Environmental Enrichment

Environmental enrichment program development: hurdling the common obstacles

This article focuses on the difficulties often encountered during environmental enrichment program development and methods to overcome these obstacles.

Year Published: 2003Topics: Environmental EnrichmentAnimal Type: All/General

Citation: Steward, K. L. 2003. Environmental enrichment program development: hurdling the common obstacles. Animal Technology and Welfare 2, 9-12.

Use of space and manipulable objects in chimpanzees: individual differences in response to environmental enrichment

Twenty-five captive-born chimpanzees were housed in glass-walled biocontainment suites containing resting benches and climbing structures. Thirteen of these animals were individually housed; 12 were paired or grouped. ... In a separate study, five of the individually housed chimpanzees were studied...

Year Published: 2003Topics: Environmental EnrichmentAnimal Type: Chimpanzee, Nonhuman Primate

Citation: Smith, K., Tobery, T., Erwin, J. 2003. Use of space and manipulable objects in chimpanzees: individual differences in response to environmental enrichment. American Journal of Primatology 60((Supplement)), 80 (Abstract).

Social and environmental enrichment in a captive troop of western lowland gorillas (Gorilla gorilla gorilla)

Year Published: 2003Topics: Environmental Enrichment, Social Housing & CompanionshipAnimal Type: Nonhuman Primate, Other Nonhuman Primate

Citation: Sendall, C., Melin, A., Paterson, J. 2003. Social and environmental enrichment in a captive troop of western lowland gorillas (Gorilla gorilla gorilla). American Journal of Primatology 60 , 33 (Abstract).

Enrichment devices for nonhuman primates

A selection of non-edible commercial enrichment devices are described and demonstrated.

Year Published: 2003Topics: Environmental EnrichmentAnimal Type: Nonhuman Primate

Citation: Schub, T., Eisenstein, M. 2003. Enrichment devices for nonhuman primates. Lab Animal 32(10), 37-40.

Enrichment for a captive environment – The Xenopuslaevis

Tubes were preferred over the other four enrichments. The foliage and the cave showed no preference over each other, similarly the wood and rocks and the tank lid cover were equally preferred. However the foliage and the cave were both...

Year Published: 2004Topics: Environmental EnrichmentAnimal Type: Amphibian, Frog & Toad

Citation: Brown, M. J., Nixon, R. M. 2004. Enrichment for a captive environment - The Xenopuslaevis. Animal Technology and Welfare 3, 87-95.

Environmental enrichment for mice

Behavioural responses of outbred and inbred mice to a range of potential enrichments (cloth impregnated with the smell of unfamiliar mice, hessian hammock, half a coconut shell, playback of bird song, control of standard cage) were studied. The results show...

Year Published: 2004Topics: Environmental EnrichmentAnimal Type: Mouse, Rodent

Citation: Brocklebank, S., Mendl, M., Nicol, C. J. et al. 2004. Environmental enrichment for mice. Proceedings of the International Congress on Applied Ethology, 240 (Abstract).

Environmental enrichment in mice decreases anxiety, attenuates stress responses and enhances natural killer cell activity

The importance of environment in the regulation of brain, behaviour and physiology has long been recognized in biological, social and medical sciences. Animals maintained under enriched conditions have clearly been shown to have better learning abilities than those maintained under...

Year Published: 2004Topics: Environmental EnrichmentAnimal Type: Mouse, Rodent

Citation: Benaroya-Milshtein, N., Hollander, N., Apter, A. et al. 2004. Environmental enrichment in mice decreases anxiety, attenuates stress responses and enhances natural killer cell activity. European Journal of Neuroscience 20, 1341-1347.

Effect of enrichment on variation and results in the light/dark test

The aim of this study was to investigate if cage enrichment induces an effect on experimental mean values and on inter-individual variation in the light/dark paradigm using diazepam as the anxiolytic drug. The behaviour of 216 naive adult male mice...

Year Published: 2003Topics: Environmental EnrichmentAnimal Type: Mouse, Rodent

Citation: Augustsson, H., Van de Weerd, H. A., Kruitwagen, C. L. J. J. et al. 2003. Effect of enrichment on variation and results in the light/dark test. Laboratory Animals 37, 328-251.

Foraging enrichment for laboratory rats

The limited-access hopper had a tendency to reduce food consumption, but the time spent feeding encreased. The gnawing sticks provided the rats with the opportunity to gnaw, but did not affect other behaviours or body weight. The foraging device had...

Year Published: 2004Topics: Environmental EnrichmentAnimal Type: Rat, Rodent

Citation: Johnson, S. R., Patterson-Kane, E. G., Niel, L. 2004. Foraging enrichment for laboratory rats. Animal Welfare 13, 305-312.

Behavioural and welfare benefits using environmental enrichment for social housed rats

Constructing their own nests not only allowed the rats to engage in a species-typical behavior, which presumably enhanced their feeling of security, but it also reduced the incident of aggressive interactions.

Year Published: 2004Topics: Environmental Enrichment, Social Housing & CompanionshipAnimal Type: Rat, Rodent

Citation: Jegstrup, I. M., Ritskes-Hoitinga, M. 2004. Behavioural and welfare benefits using environmental enrichment for social housed rats. Proceedings of the Federation of European Laboratory Animal Science Associations [FELASA] Symposium, 38-42.