Refinement Database

Database on Refinement of Housing, Husbandry, Care, and Use of Animals in Research

This database, created in 2000, is updated every four months with newly published scientific articles, books, and other publications related to improving or safeguarding the welfare of animals used in research.

Tips for using the database:

  • This landing page displays all of the publications in the database.
  • Use the drop-down menus to filter these publications by Animal Type, Setting, and/or Topic.
  • Clicking on a parent category (e.g., Rodent) will include publications relating to all the items in that category (e.g., Chinchilla, Gerbil, Guinea Pig, etc.).
  • You may also add a keyword to further narrow your search.
  • Please note that at this time, only publications dated 2010 or later (with some exceptions) can be filtered by Animal Type and Topic, and only publications dated 2020 or later (with some exceptions) can be filtered by Setting. Most publications older than 2010 can only be searched by keyword. 
Golledge, H., Richardson, C. (Eds.) 2024. The UFAW Handbook on the Care and Management of Laboratory and Other Research Animals (9th ed.). Wiley-Blackwell. 1040 p.

The latest edition of the seminal reference on the care and management of laboratory and research animals. The newly revised ninth edition of The UFAW Handbook on the Care and Management of Laboratory and Other...

Gauy, A. C. dos S., Bolognesi, M. C., Gonçalves-de-Freitas, E. 2023. Body tactile stimulation reduces the effects of high stocking density on the welfare of Nile tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus). Fishes 8(6), 320.

High stocking density is used in aquaculture to optimize farming. However, such strategies can stress territorial fish by increasing aggression, thus harming the fish welfare and productive performance. Here, we tested the effect of long-term...

Williams, M. L., Torrini, L. A., Nolan, E. J. et al. 2022. Using classical and operant conditioning to train a shifting behavior in juvenile false water cobras (Hydrodynastes gigas). Animals 12(10), 1229.

All animals have the capacity to learn through operant conditioning and other types of learning, and as a result, zoos and other animal care facilities have shifted towards the use of positive reinforcement training to...

Spitzer, H. B., Meagher, R. K., Proudfoot, K. L. 2022. The impact of providing hiding spaces to farmed animals: A scoping review. PLOS ONE 17(11), e0277665.

Many wild animals perform hiding behaviours for a variety of reasons, such as evading predators or other conspecifics. Unlike their wild counterparts, farmed animals often live in relatively barren environments without the opportunity to hide...

dos Santos Gauy, A. C., Bolognesi, M. C., Gonçalves-de-Freitas, E. 2022. Long-term body tactile stimulation reduces aggression and improves productive performance in Nile tilapia groups. Scientific Reports 12(1), 20239.

One concern of the Anthropocene is the effects of human activities on animal welfare, revealing the urgency to mitigate impacts of rearing environments. Body tactile stimulation (TS), like massage therapy, has emerged as an enrichment...

Nagabaskaran, G., Skinner, M., Miller, N. 2022. Western hognose snakes (Heterodon nasicus) prefer environmental enrichment. Animals 12(23), 3347.

The environmental enrichment needs of snakes are often disregarded. Using preference testing, we aimed to shed light on the enrichment preferences of a popular pet species, the western hognose snake (Heterodon nasicus). Snakes’ enclosures were...

Marques Maia, C., Pacheco Capelini Alves, N., Tatemoto, P. 2021. Juvenile Nile tilapia fish avoid red shelters. Journal of Applied Animal Welfare Science, 24(1), 98-106.

Shelters are frequently used for fish rearing to improve welfare conditions. In this study, whether Nile tilapia prefers specific shelter colors was evaluated. Thus, fish preference for white, red, blue, green or yellow shelters was...

Tatemotoa, P., Valença-Silva, G., Queiroz, M. R. et al. 2021. Living with low environmental complexity increases fear indicators in Nile tilapia. Animal Behaviour 174, 169-174.

