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. 
Reinhardt, V. 1991. Training adult male rhesus monkeys to actively cooperate during in-homecage venipuncture. Animal Technology 42, 11-17.

A training technique is described for ensuring the active cooperation of 10 pair-housed and 5 single-housed adult male rhesus monkeys during in-homecage venipuncture. Mean cumulative training time investment per male was 40 minutes. Once trained...

Reinhardt, V. 1991 . Uncommon tool usage by captive primates. International Zoo News 38(5), 13-14.

Rhesus macaque uses tail to retrieve flavored liquid from drop pan.

Reinhardt, V. 1991. Social enrichment for aged rhesus monkeys who have lived singly for many years. Animal Technology 43, 173-177.

There is widespread concern that aged rhesus monkeys who have been housed singly for a long time would do better living alone than sharing a cage with a companion. Ten female and five male rhesus...

Reinhardt, V. 1991. Impact of venipuncture on physiological research conducted in conscious macaques. Journal of Experimental Animal Science 34(5-6), 212-217.

A survey of 397 publications dealing with macaques was conducted. Stress-sensitive physiological data collected during venipuncture were evaluated in 58 reports. Despite of the fact that venipuncture often is a stressful event for research animals...

Reinhardt, V. 1991. Implementing an environmental enhancement plan for previously singly-caged Macaca mulatta at a research facility. Laboratory Primate Newsletter 30(3), 4-5.

An inexpensive yet effective environmental enhancement plan for caged rhesus macaques is outlined.

Reinhardt, V. 1991. Group formation of previously single-caged adult rhesus macaques for the purpose of environmental enrichment. Journal of Experimental Animal Science 34, 110-115.

An attempt was made to form two groups of 6 previously single-caged adult female and 6 previously single-caged adult male rhesus macaques. The study was based on the premise that simultaneous introduction of familiar animals...

Reinhardt, V. 1991. An environmental enrichment program for caged rhesus monkeys at the Wisconsin Regional Primate Research Center: Through the Looking Glass. Issues of Psychological Well-Being in Captive Nonhuman Primates. Novak, M. A. , Petto, A. J. (eds), 149-159. American Psychological Association, Washington, DC.
Rehabilitaion R&D Evaluation Unit 1991. An evaluation of capuchin monkeys trained to help severely disabled individuals . Journal of Rehabilitation Research and Development 28, 91-96.

All interviewees identified their monkey's behavior as acceptable and none reported incidents of unacceptable behavior. .. Monkeys can be taught to perform a variety of useful taks [listed in this survey] for disabled individuals.

Reinhardt, V. 1991. Agonistic behavior responses of socially experienced, unfamiliar adult male rhesus monkeys (Macaca mulatta) to pairing. Laboratory Primate Newsletter 30(1), 5-7.

The present data demonstrate that unfamiliar adult male rhesus monkeys may generally be paired directly with each other without undue risk provided partners have previously lived with another male companion. This is congruent with the...

Redshaw, M. E., Mallinson, J. J. C. 1991. Learning from the wild: Improving the psychological and physical well-being of captive primates. Dodo, Journal of the Wildlife Preservation Trust 27, 18-26.

Environmental enrichment options for Gorillas and Tamarins are described and discussed.

Reese, E. P. 1991. The role of husbandry in promoting the welfare of laboratory animals. In: Animals in Biomedical Research. Hendriksen, C. F. M. , Koeter, H. B. W. M. (eds), 155-192. Elsevier, Amsterdam, Netherlands.

Thorough discussion of environmental enrichment strategies. Pragmatic reasons support ethical ones for improving the laboratory environment. ... An important, and often neglected, source of social enrichment, especially when animals must be isolated from conspecifics, is...

Rasmussen, D. R. 1991. Contextual variation and consistency in rhesus friendship: Differential redundancy of types of affiliation in a reproductive and a nonreproductive group. American Journal of Primatology 24, 128 (Abstract).
Priest, G. M. 1991. Training a diabetic drill (Mandrillus leucophaeus) to accept insulin injections and venipuncture. Laboratory Primate Newsletter 30(1), 1-4.

