-Rojas, D., Velarde, A., Marcet-Rius, M. et al. 2022. Analgesia during parturition in domestic animals: Perspectives and controversies on its use. Animals 12(19), 2686.

This article analyzes the physiological role of pain during parturition in domestic animals, discusses the controversies surrounding the use of opioids, non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), and local analgesics as treatments during labor, and presents the...

Funkhouser, J. A., Mayhew, J. A., Mulcahy, J. et al. 2021. Human caregivers are integrated social partners for captive chimpanzees. Primates 62(2), 297–309.

In a captive environment, it is challenging to ensure the highest level of social and psychological well-being for species with naturally complex social organizations and structures. There is a growing need to meet the social...

Spiezio C., Vaglio, S., Vandelle C. et al. 2021. Effects of rearing on the behaviour of zoo-housed chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes). Folia Primatologica 92(2), 91–102.

Early-life experiences may considerably affect the behavioural patterns of adult primates. Particularly, atypical rearing practices might lead to abnormal behaviours and social-sexual deficiencies in captive, adult non-human primates. We conducted behavioural observations of mother-reared (n...

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...

Campbell, D. L. M., Lee, C. 2021. A perspective on strategic enrichment for brain development: Is this the key to animal happiness? Frontiers in Veterinary Science 8, 720422.

Livestock animals are sentient beings with cognitive and emotional capacities and their brain development, similar to humans and other animal species, is affected by their surrounding environmental conditions. Current intensive production systems, through the restrictions...

Toinon, C., Waiblinger, S., Rault, J.-L. 2021. Maternal deprivation affects goat kids’ stress coping behaviour. Physiology & Behavior 239, 113494.

Maternal deprivation early in life has been shown to disrupt neonates’ development. Nevertheless, separating the young animals from their dams soon after birth remains a common practice in dairy farm husbandry. This study investigated the...

Ramont, M., Leahy, M., Cronin, K. A. 2021. The welfare of domestic goats (Capra hircus) in a zoo-based animal-visitor interaction program. Animal Behavior and Cognition 8(4), 493–506.

We investigated whether the welfare of domestic goats in an animal-visitor interaction experience at a zoo was affected by the presence and behavior of visitors. We considered how the number of visitors in the goats’...

Goldsborough, Z., van Leeuwen, E. J. C., Kolff, K. W. T. et al. 2020. Do chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) console a bereaved mother? Primates volume 61(1), 93–102.

Comparative thanatology encompasses the study of death-related responses in non-human animals and aspires to elucidate the evolutionary origins of human behavior in the context of death. Many reports have revealed that humans are not the...

Andreasen, S. N., Sandøe, P., Waiblinger, S. et al. 2020. Negative attitudes of Danish dairy farmers to their livestock correlates negatively with animal welfare. Animal Welfare 29(1), 89-98.

Positive stockperson attitudes to his or her animals is associated with a positive behavioural response in the animals and in other indicators assumed to reflect a high level of welfare as well as increased productivity...

Baciadonna, L., Briefer, E. F., McElligott, A. G. 2020. Investigation of reward quality-related behaviour as a tool to assess emotions. Applied Animal Behaviour Science 225, 104968.

Animals are likely to appraise events as positive or negative based on their subjective perception, current state and past experiences. We tested the effects of anticipating positive (food anticipation), negative (inaccessible food) and neutral (clicker...

Zobel, G., Freeman, H., Watson, T. et al. 2020. Effect of different milk-removal strategies at weaning on feed intake and behavior of goat kids. Journal of Veterinary Behavior 35, 62-68.

Weaning from milk is stressful. We aimed to investigate the effect of three weaning strategies on feed intake and behavior of dairy goat kids. Forty-five, 3-month-old Saanen cross goats were allocated to one of three...

Mastellone, V., Scandurra, A., D’Aniello, B. et al. 2020. Long-term socialization with humans affects human-directed behavior in goats. Animals 10(4), 578.

Throughout their evolutionary history, humans have tried to domesticate a variety of wild terrestrial mammals, resulting in a limited number that has been successfully domesticated. Among these domesticated species, domestic goats (Capra aegagrus hircus) are...

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...

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...

Abayarathna, T., Webb, J. K. 2020. Effects of incubation temperatures on learning abilities of hatchling velvet geckos. Animal Cognition 23(4), 613–620.

Stressful environments in utero can have a profound influence on cognitive functions and learning ability. In lizards, thermal environments experienced by embryos can shape a range of traits, including sex, body size, and locomotor performance...

López-Álvarez, J., Sanjorge, Y., Soloaga, S. et al. 2019. Looking for visitor's effect in sanctuaries: Implications of guided visitor groups on the behavior of the chimpanzees at Fundació Mona. Animals 9(6), 347.

The question of 'if and how captive primates are affected by visitors' has gained increasing attention over the last decades. Although the majority reported undesirable effects on behavior and wellbeing, many studies reported contradicting results...