Over 234,000 rats were used in regulated procedures in the UK in 2014, many of which may have resulted in some degree of pain. When using animals in research, there is an ethical and legal...
Until recently, research in animal welfare science has mainly focused on negative experiences like pain and suffering, often neglecting the importance of assessing and promoting positive experiences. In rodents, specific facial expressions have been found...
Human decision making is modified by emotional state. Rodents exhibit similar biases during interpretation of ambiguous cues that can be altered by affective state manipulations. In this study, the impact of negative affective state on...
Stereotypies are abnormal repetitive behaviour patterns that are highly prevalent in laboratory mice and are thought to reflect impaired welfare. Thus, they are associated with impaired behavioural inhibition and may also reflect negative affective states...
Laboratory rats are usually kept in relatively small cages, but research has shown that they prefer larger and more complex environments. The physiological, neurological and health effects of standard laboratory housing are well established, but...
Environmental enrichment (EE) reduces drug and sucrose cue-reactivity in rats. In a previous study we reported that 1 month of EE (large cage, toys, and social cohorts) significantly reduced sucrose cue-reactivity. In the present study...
THE OPEN-FIELD (OF) TEST, originally developed by Hall (Hall & Ballachey, 1932), is one of the most widely used methods in the study of emotionality in rodents. The test is conducted in an enclosed open...
The fur-chewing chinchillas showed increased thyroid activity (P 0·5), increased adrenalcortical function (P 0·05) and decreased rectal temperature (P 0·01). This study suggested that increased endocrine activity could be due to the loss of insulation...
Serum corticosterone levels increased significantly within four minutes, reached a peak at 15 minutes and were back to control values 60 minutes after cage displacement. Prolactin, TSH, LH and FSH serum concentrations were also affected...
Mice were reared in either enriched (EE), social control, (SE), or impoverished (IE) environments for 30 days. Environmental enrichment results in a significant and selective increase in paradoxical sleep (PS, or REM sleep) and also...