Includes structural, behavioral, food, and auditory enrichment.
Environmental enrichment (EE) is known to produce experience-dependent changes in the brains and behaviors of rodents, and it has therefore been widely used to study neurodevelopmental disorders, including autism. Current studies show significant protocol variation...
Improper feeding methods can be linked to canine behaviour problems, as the conventional bowl-feeding approach fail to mimic natural behaviour and is associated with obesity. Feeding toys can potentially contribute to the enhancement of dog...
Environmental enrichment is a necessary component of all research vivarium settings. However, appropriate enrichment decisions vary greatly depending on the species involved and the research use of the animals. The increasing use of ferrets in...
Assessing animal motivation to access a given resource is one method available to evaluate what to provide in the living environments of captive animals. Providing increased opportunities for movement can be seen as an important...
The Animal Resources Core (ARC) at the Abigail Wexner Research Institute (AWRI) at Nationwide Children’s Hospital (NCH) faces many of the same challenges other institutions manage in terms of enrichment for laboratory animals. A Behavior...
Zebra finches are an uncommon animal model in the biomedical industry but are widely used in language development, memory, and learning studies. Native to Australia, they are desert birds that like warm days and 40%+...
With the increased use of aquatic animals in research, especially zebrafish and African clawed frogs, there has been an increased interest in how to best address their psychological wellbeing. In this article, we have shown...
Numerous studies have shown the negative side effects the lack of enrichment has on the overall health of animals in research. This lack in data may lead to unnecessary risks for welfare issues, like the...
FTDs are Australian carnivorous nocturnal marsupials, whose diet, environmental needs, and enrichment vary from typical research species. Due to the limited working knowledge on the husbandry and care of this species in a biomedical setting...