Training technique is described. Loon has never failed to voluntarily accept his insulin injection or to allow the veterinarians access to blood vessels in exchange for a good back scratch and a food reward.

Poole, T. B. 1991. Criteria for the provision of captive environments. In: Primate Responses to Environmental Change . Box, H. O. (ed), 357-374. Chapman and Hall, New York, NY.

The greater the departure from the wild environment the greater the need to install forms of environmental enrichment.

Poole, T. B. 1991. The behavioural needs of captive primates: Can they be identified? In: Primatology Today. Ehara, A., Kimura, T., Takanaka, O., Iwamoto, M. (eds), 659-662. Elsevier, Amsterdam, Netherlands.

Discussion of behavioral needs in relation to the captive environment of nonhuman primates.

Patterson, F. 1991. Self-awareness in the gorilla Koko. Gorilla 14(2), 2-5.

Responses of an adult female gorilla (Koko) to her own mirror reflections are described, documented and analyzed. During every session, Koko frequently exhibited self-directed behaviors such as grooming her underarms and picking at her teeth...

O'Neill, P. L., Novak, M. A., Suomi, S. J. 1991. Normalizing laboratory-reared rhesus macaque (Macaca mulatta) behavior with exposure to complex outdoor enclosures. Zoo Biology 10, 237-245.

Young group-housed animals housed in the outdoor corncrib also showed a decline in self-oral behaviour which persisted even upon return to the laboratory environment.Abstract of this work has been published in:American Journal of Primatology 18...

O'Neill, P. L., Price, C. 1991. Customizing an enrichment program: Rhesus monkeys. Lab Animal 20(6), 29-40.

An analysis of the time budget (agonistic behavior is excluded) of rhesus macaque groups kept in free-ranging and confined [corncrib] condition. Adult animals spent about the same amount of time engaged in social grooming in...

Novak, M. A., Bayne, K. 1991. Monkey behavior and laboratory issues. Laboratory Animal Science 41(4), 306-307.

Monkeys are socially complex creatures. When this aspect of their nature is accommodated in research settings, the benefit to science is a less stressed animal that provides meaningful scientific data. [p. 306]

Novak, M. A., Suomi, S. J. 1991. Social interaction in nonhuman primates: An underlying theme for primate research. Laboratory Animal Science 41, 308-314.

With effective management strategies, it can be argued that the benefits of social housing exceed the disadvantages for most nonhuman primates and for the majority of primate species housed in laboratory settings. ... Different strategies...

Novak, M. A., Drewsen, K. H., Beckley, S. A. 1991. The Welfare of Nonhuman Primates in Research Settings: A Bibliography. In: Through the Looking Glass. Issues of Psychological Well-Being in Captive Nonhuman Primates. Novak, M. A. , Petto, A. J. (eds), 221-276. American Psychological Association, Washington, DC.

An extensive bibliography (over 650 articles) on the welfare of nonhuman primates in research settings. The entries are grouped into the following topics:Ethics, Laws and Regulations, Psychological Well-Being of Captive Primates, Physical Environment, Social Environment

Noon, C. 1991. Resocialization of a group of ex-laboratory chimpanzees, Pan troglodytes. Journal of Medical Primatology 20, 375-381.

A group of [8] wild-born individuals from a single-cage laboratory environment were released onto a small island. [Group formation process and success is not described]. ... This study was undertaken to determine the behavior of...

National Institutes of Health 1991. Nonhuman Primate Management Plan. Office of Animal Care and Use, Bethesda, MD.

Thorough discussion of environmental enrichment options and a survey of 56 investigators and five veterinarians regarding the status of housing and management procedures of nonhuman primates at NIH.

Mulaik, J. S., Megenity, J. S., Cannon, R. B. 1991. Patients' perception of nurses' use of touch. Western Journal of Nursing Research 13, 306-323.
Murchison, M. A. 1991. PVC-pipe food puzzle for singly caged primates. Laboratory Primate Newsletter 30(3), 12-14.

Perforated PVC pipes were placed parallel one on top of the other and loaded with peanuts. It appears that [single-housed] males were slower to learn how to retrieve peanuts but could become as proficient as...