Environmental Enrichment

Effects of environmental enrichment on anxiety-like behavior, sociability, sensory gating, and spatial learning in male and female C57BL/6J mice

The influence of housing on cognition and emotional regulation in mice presents a problem for the study of genetic and environmental risk factors for neuropsychiatric disorders: standard laboratory housing may result in low levels of cognitive function or altered levels...

Year Published: 2016Topics: Environmental EnrichmentAnimal Type: Mouse, Rodent

Citation: Hendershott, T. R., Cronin, M. E., Langella, S. et al. 2016. Effects of environmental enrichment on anxiety-like behavior, sociability, sensory gating, and spatial learning in male and female C57BL/6J mice. Behavioural Brain Research 314, 215-225.

Cows are highly motivated to access a grooming substrate

In natural environments, cattle use trees and other abrasive surfaces to scratch and groom themselves. Modern indoor dairy cattle housing systems often lack appropriate grooming substrates, restricting the animals' ability to groom. We assessed the motivation of dairy cows to...

Year Published: 2018Topics: Environmental EnrichmentAnimal Type: Cattle

Citation: McConnachie, E., Smid, A. M. C., Thompson, A. J. et al. 2018. Cows are highly motivated to access a grooming substrate. Biology Letters 14(8), 20180303.

Shelter preference in the Marmorkrebs (marbled crayfish)

For many animals, shelters are valuable source to hide from predators. To know acquisition of adequate shelter is important to understand social interactions of animals. Preferences for types of shelter used by the Marmorkrebs (marbled crayfish) were analysed behaviourally. Individual...

Year Published: 2016Topics: Environmental Enrichment, HousingAnimal Type: Crustacean, Invertebrate

Citation: Takahashi, K., Nagayama, T. 2016. Shelter preference in the Marmorkrebs (marbled crayfish). Behaviour 153(15), 1913-1930.

Stone handling, an object play behaviour in macaques: Welfare and neurological health implications of a bio-culturally driven tradition

Object play in primates is viewed as generally having no immediate functional purpose, limited for the most part to immature individuals. At the proximate level, the occurrence of object play in immatures is regarded as being intrinsically self-rewarding, with the...

Year Published: 2016Topics: Environmental Enrichment, Natural BehaviorAnimal Type: Macaque, Nonhuman Primate

Citation: Nahallage, C. A. D., Leca, J.-B., Huffman, M. A. 2016. Stone handling, an object play behaviour in macaques: Welfare and neurological health implications of a bio-culturally driven tradition. Behaviour, 153(6-7), 845-869.

Environmental enrichment choices of shelter cats

Choices made by cats between different types of environmental enrichment may help shelters to prioritize how to most effectively enrich cat housing, especially when limited by space or funds. This study investigates the environmental enrichment use of cats in a...

Year Published: 2017Topics: Environmental EnrichmentAnimal Type: Cat

Citation: Ellis, J. J., Stryhn, H., Spears, J. 2017. Environmental enrichment choices of shelter cats. Behavioural Processes 141, 291-296.

Social interaction, food, scent or toys? A formal assessment of domestic pet and shelter cat (Felis silvestris catus) preferences

Domestic cats (Felis silvestris catus) engage in a variety of relationships with humans and can be conditioned to engage in numerous behaviors using Pavlovian and operant methods Increasingly cat cognition research is providing evidence of their complex socio-cognitive and problem...

Year Published: 2017Topics: Environmental Enrichment, Human-Animal InteractionAnimal Type: Cat

Citation: Vitale Shreve, K. R., Mehrkam, L. R., Udell, M. A. R. 2017. Social interaction, food, scent or toys? A formal assessment of domestic pet and shelter cat (Felis silvestris catus) preferences. Behavioural Processes 141, 322-328.

Budgie in the mirror: An exploratory analysis of social behaviors and mirror use in the Budgerigar (Melopsittacus undulatus)

Despite their prevalent use amongst avian species, particularly in Budgerigars, the relationship between mirror use and social behaviors is in need of elucidation. After establishing social behavior measures (e.g., agonistic and pair-bond data) in a colony of Budgerigars, mirrors were...

Year Published: 2017Topics: Environmental EnrichmentAnimal Type: Bird, Parrot

Citation: Buckley, D. P., Duggan, M. R., Anderson, M. J. 2017. Budgie in the mirror: An exploratory analysis of social behaviors and mirror use in the Budgerigar (Melopsittacus undulatus). Behavioural Processes 135, 66-70.

Separating the effects of shelter from additional cage enhancements for group-housed BALB/cJ mice

Enrichment studies with rodents have demonstrated that cage enhancements can improve animal welfare and performance on common behavioral measures, but few studies have compared more than one type of enrichment or controlled for confounds, and some have revealed undesirable effects...

Year Published: 2011Topics: Environmental Enrichment, HousingAnimal Type: Mouse, Rodent

Citation: Swetter, B. J., Karpiak, C. P., Cannon, J. T. 2011. Separating the effects of shelter from additional cage enhancements for group-housed BALB/cJ mice. Neuroscience Letters 495(3), 205-209.

Innovative enrichment for the common marmoset (Callithrix jacchus)

As part of the enrichment programme at King's College London (KCL) and in keeping with the guidelines of Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act, 1986 (ASPA) and the 3R's (Russell and Burch), technologists have taken an active role in designing innovative and...

Year Published: 2016Topics: Environmental EnrichmentAnimal Type: Macaque, Nonhuman Primate

Citation: Battilocchi, M., Fulcher, G., Windsor, Z. et al. 2016. Innovative enrichment for the common marmoset (Callithrix jacchus). Animal Technology and Welfare 15(2), 136-137.

Enhancing welfare of Zebra finches through the use of environmental enrichment

This article will describe alterations made by the University of Glasgow to increase the welfare of our Zebra finches by providing them with a more complex environment to engage with. It will describe how we have maximised the enrichment potential...

Year Published: 2016Topics: Environmental Enrichment, Husbandry & ManagementAnimal Type: Bird, Finch

Citation: Gray, G. 2016. Enhancing welfare of Zebra finches through the use of environmental enrichment. Animal Technology and Welfare 15(3), 147-150.