Animals are often kept in conditions with low environmental complexity and for long periods in barren artificial environments. This has been shown to lead to poor welfare in many species of animals. We assessed the...

dos Santos Gauy, A. C., Bolognesi, M. C., Martins, G. D. et al. 2021. Preference and motivation tests for body tactile stimulation in fish. Animals 11(7), 2042.

We tested whether territorial fish (Nile tilapia) perceive body tactile stimulation as a positive or negative resource. Individual male fish were placed for eight days in an aquarium containing a rectangular PVC frame, which was...

Nagabaskaran, G., Burman, O. H. P., Hoehfurtner, T. et al. 2021. Environmental enrichment impacts discrimination between familiar and unfamiliar human odours in snakes (Pantherophis guttata). Applied Animal Behaviour Science 237, 105278.

Environmental enrichment has been found to significantly influence the cognitive abilities of a variety of mammalian and avian species, with effects ranging from positive to negative, however, these effects have been little studied in reptiles...

Hoehfurtner, T., Wilkinson, A., Nagabaskaran, G. et al. 2021. Does the provision of environmental enrichment affect the behaviour and welfare of captive snakes? Applied Animal Behaviour Science 239, 105324.

There is a wealth of evidence demonstrating the benefits of environmental enrichment across a range of different animal species. However, there is comparatively little such research into the effect of enrichment provision on captive reptiles...

Hollandt, T., Baur, M., Wöhr, A.-C. 2021. Animal-appropriate housing of ball pythons (Python regius)—Behavior-based evaluation of two types of housing systems. PLOS ONE 16(5), e0247082.

Considering animal welfare, animals should be kept in animal-appropriate and stress-free housing conditions in all circumstances. To assure such conditions, not only basic needs must be met, but also possibilities must be provided that allow...

Saraiva, J. L., Nogueirinha, M., Teodósio, R. et al. 2021. The effect of tank cover on welfare of farmed Nile tilapia. Applied Animal Behaviour Science 241, 105396.

Welfare in aquaculture is a pressing topic. One of the main measures to improve the life of farmed fish is implementing environmental enrichment, which can include the addition of structural covers to rearing tanks. Here...

Bolognesi, M. C., dos Santos Gauy, A. C., Gonçalves-de-Freitas, E. 2019. Tactile stimulation reduces aggressiveness but does not lower stress in a territorial fish. Scientific Reports 9, 40.

Body tactile stimulation has a positive effect upon highly social animals, such as mammals and cleaner-client coral-reef fish, by relieving stress and improving health. Conversely, some tactile contacts are naturally detrimental, such as those resulted...

Arechavala-Lopez, P., Saraiva, J. L. 2019. Welfare of Cultured and Experimental Fishes. Basel, Switzerland: MDPI, 132 pages.

This open access book is a printed edition of the Special Issue on Welfare of Cultured and Experimental Fishes that was published in the journal Fishes. The PDF is free for download.

Maia, C. M., Volpato, G. L. 2018. Individuality matters for substrate-size preference in the Nile tilapia juveniles. Journal of Applied Animal Welfare Science 21(4), 316-324.

Preference tests have usually been used to identify nonhuman animal preferences for welfare purposes (environmental enrichment), but they are mostly at the group level—that is, group preferences for resources or environmental conditions. However, a more...

Reinhardt, V. (ed.) 2013. Compassion Makes a Difference - Discussions by the Laboratory Animal Refinement & Enrichment Forum [LAREF], Volume III. Animal Welfare Institute, Washington, DC.

This is the third volume of discussions that took place on the Laboratory Animal Refinement & Enrichment Forum (LAREF). This forum is dedicated to the exchange of personal experiences of refining the conditions under which...

Burghardt, G. M. 2013. Environmental enrichment and cognitive complexity in reptiles and amphibians: Concepts, review, and implications for captive populations. Applied Animal Behaviour Science 147(3-4), 286-298.

Reptiles and amphibians have been neglected in research on cognition, emotions, sociality, need for enriched and stimulating environments, and other topics that have been greatly emphasized in work on mammals and birds. This is also...