Includes social housing, social enrichment, social isolation, social buffering, and emotional contagion.
The exchange of services such as allo-grooming, allo-preening, food tolerance and agonistic support has been observed in a range of species. Two proximate mechanisms have been proposed to explain the exchanges of services in animals...
In organic farming, the production of pork from entire male pigs seems to be the most promising alternative to castration, as organic animal husbandry aims at high standards of animal welfare and elimination of mutilations...
Due to the despotic nature of rhesus macaques (Macaca mulatta) and their frequent use in biomedical research, it is important to understand the impact that standard housing practices can have on individuals of this species...
Breeding does are usually housed one doe per cage, but there is an increased interest in (semi-)group housing systems designed to improve welfare. However, there is a lack of information on how such systems actually...
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...
This paper describes the use of a validated quality of life assessment tool (described elsewhere) to identify environmental and management factors that may affect quality of life in dogs kennelled in rehoming centres. Dogs were...
Mixing of growing pigs results in aggressive contests between group members. As aggression serves to establish dominance relationships, it is possible that increased initial aggression may facilitate the formation of social hierarchies. The objective of...
Few studies have evaluated the long-term effects of providing environmental resources to mice. This consideration is important given that mice are often maintained in vivaria for months. We evaluated the effects of providing simple cage...
Group housing is often assumed to improve the welfare of gregarious species. Whether this is actually the case depends on the advantages (e.g. more opportunity for social and locomotor behaviour) and disadvantages (e.g. increased fighting...
In variable environments, animals can learn to alter their behavior to adjust to changes. Sometimes, however, this learning ability can be impaired. For example, challenges in the social or physical environment can trigger physiological responses...