Environmental Enrichment

A comparison of enrichment items for the promotion of natural gnawing behaviour in laboratory mice

Appropriate housing and husbandry, including environmental enrichment, must take the natural habitat, biology and behaviour of each species into consideration. The Guide for the Care and Use of Laboratory Animals (1996) states that the goal should always be to maximise...

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

Citation: Lopez Juaristi, 2019. A comparison of enrichment items for the promotion of natural gnawing behaviour in laboratory mice. Animal Technology and Welfare 18(2), 93-97.

Team awesome: Why we can be proud

The presentation I gave at IAT Congress 2019 was based on the changes and refinements the University of Dundee, Medical School Resource Unit (MSRU) has made over the past 18 months. These changes, described in this paper, include: guinea pig...

Year Published: 2019Topics: Environmental Enrichment, Housing, Husbandry & Management, ReproductionAnimal Type: Guinea Pig, Mouse, Rat, Rodent

Citation: King, J. 2019. Team awesome: Why we can be proud. Animal Technology and Welfare 18(2), 127-131.

Refinement: promoting Gallus Gallus welfare in an experimental poultry unit

The poultry team at The Pirbright Institute reviewed existing husbandry practices and trialled several refinement practices. The objective was to provide the birds used in research with an environment which enables them to express their natural behaviours and habituates them...

Year Published: 2019Topics: Environmental Enrichment, Housing, Human-Animal InteractionAnimal Type: Bird, Chicken

Citation: Harris, K., New, R., Smith, P. et al. 2019. Refinement: promoting Gallus Gallus welfare in an experimental poultry unit. Animal Technology and Welfare 18(2), 137-139. (IAT Congress 2018 Poster Presentation)

The effects of cage color and light intensity on rat affect during heterospecific play

Environmental enrichment provides physiological and emotional benefits to laboratory rodents. Red tinted shelters are a common enrichment found in laboratories that provide rodents with a hiding space shielded from bright light. Red tinting alters the light's spectral make-up which reduces...

Year Published: 2019Topics: Emotion, Pain, & Sentience, Environmental Enrichment, Housing, Husbandry & ManagementAnimal Type: Rat, Rodent

Citation: LaFollette, M. R., Swan, M. P., Smith, R. K. et al. 2019. The effects of cage color and light intensity on rat affect during heterospecific play. Applied Animal Behaviour Science 219, 104834.

Environmental enrichment for pregnant sows modulates HPA-axis and behavior in the offspring

Our goal was to assess the effects of environmental enrichment during gestation on the hypothalamic–pituitary–adrenal axis (HPA) and behavior of offspring. In order to test our hypothesis, we kept 18 sows (Sus scrofa domesticus) in straw during the final third...

Year Published: 2019Topics: Environmental EnrichmentAnimal Type: Pig

Citation: Tatemoto, P., Bernardino, T., Alves, L. et al. 2019. Environmental enrichment for pregnant sows modulates HPA-axis and behavior in the offspring. Applied Animal Behaviour Science 220, 104854.

Influence of nest boxes and claw abrasive devices on feather pecking and the fear responses of layer breeders in natural mating colony cages

Natural mating colony cages for parent-stock layer breeders, instead of conventional cages with artificial insemination, have been widely adopted by many commercial farms in China. Although some natural mating behaviours can be expressed and broader activity space is provided compared...

Year Published: 2019Topics: Environmental EnrichmentAnimal Type: Bird, Chicken

Citation: Shi, H., Li, B., Tong, Q. et al. 2019. Influence of nest boxes and claw abrasive devices on feather pecking and the fear responses of layer breeders in natural mating colony cages. Applied Animal Behaviour Science 220, 104842.

A systematic review of social and environmental factors and their implications for indoor cat welfare

Cats are one of the world's most populous companion animals, yet little is known about how the home environment is adapted relative to their needs. Outdoor access is thought to be beneficial for both the physical and mental wellbeing of...

Year Published: 2019Topics: Environmental EnrichmentAnimal Type: Cat

Citation: Foreman-Worsley, R., Farnworth, M. J. A systematic review of social and environmental factors and their implications for indoor cat welfare. Applied Animal Behaviour Science 220, 104841.

Report of the Enrichment; Awareness and Uptake Workshop 2018 on 26th June at College Court, Leicester

The point of the session was to have a collaborative discussion about environmental enrichment. The organisers wanted to know people's experiences with enrichment, the barriers they have faced, if they have overcome any, and also to share some of their...

Year Published: 2019Topics: Environmental Enrichment, ReproductionAnimal Type: Mouse, Rat, Rodent

Citation: King, J. 2018. Report of the Enrichment; Awareness and Uptake Workshop 2018 on 26th June at College Court, Leicester. Animal Technology and Wefare 17(3), 163-167. [Meeting Report]

Enrichment centered on human interaction moderates fear-induced aggression and increases positive expectancy in fearful shelter dogs

Some otherwise non-aggressive dogs may display fear-induced aggression under stressful conditions. Admittance to an animal shelter is a stressful experience for dogs, and aggression is often used as a criterion by shelters for precluding opportunities for adoption. We, therefore, examined...

Year Published: 2019Topics: Environmental Enrichment, Human-Animal InteractionAnimal Type: Dog

Citation: Willen, R. M., Schiml, P. A., Hennessy, M. B. Enrichment centered on human interaction moderates fear-induced aggression and increases positive expectancy in fearful shelter dogs. Applied Animal Behaviour Science 217, 57-62.

Why are enriched mice nice? Investigating how environmental enrichment reduces agonism in female C57BL/6, DBA/2, and BALB/c mice

Compared to female mice raised in large, environmentally enriched (EE) cages, those from “shoebox” non-enriched (NE) cages demonstrate more stereotypic behaviour (SB) and depressive-like effects (i.e. learned helplessness; and inactive-but-awake behaviour [IBA], where a mouse simply stands still). Past research...

Year Published: 2019Topics: Environmental Enrichment, Social Housing & CompanionshipAnimal Type: Mouse, Rodent

Citation: Nip, E., Adcock, A., Nazal, B. et al. 2019. Why are enriched mice nice? Investigating how environmental enrichment reduces agonism in female C57BL/6, DBA/2, and BALB/c mice. Applied Animal Behaviour Science 217, 73-82.