Includes structural, behavioral, food, and auditory enrichment.
At the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center, Department of Comparative Medicine, we have a large captive colony of Olive Baboons (Papio anubis). Environmental enhancement is an integral part of the Comparative Medicine Baboon Research...
This article describes a creative solution to enable poor nest building mice to use compressed cotton squares: putting the squares in a blender for 5 seconds. This results in a billowy, completely shredded fluff that...
Since funding can be scarce, I seek novel and economical ways to promote the psychological wellbeing of the animals through environmental enrichment and allow research animals to express species-specific behaviors and control their environment to...
Enrichment devices made of materials such as nylon and wood are common gnawing devices used in animal facilities. In most institutions, these devices are used for a limited period and then discarded. At Pfizer, enrichment...
While the provision of space is important, it is not enough on its own to satisfy the behavioral needs of the pig. Pigs are highly intelligent animals that require complexity in their environment to provide...
As chimpanzees are retired from research, enclosures such as the Primadomes™ become available for repurposing for other monkey species. However, modifications are necessary to meet specific monkey species needs, and considerations for animal handling and...
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...
Marmota monax is a valuable laboratory animal species used in studies of Hepatitis B virus (HBV), food intake, obesity, hibernation, and circannual cycles. This article describes the woodchuck’s (also known as groundhog) natural behavior and...
Husbandry of these unusual and complicated creatures requires creativity and attention to species-specific needs. Authors from the Northeast Ohio Medical University (NEOMED), SUNY Downstate, and McMaster University formed a collaboration aimed at optimizing the health...
The University of California, Berkeley, houses a variety of unique species, each requiring their own specific husbandry protocols, as well as additional enrichment and safety protocols. While housing of bats in zoological parks is common...