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., Houser, W. D., Cowley, D. et al. 1987. Preliminary comments on environmental enrichment with branches for individually caged rhesus monkeys. Laboratory Primate Newsletter 26(1), 1-3.

The branches not only were attractive to the majority (87%) of [single-housed] animals but they were also inexpensive and easy to install and to clean.

Reinhardt, V., Houser, W. D., Eisele, S. et al. 1987. Social enrichment of the environment with infants for singly caged adult rhesus monkeys. Zoo Biology 6, 365-371.

Twenty-nine weaned rhesus monkey infants were removed from breeding troops to avoid overcrowding and were placed with unfamiliar singly caged adults without prior familiarization. Adult-infant pairs were compatible in 90% of cases. Compatibility depended neither...

Reinhardt, V. 1987. Improved installation method for branches that are used as cage enrichment for macaques. Laboratory Primate Newsletter 26(3), 1.

We attach the branch in such a way that the animal can both perch on it and freely move below it. ... We are confident that we have found an optimal way to eliminate the...

Reinhardt, V. 1987. Advantages of housing rhesus monkeys in compatible pairs. Scientists Center for Animal Welfare Newsletter 9(3), 3-6.

An intelligent, social animals such as a rhesus monkey, ... represents a caricature of its own kind when kept in an artificial environment that is deprived of both animate and inanimate stimulation. Such animals are...

O'Neill, P. L. 1987. Enriching the lives of primates in captivity. Humane Innovations and Alternatives in Animal Experimentation 1, 1-5.

A summary of basic environmental enrichement for group-housed rhesus macaques. The essence of the social primate is lost under the stresses of the nonsocial condition.

O'Neill, P. L. 1987. Enriching techniques for confined primates. Scientists Center for Animal Welfare Newsletter 9(4), 5 & 7-8.

A summary of basic environmental enrichement for group-housed rhesus macaques.

Morton, W. R., Knitter, G. H., Smith, P. M. et al. 1987. Alternatives to chronic restraint of nonhuman primates. Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association 191, 1282-1286.

Despite attention to details of conditioning and daily assessments of the animals' health status, chronic chair restraint is accompanied by inherent problems such as skin abrasions, necrosis of the ischial callosities, position-dependent edema, inguinal hernia...

Maple, T. L., Finlay, T. W. 1987. Post-occupancy evaluation in the zoo. Applied Animal Behaviour Science 18, 5-18.

We investigated the effects of translocating great apes from barren cages to innovative naturalistic habitats. ... For both gorillas and orangutans, the new environment had the effect of reducing the variety and frequency of aggressive...

Macedonia, J. M. 1987. Effects of housing differences upon activity budgets in captive sifakas (Propithecus verreauxi). Zoo Biology 6, 55-67.

Access to an outdoor environment [which was smaller than the indoor environment] significantly diminished inactivity and stimulated locomotion, feeding, and playing.

Lynch, J. J. 1987. W. Horsley Gantt's Effect of Person. In: Critical Issues in Psychology, Psychiatry and Physiology. McGuigan, F. J. , Ban, T. A. (eds), 93. Gordon & Breach, New York, NY.

Linked human companionship and direct personal communication to the postponement or avoidance of fatal myocardial infarction [p. 93].

Line, S. W. 1987. Environmental enrichment for laboratory primates. Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association 190, 854-859.

A review of early environmental enrichment studies. Unless they have grown up in the same social group, primates are not likely to tolerate each other when placed together as adults.

Line, S. W., Clarke, A. S., Markowitz, H. 1987. Plasma cortisol of female rhesus monkeys in response to acute restraint. Laboratory Primate Newsletter 26(4), 1-3.

Confinement in a transfer box was a significant event, as measured by cortisol response, even though this condition was presumably intrinsically less stressful than manual restraint [with the help of the squeeze-back in the home...

Line, S. W., Houghton, P. 1987. Influence of an environmental enrichment device on general behavior and appetite in rhesus macaques. Laboratory Animal Science 37, 508 (Abstract).

The enrichment device requires little maintenance, and most monkeys learn to use it with no training. No data are included in this abstract.

Jerome, C. P., Szostak, L. 1987. Environmental enrichment for adult, female baboons (Papio anubis). Laboratory Animal Science 37, 508-509 (Abstract).

Each baboon was placed in a cage with another baboon for 3-4 hours, two or three times per week. The same pairs consistently visited each other in either animal's cage. Although some baboons had previously...

Hayashi, K. T., Moberg, G. P. 1987. Influence of acute stress and the adrenal axis on regulation of LH and testosterone in the male rhesus monkey (Macaca mulatta). American Journal of Primatology 12, 263-273.

Acute restraint stress appears to cause the transient stimulation of LH release. ... While the stress-stimulated release of corticosteroids failed to affect the LH response to GnRH administration, it did act directly on the testes...

Heger, W. , Neubert, D. 1987. Maintenance and breeding of Callithrix jacchus in a colony in Berlin. In: Nonhuman Primates: Developmental Biology and Toxicology. Neubert D, Merker, H. J., Hendricks, A. G. (eds). ?berreuter Wissenschaftsverlag, Wien, Austria.

Low light intensity depressed reproductive performance.

Heath, S. J. 1987. Behavioral enrichment for primates: What are the options? Scientists Center for Animal Welfare Newsletter 9(1), 11-12.

Some of the primates have exhibited less pacing, less self-investigation, and hair pulling, etc. since regular daily television viewing was started. No data are included in this article.

Hart, L. A., Hart, B. L., Bergin, B. 1987. Socializing effect of service dogs for people with disabilities. Anthrozoos 1, 41-44.
Glassman, D. M., Buttler, S. J., Willis, F. B. et al. 1987. An attempt at behavioral enrichment for a captive male lowland gorilla. American Journal of Primatology 12, 344 (Abstract).

An attempt was made to overcome the lethargic behavior of a singly housed male gorilla. The animal was provided with a plastic ball and burlap bags, and his food was intermixed with hay in order...

Goerke, B., Fleming, L., Creel, M. 1987. Behavioral changes of a juvenile gorilla after a transfer to a more naturalistic environment. Zoo Biology 6, 283-295.

Coprophagy and regurgitation/reingestion were reduced in the juvenile [group-housed] gorilla in the larger and more natural environment.

Field, L. 1987. The successful introduction and resocialization of chimpanzees. Animal Keepers' Forum 14, 429-431.

Successful introduction and resocialization techniques for chimpanzees are outlined.

Fanton, J. W., Golden, J. G., David, T. D. 1987. Renal medullary solute depletion resulting from psychogenic polydipsia. Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association 191, 1011-1012.
Easley, S. P., Coelho, A. M., Taylor, L. 1987. Scratching, dominance, tension, and displacement in male baboons. American Journal of Primatology 13, 397-411.

The results are interpreted to indicate the possibility that scratching may function as a displacement behavior, which subjectively appears to communicate heightened frustration, anxiety, or arousal.

Dow, S. M. 1987. Environmental enrichment for captive primates and foxes. Applied Animal Behaviour Science 18, 383-384 (Abstract).

Some enrichment options for chimpanzees and orangutans are mentioned.

Dolins, F., Chamove, A. S. 1987. Substrate use and locomotory behaviour in captive cotton-top tamarins (Saguinus oedipus). International Journal of Primatology 8, 548 (Abstract).

Individual differences in substrate use revealed repeated locomotory patterns on preferred branches. The study of preference formation in tamarins via environmental sensory and perceptual cues may be a key to enriching captive environments.