Mounting scientific evidence indicates that environmental enrichment improves the welfare of laboratory mice, but most facilities worldwide still use standard housing (i.e., mostly barren “shoebox” cages). The provision of regular access to enriched environments such...

In the United States, the number of rats and mice used each year for experimentation, testing, and teaching is shrouded in secrecy. The current industry estimate, as reported in Science , is somewhere between 10...

A common feature of captive environments is that they deprive individuals of agency—that is, they constrain individuals’ ability to make decisions and exercise control over their environment. Agency is recognized as an important component of...

Researchers at the University of Minnesota have developed a motion-capture system that allows for the markerless 3D tracking of free-moving macaques (Bala et al., 2020). The new technology, called OpenMonkeyStudio, can accurately detect the poses...

In a landmark new study, scientists have shown that cuttlefish are capable of delaying gratification, and that those who choose to delay longer are also more intelligent (Schnell et al., 2021). Cuttlefish are only the...

A new study (LaFollette et al. 2020. Animals 10(8): 1435), supported by a grant from AWI, shows that implementation of a particular animal welfare-enhancing technique can be improved through targeted training.

On October 1, the National Institutes of Health provided its annual update regarding government-owned and government-supported chimpanzees retired from research, including data on those who are still held in laboratories. The NIH has announced that...

AWI’s Laboratory Animal Refinement & Enrichment Forum (LAREF) is an electronic discussion forum facilitating the factual exchange of experiences about ways to refine the conditions under which animals are housed and handled in research institutions...

Each year, AWI awards several Refinement Grants to investigators in the United States and Canada to support innovative research projects aimed at improving the welfare of animals in research. We wish to congratulate this year’s...

The COVID-19 pandemic has had a profound impact on many animals, and laboratory animals are no exception. The US Department of Agriculture’s routine unannounced inspections of research facilities (and suppliers of animals for experimentation) has...