Environmental Enrichment

Addressing stress in dogs in shelters through a novel visual and auditory enrichment device

Dogs experience both acute and chronic stress when living in animal shelters. Current best practices recommend a variety of techniques for reducing stress such as enhanced human interactions including play or training, novel feeding strategies, increased exercise/group play, and, when...

Year Published: 2021Topics: Environmental Enrichment, Welfare AssessmentAnimal Type: Dog

Citation: Epstein, J., Dowling-Guyer, S., McCobb, E. et al. 2021. Addressing stress in dogs in shelters through a novel visual and auditory enrichment device. Applied Animal Behaviour Science 236, 105215.

DIY: Creating a rat play cage

To provide extra enrichment for our training rats (Sprague Dawley; CRL: SD), our team discussed the idea of developing a rat play cage. Animals are housed in the Comparative Bioscience Center at The Rockefeller University, an AAALAC-accredited facility. All enrichment...

Year Published: 2021Topics: Environmental EnrichmentAnimal Type: Rat, Rodent

Citation: Monnas, J. 2021. DIY: Creating a rat play cage. Laboratory Animal Science Professional 9(2) (March/April), 46-48.

Edible nail polish as a novel enrichment strategy for single-housed nonhuman primates

At the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center, NHPs may need to be singly housed for research purposes or veterinary care, and it can be challenging to keep them optimally enriched. This sometimes results in destructive behaviors, for example picking...

Year Published: 2021Topics: Environmental EnrichmentAnimal Type: Baboon, Nonhuman Primate

Citation: Williams, W. R. 2021. Edible nail polish as a novel enrichment strategy for single-housed nonhuman primates. Laboratory Animal Science Professional 9(2) (March/April), 50-51.

Loss of environmental enrichment elicits behavioral and physiological dysregulation in female rats

Chronic stress drives behavioral and physiological changes associated with numerous psychiatric disease states. In rodents, the vast majority of chronic stress models involve imposition of external stressors, whereas in humans stress is often driven by internal cues, commonly associated with...

Year Published: 2019Topics: Environmental EnrichmentAnimal Type: Rat, Rodent

Citation: Morano, R., Hoskins, O., Smith, B. L. et al. 2019. Loss of environmental enrichment elicits behavioral and physiological dysregulation in female rats. Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience 12, 287.

Behavioral and physiological consequences of enrichment loss in rats

Significant loss produces the highest degree of stress and compromised well-being in humans. Current rodent models of stress involve the application of physically or psychologically aversive stimuli, but do not address the concept of loss. We developed a rodent model...

Year Published: 2017Topics: Environmental EnrichmentAnimal Type: Rat, Rodent

Citation: Smith, B. L., Lyons, C. E., Correa, F. G. et al. 2017. Behavioral and physiological consequences of enrichment loss in rats. Psychoneuroendocrinology 77, 37-46.

A three-dimensional habitat for C

As we learn more about the importance of gene-environment interactions and the effects of environmental enrichment, it becomes evident that minimalistic laboratory conditions can affect gene expression patterns and behaviors of model organisms. In the laboratory, Caenorhabditis elegans is generally...

Year Published: 2021Topics: Environmental EnrichmentAnimal Type: Invertebrate, Other Invertebrate

Citation: Guisnet, A., Maitra, M., Pradhan, S. et al. 2021. A three-dimensional habitat for C. elegans environmental enrichment. PLOS ONE 16(1), e0245139.

Positive reinforcement training as physiotherapy for a brown capuchin (Sapajus apella)

Physiotherapy can be used to treat an animal following surgery, to help correcting abnormal gait and for treating tendon, bone or ligament damage. […] Of course, an animal can't just be given a set of exercises to follow. To carry...

Year Published: 2020Topics: Animal Training, Environmental Enrichment, Human-Animal InteractionAnimal Type: Capuchin, Nonhuman Primate

Citation: Coventry, C. 2020. Positive reinforcement training as physiotherapy for a brown capuchin (Sapajus apella). RATEL (Journal of the Association of British and Irish Wild Animal Keepers) 47(2), 16-17.

Motivation to dust-bathe of laying hens housed in cages and in aviaries

New housing systems for commercial egg production, furnished cages and non-cage systems, should improve the welfare of laying hens. In particular, thanks to the presence of a litter area, these new housing systems are thought to satisfy the dust-bathing motivation...

Year Published: 2007Topics: Environmental Enrichment, Natural BehaviorAnimal Type: Bird, Chicken

Citation: Colson, S., Arnould, C., Michel, V. 2007. Motivation to dust-bathe of laying hens housed in cages and in aviaries. Animal 1(3), 433-437.

Juvenile Nile tilapia fish avoid red shelters

Shelters are frequently used for fish rearing to improve welfare conditions. In this study, whether Nile tilapia prefers specific shelter colors was evaluated. Thus, fish preference for white, red, blue, green or yellow shelters was tested. A high variation of...

Year Published: 2021Topics: Environmental EnrichmentAnimal Type: Fish, Tilapia

Citation: Marques Maia, C., Pacheco Capelini Alves, N., Tatemoto, P. 2021. Juvenile Nile tilapia fish avoid red shelters. Journal of Applied Animal Welfare Science, 24(1), 98-106.

DIY: Ice cream cone spiced foraging cups

This DIY snack is great for NHPs and can be customized in a variety of ways.

Year Published: 2021Topics: Environmental EnrichmentAnimal Type: Baboon, Capuchin, Chimpanzee, Lemur, Macaque, Marmoset, Nonhuman Primate, Other Nonhuman Primate, Owl Monkey, Squirrel Monkey, Vervet (African Green Monkey)

Citation: Lambert, K. 2021. DIY: Ice cream cone spiced foraging cups. Laboratory Animal Science Professional 9(1) (January/February), 36.