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. 
Heyworth, C., Olivo, D. 2018. Environmental and psychological enrichment for NHPs reimagined and repurposed. Laboratory Animal Science Professional 5(4) (December), 39-43.

This article describes creative enrichment ideas for nonhuman primates, including celery stalks embedded with seeds; paper rolled into tubes, braided and filled with fruit and seeds; pineapple crowns loaded with treats; dry spaghetti noodles coated...

Volgin, A. D., Yakovlev, O. V., Demin, K. A. et al. 2018. Understanding the role of environmental enrichment in zebrafish neurobehavioral models. Zebrafish 15(5), 425-432.

Environmental stimuli are critical in preclinical research that utilizes laboratory animals to model human brain disorders. The main goal of environmental enrichment (EE) is to provide laboratory animals with better choice of activity and greater...

White, L. J., Thomson, J. S., Pounder, K. C. et al. 2017. The impact of social context on behaviour and the recovery from welfare challenges in zebrafish, Danio rerio. Animal Behaviour 132, 189-199.

Understanding how animals experience stress in a laboratory environment is crucial for improving their welfare. Increasing numbers of fish are being used in scientific studies and further research is required to ensure appropriate conditions are...

Palmer, S. 2017. Rescue-Enrich-Release: The environmental enrichment program for three species of captive primates at Colobus. Canopy 17(2), 27-30.

It is widely known that the psychological wellbeing of captive animals can become compromised by a captive environment that lacks proper environmental stimulation. Environmental enrichment programs have become the norm in captive environments yet research...

Alligood, C. A., Dorey, N. R., Mehrkam, L. R. et al. 2017. Applying behavior-analytic methodology to the science and practice of environmental enrichment in zoos and aquariums. Zoo Biology 36(3), 175–185.

Environmental enrichment in zoos and aquariums is often evaluated at two overlapping levels: published research and day‐to‐day institutional record keeping. Several authors have discussed ongoing challenges with small sample sizes in between‐groups zoological research and...

Carlson, A., Allen, C., Skoumbourdis, E. et al. 2017. Cooked food for non-human primates: A discussion by the Laboratory Animal Refinement & Enrichment Forum. Animal Technology and Welfare 16(2), 124-126.

"Do any of you give cooked food like pasta, potatoes or vegetables to non-human primates? What’s your experience? Do the animals benefit from cooked food; do they like it; does it affect their health in...

Harvey, B. S., Dudzinski, K. M., Kuczaj, S. A. 2017. Associations and the role of affiliative, agonistic, and socio-sexual behaviors among common bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus). Behavioural Processes 135, 145-156.

Little is known about the specific behavioral exchanges that occur on a day-to-day basis between dyads of common bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus). This study assesses the proportion of time dyads spend in proximity (within ∼2...

Coleman, K., Novak, M. A. 2017. Environmental enrichment in the 21st century. ILAR Journal 58(2), 295-307.

More than a quarter of a century has elapsed since the Animal Welfare Act mandated that research facilities develop and follow a plan to promote the psychological well-being of captive primates. Since passage of this...

Clegg, I. L., Rödel, H. G., Delfour, F. 2017. Bottlenose dolphins engaging in more social affiliative behaviour judge ambiguous cues more optimistically. Behavioural Brain Research 322, 115-122.

Cognitive bias tests measure variation in emotional appraisal and are validated methods to assess animals’ affective states. However, the link between social behaviours and cognitive bias has not yet been investigated. Bottlenose dolphins are a...

Lidster, K., Readman, G. D., Prescott, M. J. et al. 2017. International survey on the use and welfare of zebrafish Danio rerio in research. Journal of Fish Biology 90(5), 1891-1905.

A survey was conducted regarding zebrafish Danio rerio use for scientific research with a focus on: anaesthesia and euthanasia; housing and husbandry; breeding and production; refinement opportunities. A total of 98 survey responses were received...

Sands, C., Evans, C., Buckmaster, C. A. 2017. The grooming sleeve: Encouraging conspecific-like behavior and strengthening the human-animal bond. Laboratory Animal Science Professional 5(2) (June), 52-53.

