Social Housing & Companionship

Retrospective review of surgical outcomes and pair-housing success in vasectomized rhesus macaques (Macaca mulatta)

Providing social housing for adult male macaques can be challenging. One successful strategy for long-term social housing of adult male macaques is to pair them with adult females; however, unwanted breeding must be prevented by sterilization of the male or...

Year Published: 2018Topics: Reproduction, Social Housing & CompanionshipAnimal Type: Macaque, Nonhuman Primate

Citation: Ekanayake-Alper,D. K., Wilson, S. R., Scholz, J. A. 2018. Retrospective review of surgical outcomes and pair-housing success in vasectomized rhesus macaques (Macaca mulatta). Comparative Medicine 68(2), 168–176.

Social management of laboratory rhesus macaques housed in large groups using a network approach: A review

Biomedical facilities across the nation and worldwide aim to develop cost-effective methods for the reproductive management of macaque breeding groups, typically by housing macaques in large, multi-male multi-female social groups that provide monkey subjects for research as well as appropriate...

Year Published: 2018Topics: Social Housing & CompanionshipAnimal Type: Macaque, Nonhuman Primate

Citation: McCowan, B., Beisner, B., Hannibal, D. 2018. Social management of laboratory rhesus macaques housed in large groups using a network approach: A review. Behavioural Processes 156, 77-82.

High fidelity: Assessing zebrafish (Danio rerio) responses to social stimuli across several levels of realism

Behavioral assays of zebrafish shoaling have recently been employed to investigate social behavior in zebrafish models of psychiatric disease. Many studies have developed simulated models of conspecifics to serve as alternatives to live shoals in order to examine specific cues...

Year Published: 2019Topics: Social Housing & CompanionshipAnimal Type: Fish, Zebrafish

Citation: Velkey, A. J., Boles, J., Betts, T. K. et al. 2019. High fidelity: Assessing zebrafish (Danio rerio) responses to social stimuli across several levels of realism. Behavioural Processes 164, 100-108.

Behavioural and hormonal changes during group formation by male chimpanzees

Group housing of socially-deprived individuals facilitates welfare and socialisation of primates. Here, we studied behavioural and hormonal changes in the course of group formation among nine male chimpanzees, Pan troglodytes. Aggression, reassurance, and grooming were observed in various dyads during...

Year Published: 2019Topics: Social Housing & CompanionshipAnimal Type: Chimpanzee, Nonhuman Primate

Citation: Kutsukake, N., Teramoto, M., Honma, S. et al. 2019. Behavioural and hormonal changes during group formation by male chimpanzees. Behaviour 156(2), 109-129.

Social housing promotes cognitive function through enhancing synaptic plasticity in APP/PS1 mice

Previous studies have shown that loneliness increases the risk of AD (Alzheimer's disease) onset, while active and frequent social housing delays the onset of cognitive impairment. The mechanism of how this occurs remains unclear. In this study, we investigated how...

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

Citation: Liang, F., Yang, S., Zhang, Y. et al. 2019. Social housing promotes cognitive function through enhancing synaptic plasticity in APP/PS1 mice. Behavioural Brain Research 368, 111910.

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.

Social environment as a cause of litter loss in laboratory mouse: A behavioural study

Perinatal mortality is a widespread problem in laboratory mouse breeding and is often manifested by the loss of the entire litter within the first days of life. High mortality is an animal health and welfare concern that violates the 3R...

Year Published: 2019Topics: Rearing & Weaning, Social Housing & CompanionshipAnimal Type: Mouse, Rodent

Citation: Brajon, S., Morello, G. M., Teixeira, M. S. et al. 2019. Social environment as a cause of litter loss in laboratory mouse: A behavioural study. Applied Animal Behaviour Science 218, 104827.

The use of environmental enrichments affects performance and behavior of growing rabbits housed in collective pens

This study assessed the effects of an elevated plastic-slatted platform and/or a plastic hiding tube in collective pens with large group sizes (27 or 36 rabbits/pen; 16 rabbits/m2) on the performance and welfare of rabbits kept from weaning (at 33...

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

Citation: Trocino, A., Zomeño, C., Filiou, E. et al. 2019. The use of environmental enrichments affects performance and behavior of growing rabbits housed in collective pens. Animals 9(8), 537.

Housing horses in individual boxes is a challenge with regard to welfare

Horses are mainly housed in individual boxes. This housing system is reported to be highly detrimental with regard to welfare and could trigger the expression of four behavioural indicators of a compromised welfare state: stereotypies, aggressiveness toward humans, unresponsiveness to...

Year Published: 2019Topics: Environmental Enrichment, Husbandry & Management, Social Housing & CompanionshipAnimal Type: Equine

Citation: Euet, A., Lemarchand, J., Parias, C., Mach, N. et al. 2019. Housing horses in individual boxes is a challenge with regard to welfare. Animals 9(9), 621.

Aggressiveness, mating behaviour and lifespan of group housed rabbit does

Aggressiveness is one of the main problems in group housing of rabbit does. The aim of the experiment was to investigate the frequency of aggressiveness and mating behaviour as well as the lifespan of does depending on group composition. The...

Year Published: 2019Topics: Social Housing & CompanionshipAnimal Type: Rabbit

Citation: Gerencsér, Z., Matics, Z., Szabó, R. et al. 2019. Aggressiveness, mating behaviour and lifespan of group housed rabbit does. Animals 9(10), 708.