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. 
Kerr, S. G. C., Wood-Gush, D. G. M., Moser, H. et al. 1988. Enrichment of the production environment and the enhancement of welfare through the use of the Edinburgh Family Pen System of pig production. Research and Development in Agriculture 5, 171-186.

Pigs in family pens [four sows with offspring in four pens each furnished with nest area, activity area, peat area, connecting faeces corridors, a familiar mature boar joining the group for a period from day...

Jones, R. B., Merry, B. J. 1988. Individual or paired exposure of domestic chicks to an open field: some behavioural and adrenocortical consequences. Behavioural Processes 16, 75-86.

Domestic chicks show elevated plasma corticosterone concentrations when being separated from social companions.

Jensen, R., Recen, B., Ekesbo, I. 1988. Preference of loose house dairy cows for two different cubicle floor coverings. Swedish Journal of Agricultural Research 18, 141-146.

Cattle prefer lying on a relatively soft and dry rather than on a hard and wet surface.

Houpt, K. A., Houpt, T. R. 1988. Social and illumination preferences of mares*. Journal of Animal Science 66, 2159-2164.

When allowed to control their own environment, horses spent the majority of their time (88 to 95%) outside a stall and half of their time in contact with other horses. ... When alone, the horses...

Hirsjarvi, P. A. , Junnila, M. A. 1988. The effects of gentling on open-field behaviour of rats. In: New Developments in Biosciences: Their Implications for Laboratory Animal Science. Beynen, A. C. , Solleveld, H. A. (eds), 399-403. Marinus Nijhoff, Dordrecht, The Netherlands.

Non-gentled rats showed higher frequencies and durations of passive motionlessness and higher proportions of loose stools and rigid movements during frighting situations than rats who had been gentled for three weeks.

Harkness, J. E. 1988. Rabbit behavior as related to environmental stress. Journal of Applied Rabbit Research 11, 227-236.

A discussion of environmental stress factors.

Hammond, K. 1988. Communal housing makes for happy rabbits. Canadian Council on Animal Care-Resource 13, 4.

A plea for group-housing rather than single-housing of rabbits.

Grandin, T., Curtis, S. E., Greenough, W. T. 1988. Environmental enrichment for pigs: Differences in somatosensory cortical neurons and subsequent behaviour. Proceedings of the VIth International Congress on Animal Hygiene 2, 692-695.

Pigs raised in a windowless building with hanging rubber hose toys and weekly petting were less excitable compared to pigs raised with no extra environmental stimulation. Pigs exposed to an enriched environment approached novel objects...

Gray, G. 1988. Guinea pigs. Humane Innovations and Alternatives in Animal Experimentation 2, 48-49.

Initial attempts to provide the animals a covered area for refuge showed that the guinea pigs adopted the shelter very quickly and would dart under cover when startled. ... We soon realized that this was...

Grandin, T. 1988. Environmental enrichment for confinement pigs. Livestock Handling Committee Proceedings of the 1988 Annual Meeting, Kansas City, Missouri.

Pigs have definite toy preferences. If a ball rolls into the manure they will no longer play with it. This is why we used suspended from the ceiling. Then the young pigs are given a...

Francois, B., Mills, A. D., Faure, J. M. 1988. Place preferences of Japanese quail given a permanent choice between a social or a non-social but enriched situation. Behavioural Processes 43, 163-170.
Diamond, M. C. 1988. Enriching Heredity. The Free Press, New York, NY.
Davis, H., Perusse, R. 1988. Human-based social interaction can reward a rat's behavior. Animal Learning and Behavior 16, 89-92.

Rats work in a Skinner box for petting by a preferred human in the absence of reward such as food.

Clarke, M. R., Martin, L. N., Baskin, G. B. 1988. Cage enrichment, behavior, and physiology in nursery-reared rhesus monkeys. American Journal of Primatology 14, 16 (Abstract).

Calm [single-caged] control animals and stressed [single-caged] enriched animals exhibited higher cortisol values. The enriched animals had lower cortisols when they appeared calm and higher cortisols when they appeared stressed.

Clarke, A. S., Mason, W. A., Moberg, G. P. 1988. Differential behavioral and adrenocortical responses to stress among three macaque species. American Journal of Primatology 14, 37-45.

Training technique is described to ensure that single-housed subjects voluntarily entered a transfer box. Bonnets took longer to train than rhesus or crabeaters.

Clarke, A. S., Mason, W. A., Moberg, G. P. 1988. Interspecific contrasts in responses of macaques to transport cage. Laboratory Animal Science 38, 305-309.

Training technique is described to ensure that single-housed subjects voluntarily entered a transfer box. Bonnets took longer to train than rhesus or cynos.

Chamove, A. S., Hosey, G. R., Schaetzel, P. 1988. Visitors excite primates in zoos. Zoo Biology 7, 359-369.

Fifteen species of primate were observed to assess the effects of zoo visitors on their social behavior. When visitors were present primates were less affiliative, more active, but more aggressive. These changes were particularly marked...

Chamove, A. S., Anderson, J. R. 1988 . Impact of feeding practices on growth and behavior of stump-tailed macaques (Macaca arctoides). Ecology and Behavior of Food-Enhanced Primate Groups , 231-246.

Discussion of woodchip litter studies conducted with group-housed animals.

Chamove, A. S. 1988. Assessing the welfare of captive primates: A critique . In: Laboratory Animal Welfare Research: Primates. Poole, T. B. (ed), 39-50. Universities Federation for Animal Welfare, Potters Bar, UK.

Enrichment literature is reviewed and the concept of psychological space [encouraging the animal to behave as if it were in a larger space (e.g., hiding food with wood-chips)] discussed.

Chamove, A. S. 1988. Basic factors in enrichment. Primate Eye 34, 7 (Abstract).

Enrichment literature is reviewed and the concept of psychological space discussed.

Campbell, S. A., Hughes, H. C., Griffin, H. E. et al. 1988. Some effects of limited exercise on purpose-bred Beagles. American Journal of Veterinary Research 49, 1298-1301.

Dogs had little inclination to exercise when released alone into the [unstructured] exercise area. Regardless of the size of the [barren] cage, dogs did not exercise unless human beings were present in the room.

Bryant, C. E., Rupniak, N. M. J., Iversen, S. D. 1988. Effects of different environmental enrichment devices on cage stereotypies and autoaggression in captive cynomolgus monkeys. Journal of Medical Primatology 17(5), 257-269.

Autoaggression and stereotypies in individually housed cynomolgus monkeys were compared in a standard primate cage and an enriched playpen environment. Stereotypy and autoaggression were markedly reduced in the playpen, but reappeared on return to the...

Brent, L., Lee, D. R., Eichberg, J. W. 1988. The development of pathological behaviors in chimpanzees in a physically and socially restricted environment and responsiveness to enrichment. American Journal of Primatology 14, 413 (Abstract).
Bramblett, R. D., Bramblett, C. A. 1988. A liquid dispenser for caged primates. Laboratory Primate Newsletter 27(4), 16.

Description of a liquid pump feeder.

Bowden, D. M. 1988. Primate research and 'psychological well-being'. Science 240, 12.

Even minor changes in U.S. cage size standards translate into millions of dollars of investment in new and renovated hardware.