All/General

Solvable challenges, meaningful lives – welfare and reproduction in zoo animals

In the management and care of farm animals and pets, controlling reproduction is common practice to an extent that its justification is rarely questioned. In zoo population management, limited holding capacity and difficulties in culling so-called ‘surplus animals’ lead to...

Year Published: 2025Topics: ReproductionAnimal Type: All/General

Citation: Schiffmann, C., Schiffmann, L., Müller, E. et al. 2025. Solvable challenges, meaningful lives – welfare and reproduction in zoo animals. Journal of Zoo and Aquarium Research 13(4), 245–263.

The use of technology as environmental enrichment in zoos: A scoping review

Technological enrichment, such as motion sensors, touchscreens, and response-independent feeders, offer innovative ways to enhance animal welfare in captivity by promoting species-appropriate behaviours and cognitive stimulation. A scoping review of 22 publications comprising 25 studies identified various technologies, with computers...

Year Published: 2025Topics: Environmental EnrichmentAnimal Type: All/General

Citation: Hryhorenko, L., McWhorter, T., Whittaker, A. et al. 2025. The use of technology as environmental enrichment in zoos: A scoping review. Animal Welfare 34, e73.

The constructional approach to zoo animal training: Enhancing welfare through emerging evidence-based behavioral science

Animal welfare has become a cornerstone of modern zoo and aquarium animal care practices. This paper introduces the constructional approach to animal training as an evidence-based framework that can enhance the welfare of zoo animals. Developed through decades of behavioral...

Year Published: 2025Topics: Animal TrainingAnimal Type: All/General

Citation: Heidenreich, B., Pedersen, A. 2025. The constructional approach to zoo animal training: Enhancing welfare through emerging evidence-based behavioral science. Animals 15(21), 3221.

The inoculation fallacy: why early enrichment cannot compensate for poor adult environments

Early-life environmental enrichment (EE) is widely promoted as a route to building resilience and competence, yet these benefits rarely persist when adult environments lack opportunities for agency. Resilience and competence are behavioral properties of current reinforcement contingencies, not internal traits....

Year Published: 2026Topics: Environmental Enrichment, Rearing & WeaningAnimal Type: All/General

Citation: Parker, M. O. 2026. The inoculation fallacy: why early enrichment cannot compensate for poor adult environments. Behavior Analysis in Practice.

What is your tattoo ink telling you?

Tattooing traumatizes the skin, which can result in microbial infections with the severity ranging from minor to life-threating septicemia. Additionally, the metals in colored tattoo ink are known to cause dermal inflammation in some people. In the laboratory animal research...

Year Published: 2020Topics: Identification MethodAnimal Type: All/General, Mouse, Rat, Rodent

Citation: Young, T., Whiteside, T., Locklear, J. 2020. What is your tattoo ink telling you? Laboratory Animal Science Professional 8(2) (March/April), 62-65.

Harm-benefit analysis may not be the best approach to ensure minimal harms and maximal benefits of animal research—Alternatives should be explored

Using animals in scientific research is commonly justified on the utilitarian basis that the benefits of scientific progress to human health and society exceed by far the harm inflicted on animals. In an attempt to ensure that this is indeed...

Year Published: 2020Topics: Regulations & Ethical ReviewAnimal Type: All/General

Citation: Gutfreund, Y. 2020. Harm-benefit analysis may not be the best approach to ensure minimal harms and maximal benefits of animal research—Alternatives should be explored. Animals 10(2), 291.

Too cute to kill? The need for objective measurements of quality of life

The recognition of animal suffering is influenced by cultural and societal prejudices and the cuteness of an animal leads to bias in the way it is treated. It is important to consider the animal’s behaviour and its environment—not just its...

Year Published: 2020Topics: Welfare AssessmentAnimal Type: All/General

Citation: Wolfensohn, S. 2020. Too cute to kill? The need for objective measurements of quality of life. Animals 10(6), 1054.

Towards more compassionate wildlife research through the 3Rs principles: Moving from invasive to noninvasive methods

Research in ecology and wildlife biology remains crucial for increasing our knowledge and improving species management and conservation in the midst of the current biodiversity crisis. However, obtaining information on population status often involves invasive sampling of a certain number...

Year Published: 2020Topics: Biological Sampling & Physiological Measurement, Identification Method, RestraintAnimal Type: All/General, Amphibian, Crocodile & Alligator, Fish, Frog & Toad, Lizard, Nonhuman Primate, Other Animal, Other Fish, Reptile, Salamander, Snake, Turtle & Tortoise

Citation: Zemanova, M. A. 2020. Towards more compassionate wildlife research through the 3Rs principles: Moving from invasive to noninvasive methods. Wildlife Biology 2020(1), no page numbers.

Where are we heading? Challenges in evidence-based severity assessment

Evidence-based severity assessment in laboratory animals is, apart from the ethical responsibility, imperative to generate reproducible, standardized and valid data. However, the path towards a valid study design determining the degree of pain, distress and suffering experienced by the animal...

Year Published: 2020Topics: Welfare AssessmentAnimal Type: All/General

Citation: Keubler, L. M., Hoppe, N., Potschka, H. et al. 2020. Where are we heading? Challenges in evidence-based severity assessment. Laboratory Animals 54(1), 50–62.

A ten-stage protocol for assessing the welfare of individual non-captive wild animals: Free-roaming horses (Equus ferus caballus) as an example

Knowledge of the welfare status of wild animals is vital for informing debates about the ways in which we interact with wild animals and their habitats. Currently, there is no published information about how to scientifically assess the welfare of...

Year Published: 2020Topics: Welfare AssessmentAnimal Type: All/General, Equine

Citation: Harvey, A., Beausoleil, N., Ramp, D. et al. 2020. A ten-stage protocol for assessing the welfare of individual non-captive wild animals: Free-roaming horses (Equus ferus caballus) as an example. Animals 10(1), 148.