Environmental Enrichment

Springing bottles enrichment toy effect on behaviors and cortisol level of kenneled dogs (Canis lupus familiaris)

Environmental enrichment used in captive animals with goals of increasing the activity, behavioral diversity, utilization of the environment and reducing abnormal behaviors. The present study was designed to determine the springing feeding bottles toy ameliorative effect on behaviors and cortisol...

Year Published: 2020Topics: Environmental EnrichmentAnimal Type: Dog

Citation: Ibrahim, S. A., Goma, A. A., Alsenosy, A.-w. A. 2020. Springing bottles enrichment toy effect on behaviors and cortisol level of kenneled dogs (Canis lupus familiaris). Alexandria Journal of Veterinary Sciences 66(2), 20-29.

The ‘Cage Climber’ – A new enrichment for use in large-dimensioned mouse facilities

Environmental Enrichment has been shown in experimental contexts to have clear and often beneficial effects on animal physiology and behavior. Housing prior to experiments can represent a large proportion of an animal’s living conditions, and improving housing conditions can be...

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

Citation: Vogt, M. A., Mertens, S., Serba, S. et al. 2020. The ‘Cage Climber’ - A new enrichment for use in large-dimensioned mouse facilities. Applied Animal Behaviour Science 230, 105078.

A scoping review: The impact of housing systems and environmental features on beef cattle welfare

Housing systems and environmental features can influence beef cattle welfare. To date, little information has been synthesized on this topic. The aim of this scoping review was to examine the relationship between housing and welfare status, so that beef cattle...

Year Published: 2020Topics: Environmental Enrichment, Housing, Husbandry & Management, Stocking DensityAnimal Type: Cattle

Citation: Park, R. M., Foster, M., Daigle, C. L. 2020. A scoping review: The impact of housing systems and environmental features on beef cattle welfare. Animals 10(4), 565.

Report of the 2019 RSPCA/UFAW Rodent Welfare meeting

The RSPCA/UFAW Rodent Welfare Group has held a one-day meeting every autumn for the last 26 years, so that its members can discuss current welfare research, exchange views on welfare issues, and share experiences of the implementation of the 3Rs...

Year Published: 2020Topics: Animal Training, Environmental Enrichment, Handling, Housing, Husbandry & Management, Welfare AssessmentAnimal Type: Mouse, Rat, Rodent

Citation: Stevens, C., Finnegan, E., Clarkson, J. et al. 2020. Report of the 2019 RSPCA/UFAW Rodent Welfare meeting. Animal Technology and Welfare 19(2), 101-111.

A technician’s guide to ferret enrichment

At the Royal Veterinary College, we have carried out an investigation to look at various types of enrichment for our ferrets. This article gives examples of successful enrichment ideas, including: tunnels inside the cage, tunnels interlinking various cages, sandpits, paddling...

Year Published: 2020Topics: Environmental EnrichmentAnimal Type: Ferret

Citation: Holmes, S. 2020. A technician’s guide to ferret enrichment. Animal Technology and Welfare 19(1), 79-81.

Artificial grooming during early life could boost the activity and human affinity of Holstein female calves

Early cow-calf separation management induced various welfare problems for dairy calves. We mimicked the maternal licking by manually brushing right after the Holstein female calves were born and during their first week of life, termed artificial grooming (AG). The behavior...

Year Published: 2020Topics: Environmental Enrichment, Rearing & WeaningAnimal Type: Cattle

Citation: Li, C., Wang, J., Jin, S. et al. 2020. Artificial grooming during early life could boost the activity and human affinity of Holstein female calves. Animals 10(2), 302.

Assessing the motivation to learn in cattle

Cognitive challenges may provide a form of enrichment to improve the welfare of captive animals. Primates, dolphins, and goats will voluntarily participate in learning tasks suggesting that these are rewarding, but little work has been conducted on livestock species. We...

Year Published: 2020Topics: Environmental EnrichmentAnimal Type: Cattle

Citation: Meagher, R. K., Strazhnik, E., von Keyserlingk, M. et al. 2020. Assessing the motivation to learn in cattle. Scientific Reports 10, 6847.

Comparisons of activity budgets, interactions, and social structures in captive and wild chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes)

Chimpanzees in zoos with sufficient and appropriate environmental enrichment devices are expected to exhibit behaviors, interactions, and societies similar to those in the wild. In this study, we compared the activity budgets of each observed behavior, characteristics of social grooming,...

Year Published: 2020Topics: Environmental Enrichment, Natural BehaviorAnimal Type: Chimpanzee, Nonhuman Primate

Citation: Inoue, N., Shimada, M. 2020. Comparisons of activity budgets, interactions, and social structures in captive and wild chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes). Animals 10(6), 1063.

Conspecific density and environmental complexity impact behaviour of turquoise killifish (Nothobranchius furzeri)

Fish models are essential for research in many biological and medical disciplines. With a typical lifespan of only 6 months, the turquoise killifish (Nothobranchius furzeri) was recently established as a time- and cost-efficient model to facilitate whole-life and multigenerational studies...

Year Published: 2020Topics: Environmental Enrichment, Stocking DensityAnimal Type: Fish, Other Fish

Citation: Thoré, E. S. J., Brendonck, L., Pinceel, T. 2020. Conspecific density and environmental complexity impact behaviour of turquoise killifish (Nothobranchius furzeri). Fish Biology 97(5), 1448–1461.

Development of a rabbit enrichment program and contribution to a culture of transparency and care

The Becton Dickinson (BD) Research Animal Care Program has developed an acclimation and enrichment program that has enhanced animal welfare for studies requiring single housing, contributed to a culture of care, increased transparency, and improved compassion satisfaction for the animal...

Year Published: 2020Topics: Environmental EnrichmentAnimal Type: Rabbit

Citation: Worlds, T., Kearney, M., De La Garza, F. et al. 2020. Development of a rabbit enrichment program and contribution to a culture of transparency and care. Laboratory Animal Science Professional 8(6) (November/December), 38-40.