The act of grooming has been found to greatly decrease stress, heart rate, and cortisol levels in nonhuman primates; this decrease in stress and cortisol is seen in the animal being groomed, as well as...

Dupont, M. 2017. An investigation into whether food-based environmental enrichment will increase the activity levels of Alaotran gentle lemurs (Hapalemur alaotrensis) at Birmingham Wildlife Conservation Park. RATEL (Journal of the Association of British and Irish Wild Animal Keepers) 44(1), 14-17.

Excessive weight gain and obesity is becoming a more frequent problem affecting captive lemurs. Animals have evolved to survive in specific environments, causing them to perform species-specific behaviours which animals are highly motivated to perform...

Daoudi, S., Badihi, G., Buchanan-Smith, H. 2017. Is mixed-species living cognitively enriching? Enclosure use and welfare in two captive groups of tufted capuchins (Sapajus apella) and squirrel monkeys (Saimiri sciureus). Animal Behavior and Cognition 4(1).

Non-human primates have complex relationships with conspecifics and also other animals with whom they share their habitat in the wild. Some primates, such as capuchin monkeys (Sapajus apella) and squirrel monkeys (Saimiri sciureus), naturally associate...

de Groot, B., Cheyne, S. M. 2016. Does mirror enrichment improve primate well-being? Animal Welfare 25(2), 163-170.

Primates are highly social animals and appropriate enrichment is required to ensure their psychological well-being. Mirrors are sometimes used as social or sensory environmental enrichment. In this paper we investigate the suitability of mirrors as...

Suriyampola, P. S., Shelton, D. S., Shukla, R. et al. 2016. Zebrafish social behavior in the wild. Zebrafish 13(1), 1-8.

Wild zebrafish exhibit a wide range of behavior. We found abundant wild zebrafish in flowing rivers and still water, in large, tightly-knit groups of hundreds of individuals, as well as in small, loose shoals. In...

Nichols, C., Wilson, C. 2016. Review: Zebrafish environmental enrichment. Animal Technology and Welfare 15(1), 23-25.

Recently environmental enrichment for laboratory housed fish has received increasing levels of attention from a variety of interested parties from hobbyists, through animal technologists and aquaculturists, to scientists. Over the last few years, the growth...

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...

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...

Collymore, C., Tolwani, R. J., Rasmussen, S. 2015. The behavioral effects of single housing and environmental enrichment on adult zebrafish (Danio rerio). JAALAS. 54(3), 280-285.

Environmental enrichment provides laboratory-housed species the opportunity to express natural behavior and exert control over their home environment, thereby minimizing stress. We sought to determine whether providing an artificial plant in the holding tank as...

Keck, V. A., Edgerton, D. S., Hajizadeh, S. et al. 2015. Effects of habitat complexity on pair-housed zebrafish. JAALAS 54(4), 378-383.

Sexually mature zebrafish were housed as single male-female pairs with or without plastic vegetation for 1, 5, or 10 d for comparison of whole-body cortisol measured by radioimmunoassay. Individually housed male zebrafish were used as...

Shams, S., Chatterjee, D., Gerlai, R. 2015. Chronic social isolation affects thigmotaxis and whole-brain serotonin levels in adult zebrafish. Behavioral Brain Research 292, 283-87.

The popularity of the zebrafish has been growing in behavioral brain research. Previously utilized mainly in developmental biology and genetics, the zebrafish has turned out to possess a complex behavioral repertoire. For example, it 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...

Manuel, R., Gorissen, M., Stokkermans, M. et al. 2015. The effects of environmental enrichment and age-related differences on inhibitory avoidance in Zebrafish (Danio rerio). Zebrafish 12(2), 152-165.

The inhibitory avoidance paradigm allows the study of mechanisms underlying learning and memory formation in zebrafish (Danio rerio Hamilton). For zebrafish, the physiology and behavior associated with this paradigm are as yet poorly understood. We...

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...

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...