Publications

Does ‘playtime’ reduce stimulus-seeking and other boredom-like behaviour in laboratory ferrets?

Much environmental enrichment for laboratory animals is intended to enhance animal welfare and normalcy by providing stimulation to reduce 'boredom'. Behavioural manifestations of boredom include restless sensation-seeking behaviours combined with indicators of sub-optimal arousal. Here, we explored whether these signs...

Year Published: 2020Topics: Environmental Enrichment, Human-Animal InteractionAnimal Type: Ferret

Citation: Burn, C. C., Raffle, J., Bizley, J. K. 2020. Does 'playtime' reduce stimulus-seeking and other boredom-like behaviour in laboratory ferrets? Animal Welfare 29(1), 19-26.

Effects of different stroking styles on behaviour and cardiac parameters in heifers

Gentle animal–human interactions, such as stroking, can promote positive emotions and thus welfare in cattle. While previous studies showed that stroking at the ventral neck elicited the most positive reactions in cows, intra-specific allogrooming in cattle includes different body regions...

Year Published: 2020Topics: Human-Animal InteractionAnimal Type: Cattle

Citation: Lange, A., Franzmayr, S., Wisenöcker, V. et al. 2020. Effects of different stroking styles on behaviour and cardiac parameters in heifers. Animals 10(3), 426.

Effects of enriched housing on the neuronal morphology of mice that lack zinc transporter 3 (ZnT3) and vesicular zinc

In the central nervous system, certain neurons store zinc within the synaptic vesicles of their axon terminals. This vesicular zinc can then be released in an activity-dependent fashion as an intercellular signal. The functions of vesicular zinc are not entirely...

Year Published: 2020Topics: Environmental EnrichmentAnimal Type: Mouse, Rodent

Citation: McAllister, B. B., Thackray, S. E., Garciá de la Orta, B. K. et al. 2020. Effects of enriched housing on the neuronal morphology of mice that lack zinc transporter 3 (ZnT3) and vesicular zinc. Behavioural Brain Research 379, 112336.

Effects of olfactory and auditory enrichment on the behaviour of shelter dogs

Shelter environments are stressful for dogs, as they must cope with many stimuli over which they have little control. This can lead to behavioural changes, negatively affect their welfare and downgrade the human‐animal bond, affecting re-homing success. Arousal is evident...

Year Published: 2020Topics: Environmental EnrichmentAnimal Type: Dog

Citation: Amaya, V., Paterson, M. B. A., Phillips, C. J. C. 2020. Effects of olfactory and auditory enrichment on the behaviour of shelter dogs. Animals 10(4), 581.

Effects of weaning age and housing conditions on phenotypic differences in mice

Poor reproducibility is considered a serious problem in laboratory animal research, with important scientific, economic, and ethical implications. One possible source of conflicting findings in laboratory animal research are environmental differences between animal facilities combined with rigorous environmental standardization within...

Year Published: 2020Topics: Rearing & WeaningAnimal Type: Mouse, Rodent

Citation: Bailoo, J. D., Voelkl, B., Varholick, J. et al. 2020. Effects of weaning age and housing conditions on phenotypic differences in mice. Scientific Reports 10, 11684.

Efficient, effective, reusable, and customizable social housing for chickens in the laboratory

The Iowa State University Laboratory Animal Resources Department needed caging specifically designed and purposed to socially house chickens in the laboratory. As indoor housing requests for chickens increased, the need for a dedicated caging system for chickens became a high...

Year Published: 2020Topics: Environmental Enrichment, HousingAnimal Type: Bird, Chicken

Citation: Augustin, A. J., Crabbs, M. A., Sour, M. C. et al. 2020. Efficient, effective, reusable, and customizable social housing for chickens in the laboratory. Laboratory Animal Science Professional 8(5) (September/October), 56-58.

Eliminating light-at-night contamination during a lab animal facility renovation

Relocating laboratory animal research from one animal facility room to another in advance of major renovations can be a daunting task for scientists and animal care personnel alike. This is especially so regarding controlled lighting and the elimination of light-at-night...

Year Published: 2020Topics: Husbandry & ManagementAnimal Type: Chinchilla, Gerbil, Guinea Pig, Hamster, Mouse, Other Rodent, Rat, Rodent

Citation: Dupepe, L. M., Dauchy, R. T., McAndrew, D. et al. 2020. Eliminating light-at-night contamination during a lab animal facility renovation. Laboratory Animal Science Professional 8(5) (September/October), 60-62.

Emotion recognition in cats

Recent studies demonstrated that cats form social bonds with both conspecifics and humans. One of the key factors regulating social interactions is the transfer of emotions between the individuals. The present study aimed at investigating cats’ spontaneous ability to match...

Year Published: 2020Topics: Human-Animal InteractionAnimal Type: Cat

Citation: Quaranta, A., d’Ingeo, S., Amoruso, R. et al. 2020. Emotion recognition in cats. Animals 10(7), 1107.

Endpoint in ovarian cancer xenograft model predicted by nighttime motion metrics

Despite several therapeutics showing promise in nonclinical studies, survival from ovarian cancer remains poor. New technologies are urgently needed to optimize the translation of nonclinical studies into clinical successes. While most nonclinical settings utilize subjective measures of physiological parameters, which...

Year Published: 2020Topics: Disease/Experimental Model, Humane EndpointAnimal Type: Mouse, Rodent

Citation: Nwagwu, C. D., Defensor, E., Jiang, M. Y. et al. 2020. Endpoint in ovarian cancer xenograft model predicted by nighttime motion metrics. Lab Animal 49(8), 227–232.

Enriched environments enhance cognition, exploratory behaviour and brain physiological functions of Sparus aurata

Environmental enrichment is considered as a recommended tool to guarantee or improve the welfare of captive fish. This study demonstrates for the first time that structural environmental enrichment enhances cognition, exploratory behaviour and brain physiological functions of gilthead seabream (Sparus...

Year Published: 2020Topics: Environmental EnrichmentAnimal Type: Fish, Other Fish

Citation: Arechavala-Lopez, P., Caballero-Froilán, J. C., Jiménez-García, M. et al. 2020. Enriched environments enhance cognition, exploratory behaviour and brain physiological functions of Sparus aurata. Scientific Reports 10, 11252.