Light is an extrinsic factor that exerts widespread influence on the regulation of circadian, physiologic, hormonal, metabolic, and behavioral systems of all animals, including those used in research. These wide-ranging biologic effects of light are...
The ethics of animal training procedures have seen dramatic changes in the last few decades, with a movement toward reward-based training methods. These reward-based training practices have also been directly impacted by the behavioral and...
Current frameworks for designing and evaluating good enclosures and “enrichments” typically focus on animals’ active interactions with these features. This has undoubtedly improved the welfare of zoo-housed animals over the last 30 years or more...
In February 2023, a workshop entitled The 3rd International Workshop on Circadian and Neurophysiological Photometry was held in Manchester, UK to address the problem of light measurement in laboratory animal research. This workshop resulted in...
In this column, we will describe how the IACUC Office at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center (UTSW) identifies and documents the participation of IACUC members and staff in continuing education opportunities. The prioritization...
Animal behaviour and, as a result, animal welfare are increasingly complex areas of study, with the diversity of the animal kingdom and new research findings ensuring there is no one, easy answer. Instead, we need...
An emphasis on ensuring animal welfare is growing in zoo and aquarium associations around the globe. This has led to a focus on measures of welfare outcomes for individual animals. Observations and interpretations of behavior...
Regular monitoring of the behavior, habitat use, and appearance of animals can provide valuable insight into their welfare. These ongoing data can help identify meaningful trends that can be acted upon to enhance welfare, and...
This paper explores the ethical imperative of rehoming all healthy animals of sentient species after experiments have finished or when they have become otherwise redundant. We take into account disparate perspectives in animal ethics and...
The specialized functions of each hemisphere of the vertebrate brain are summarized together with the current evidence of lateralized behavior in farm and companion animals, as shown by the eye or ear used to attend...