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. 
Dawkins, M. 1978. Welfare and the structure of a battery cage: Size and cage floor preferences in domestic hens. British Veterinary Journal 134, 469-475.

Hens were found to prefer a larger [barren] over a smaller [barren] cage, and a cage with a grass floor over one with a wire floor. When cage size and floor type were opposed, hens...

Cummins, R. A., Carlyon, T. N., Walsh, R. N. 1978. Drug-modulated behavioural responses to environmental enrichment. Psychopharmacology 58(2), 197-199.

The home-cage activity of mice housed in either social or enriched sensory environments was continuously recorded for 23 days. During this period the mice were given daily injections of either strychnine, chlorpromazine, or saline. Both...

Bouyer, J. J., Dedet, L., Debray, O. et al. 1978. Restraint in primate chair may cause unusual behavior in baboons: Electrocorticographic correlates and corrective effects of diazepam. Electroencephalic Clinical Neurophysiology 44, 562-567.

The prolonged drowsy-like ECoG [electrocorticogram] and behaviour may therefore underline a reaction to the 'stress' conditions brought on by restraint.

Bouissou, M. F. 1978. Relations sociales chez les bovins domestiques dans les conditions d'?levage moderne. Proceedings of the World Congress on Ethology Applied to Zootechnics, 267-274.

Visual barriers have a protective effect for subordinate cows during feeding time.

Albrecht, E. D., Nightingale, M. S., Townsley, J. D. 1978. Stress-induced decrease in the serum concentration of progesterone in the pregnant baboon. Journal of Endocrinology 77, 425-426.

Ketamine infusion did not prevent the reduction in the concentration of progesterone resulting from restraint for blood collection.

Odberg, F. 1978. Introduction to abnormal behaviours: stereotypies. In : Proceedings of the World Congress on Ethology Applied to Zootechnics. 475-480. Industrias Graficas, Madrid, Spain.
Baldwin, B. A., Meese, G. B. 1977. Sensory reinforcement and illumination preference in the domestic pig. Animal Behaviour 25, 497-507.

When able to control the photoperiod for themselves, pigs prefer some light and some dark every hour of the day and every hour of the night. Although light onset is only weakly reinforcing to pigs...

Anderson, M. C., Shettleworth, S. T. 1977. Behavior adaptation to fixed-interval and fixed-time food delivery in golden hamster. Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior 25, 33-49.

Food-deprived golden hamsters in a large enclosure received food every 30 sec contingent on lever pressing, or free while their behavior was continuously recorded in terms of an exhaustive classification of motor patterns. As with...

Roonwal, M. L. , Mohnot, S. M. 1977. Primates of South Asia - Ecology, Sociobiology, and Behavior. Harvard University Press, Cambridge, MA.

Macaca arctoides lives in dense forests and near cultivated land and villages. ... It is fairly terrestrial but spends a great deal of time in tress, which it ascends for the sake of food or...

Riesen, A. H., Dickerson, G. P., Struble, R. G. 1977. Somatosensory restriction and behavioral development in stumptail monkeys. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences 290, 285-294.
Paulk, H. H., Dienske, H., Ribbens, L. G. 1977. Abnormal behavior in relation to cage size in rhesus monkeys. Journal of Abnormal Psychology 86, 87-92.

Observations were made of 24 monkeys that were introduced singly into a [barren] small and a [barren] large test cage. In a large cage, more normal but less stereotyped locomotion was shown than in a...

Morris, D. 1977. Man Watching - A Field Guide to Human Behavior. Harry N. Abrams, Inc., New York, NY.
Lynch, J. J., Thomas, S. A., Paskewitz, D. A. et al. 1977. Human contact and cardiac arrhythmia in a coronary care unit. Psychosomatic Medicine 39, 188-192.

In a sample of 225 coronary care patients it was observed that a significant reduction in ventricular arrhythmias occurred following pulse palpation. These data suggest that significant changes in ventricular arrhythmia can occur as a...

Lethmat, J. 1977. Probleml?severhalten Von Orang-Utans (Pongo Pygmaeus). Paul Parey, Berlin, Germany.

Food retrieval tactics of captive orangutans using tools are documented.

Hearn, J. P. 1977. A device for restraining small monkeys. Laboratory Animals 11, 261-262.

The restraint apparatus allows a small monkey to be restrained comfortably and with a minimum of stress.

Glick, C. 1977. Inexpensive recreational opportunities for a gorilla. Animal Keepers' Forum 4, 140.

The male gorilla demonstrated great ingenuity in using rubber tires, hoses, tubes, branches, and burlap bags.

Erwin, J. 1977. Factors influencing aggressive behavior and risk of trauma in the pigtail macaque (Macaca nemestrina). Laboratory Animal Science 27, 541-547.

Discussion of risk factors associated with group-housing. Provision of cover .... reduced aggression among members of stable groups. Subjects in newly-formed groups composed of unfamiliar animals sustained fewer injuries than did those in groups formed...

Dazey, J., Kuyk, K., Oswald, M. et al. 1977. Effects of group composition on agonistic behavior of captive pigtailed macaques (Macaca nemestrina). American Journal of Physical Anthropology 46, 73-76.

Females showed significantly less aggression in the presence of adult males [one male per group] than they did in female-only groups.

Willard, J. G., Willard, J. C., Wolfran, S. A. et al. 1977. Effect of diet on cecal pH and feeding behaviour of horses. Journal of Animal Science 45, 87-92.

The horses fed the hay diet spent significantly more time eating feed and significantly less time chewing wood, in coprophagy, in searching (for feed) and in standing than did horses receiving the concentrate diet.

Roper, T. J., Polioudakis, E. 1977. The behaviour of Mongolian gerbils in a semi-natural environment with special reference to ventral marking, dominance and sociability. Behaviour 61, 207-237.

Gerbils do not show stereotyped bar-gnawing in cages which are provided with a lid [dark areas in cage].

Rajecki, D. W., Suomi, S. J., Scott, E. A. et al. 1977. Effects of social isolation and social separation in domestic chicks. Developmental Psychology 13, 143-155.

Social isolation and separation from conspecifics is a distressing experience.

Oliverio, A. 1977. Genetics, Environment and Intelligence. Elsevier, Amsterdam, Netherlands.

Social grouping versus isolation aids subsequent learning and retention. ... Enriched-experienced rats perform better than colony - or impoverished-experience rats.

Lange, A. L. 1977. Apparent psychogenic polydipsia. In: Current Veterinary Therapy IV: Small Animal Practice. Kirk, R. W. (ed), 1098-1102. Saunders, PA, Philadelphia.

Psychogenic polydipsia in dogs is described.

Kilgour, R. 1977. Design sheep yards to suit the whims of sheep. NZ Farmer 98(6), 29-31.
Hite, M., Hanson, H. M., Bohidar, N. R. et al. 1977. Effect of cage size on patterns of activity and health of beagle dogs. Laboratory Animal Science 27, 60-64.

The results indicate that beagle dogs bred for laboratory purposes were not affected by the two different size [barren] cages. Dogs in the larger cages did not utilize the additional floor space which was three...