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. 
Gamble, M. R. 1979. Effects of Noise on Laboratory Animals . Ph.D. Thesis, University of London, London, UK.

Only a few articles report details on caging, bedding material, lighting, noise level and other variables.

Chamove, A. S., Anderson, J. R. 1979. Woodchip litter in macaque groups. Animal Technology 30, 69-74.

The effects of the presence of woodchips as a floor covering were assessed on psychological well-being in two pens housing 28 macaques. No negative effects were found, while aggression decreased and time foraging on the...

Campbell, H. W. , Busack, S. D. 1979. Laboratory maintenance. In: Turtles: Perspectives and Research. Harless, M. , Morlock, H. (eds), 109-125. Wiley & Sons, New York, NY.
Berkman, L. F., Syme, S. L. 1979. Social networks, host resistance and mortality: A nine-year follow-up study of Almameda County residents. American Journal of Epidemiology 109, 186-204.

Lack of social support is correlated with increased risk of mortality.

Benton, D., Brain, P. F., Goldsmith, J. F. 1979. Effects of prior housing on endocrine responses to differential caging in male TO-strain mice. Physiological Psychology 7, 89-92.

The results support the suggestion that changing the housing condition of mice [e.g., from single-housing to pair-housing and vice versa] is stressful as measured in elevated corticosterone levels.... The influence of re-housing was sufficient to...

Arnold, G. W. , Dudzinski, M. L. 1978. Ethology of Free-Ranging Domestic Animals. Elsevier, Amsterdam, Netherlands.
Odberg, F. O. 1978. Introduction to abnormal behaviours: stereotypies. In : First World Congress on Ethology Applied to Zootechnics. 475-480. Industrias Graficas, Madrid, Spain.
Raymond, G., White, L. 1978. Behavioral responses of chimpanzees to behavioral enrichment. Animal Keepers' Forum 5, 135-136.
Quadri, S. K., Pierson, C., Spies, H. P. 1978. Effects of centrally acting drugs on serum levels in rhesus monkeys. Neuroendocrinology 27, 136-147.

Immobilization on restraint cross induced progressive increase in prolactin concentration throughout a 60 minute period.

Post, W., Baulu, J. 1978. Time budget of Macaca mulatta. Primates 19, 125-140.

We measured the amount of time that 20 rhesus monkeys (four adult males, 10 adult females, four juvenile males, and two juvenile females) contained in two enclosured social groups devoted to 16 activities.

Panksepp J, H. B. C. R. B. P. S. J. 1978. The biology of social attachments: opiates alleviate separation distress. Biological Psychiatry 13(5), 607-18.

The possibility that brain opiate systems participate in the control of social affect was assessed by determining capacity of low doses of exogenous opiates (0.125-0.50 mg/kg oxymorphone, and 0.10-0.50 mg/kg morphine sulfate) to reduce distress...

McKenna, J. J. 1978. Biosocial functions of grooming behavior among the common Indian langur monkey (Presbytis entellus). American Journal of Physical Anthropology 48(4), 503-509.

An intensive study of the Indian langur monkey (Presbytis entellus) reveals an interplay between biological and social processes. This study which involved captive animals and over 1,500 observation hours suggests that grooming behavior alone cannot...

Lilly, J. 1978. Communication Between Man and Dolphin. Crown, New York.

The investigator deludes himself in thinking that it is possible to be the objective non-involved observer [p. 87].

Levison, B. M. 1978. Pets and personality development. Psychology Reports 42, 1031-1038.
Jones, I. H., Barraclough, B. M. 1978. Auto-mutilation in animals and its relevance to self-injury in man. Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica 58, 40-47.

Self-mutilation in non-human mammals is a well-established, although not a widely known phenomenon, which has been reported under zoo and laboratory conditions. In macaque monkeys, laboratory rearing and isolation are important predisposing factors, and the...

Faucheux, B., Bertrand, M., Bourliere, F. 1978. Some effects of living conditions upon the pattern of growth in stumptail macaque (Macaca arctoides). Folia Primatologica 30(3), 220-236.

Confinement and prolonged lack of physical exercise are very probably responsible for the reduced weight and size of our monkeys bred in laboratory conditions. ... This is apparently due to the impaired development and resulting...

Reinhardt, V., Mutiso, F. M., Reinhardt, A. 1978. Social behaviour and social relationships between female and male prepubertal bovine calves (Bos indicus). Applied Animal Ethology (Applied Animal Behaviour Science) 4, 43-54.

The social behavior and social bonds between semi-wild prepubertal calves are described.

Pettijohn, T. F., Barkes, B. M. 1978. Surface choice and behavior in adult Mongolian gerbils. The Psychological Record 28, 299-303.

Both males and females clearly chose to be most frequently on the sand, follwed by the wood chip bedding material.

Newton, W. M. 1978. Environmental impact on laboratory animals. Advances in Veterinary Science and Comparative Medicine 22, 1-28.

A general review of environmental variables.

Montevecchi, W. A., Noel, P. E. 1978. Temporal effects of mirror-image stimulation on pecking and peeping in isolate, pair- and group-reared domestic chicks. Behavioral Biology 23, 531-535.

Isolated chicks exhibit responses to a mirror similar to those seen in the presence of a conspecific

Kvetnansky, R., Sun, C. L., Lake, C. R. et al. 1978. Effect of handling and forced immobilization on rat plasma levels of epinephrine, norepinephrine, and dopamine-beta-hydroxylase. Endocrinology 103, 1868-1874.

Forced immobilization of rats triggers activation of adrenal-medullary discharge of ephinephrine (EPI) [ and adrenocortical secretion of cortisol] and sympathetic neuronal release of norepinephrine (NE). Plasma levels of EPI reach peak values, which are about...

Klippel, J. A. 1978. Behavioral persistence following switchovers between environmental enrichment and impoverishment in mice. Developmental Psychobiology 11, 541-557.

Early life experiences in a particular level of environmental complexity need not permanently modify behavior.

Jones, J. P. 1978. Photoperiod and reptile reproduction. Herpetological Review 9, 95-100.
Goldsmith, J. F., Brain, P. F., Benton, D. 1978. Effects of the duration of individual or group housing on behavioral and adrenocortical reactivity in male mice. Physiological Psychology 21, 757-760.

Basal corticosterone levels did not show a significant difference between single-housed and group-housed animals. When the mice were subjected to stress (e.g., open field exposure) corticosterone levels in single-housed subjects were consistently higher than in...

Gardiner, S. M., Bennet, T. 1978. Factors affecting the development of isolation-induced hypertension in rats. Medical Biology 56, 277-281.

Housing rats in groups seems to be less stressful for the animals than housing them alone.