Welfare Assessment

Implications for health assessments of the relationship between body fat percent and body condition scoring in Fisher 344 x brown Norway rats varying by sex and age

Body condition scoring (BCS) has been implemented across farming, veterinary, and research settings1–3 to probe body fat reserves for quick and effective assessment of animal welfare. Some strains of rats, including the male Fischer344 x Brown Norway F1 hybrid (FBN)...

Year Published: 2026Topics: Welfare AssessmentAnimal Type: Rat, Rodent

Citation: Logan, C. N., Ramirez, M., Smith, S. et al. 2026. Implications for health assessments of the relationship between body fat percent and body condition scoring in Fisher 344 x brown Norway rats varying by sex and age. Laboratory Animal Science Professional 14(1) (January/February), 24-33.

Behavioural and faecal cortisol metabolite monitoring of harbour (Phoca vitulina) and grey seal pups (Halichoerus grypus) in rehabilitation centres

Harbour (Phoca vitulina) and grey (Halichoerus grypus) seals face numerous anthropogenic and environmental threats around the UK and Ireland. These commonly lead to seal pups becoming stranded and in need of rescue and rehabilitation. Although rehabilitation supports the recovery and...

Year Published: 2026Topics: Drug/Substance Administration, Welfare AssessmentAnimal Type: Marine Mammal

Citation: Zatrak, M., Shaw, K. J., Geary, M. et al. 2026. Behavioural and faecal cortisol metabolite monitoring of harbour (Phoca vitulina) and grey seal pups (Halichoerus grypus) in rehabilitation centres. Applied Animal Behaviour Science 297, 106910.

Challenges and expectations on the use of automated home cage monitoring for advancing laboratory animal care and welfare

COST Action TEATIME unites experts to advance automated monitoring technologies for laboratory animals, with a focus on Home Cage Monitoring (HCM) systems. The use of HCM has great potential to revolutionise welfare monitoring by enabling continuous, non-invasive tracking of physiological...

Year Published: 2026Topics: Welfare AssessmentAnimal Type: All/General

Citation: Tremoleda, J. L., Brønstad, A., Potschka, H. et al. 2026. Challenges and expectations on the use of automated home cage monitoring for advancing laboratory animal care and welfare. Laboratory Animals 60(1), 25–30.

One size does not fit all: Guidelines for designing a score sheet for animal experiments – eight essential steps

The EU Directive 2010/63 on the protection of animals used for scientific purposes, as well as the Swiss Animal Welfare Legislation, demand monitoring and documentation of specific aspects of an animal experiment, including welfare-related issues and the (retrospective) assessment of...

Year Published: 2026Topics: Welfare AssessmentAnimal Type: All/General

Citation: Thallmair, M., Duque-Correa, M. J., Heimann, M. et al. 2026. One size does not fit all: Guidelines for designing a score sheet for animal experiments – eight essential steps. Laboratory Animals 60(1), 110–118.

Beyond single metrics: Multi-parameter home-cage monitoring improves welfare assessment

Single outcome measures often fall short of the sensitivity and objectivity expected under European Directive 2010/63, particularly in fast progressing disease models. To address this gap, the German Research Foundation consortium FOR2591 collated data from 55 routinely used models in...

Year Published: 2026Topics: Welfare AssessmentAnimal Type: Amphibian, Baboon, Capuchin, Chimpanzee, Frog & Toad, Gibbon, Lemur, Macaque, Marmoset, Mouse, Nonhuman Primate, Other Nonhuman Primate, Owl Monkey, Pig, Rat, Rodent, Squirrel Monkey, Vervet (African Green Monkey)

Citation: Talbot, S. R., Tolba, R. H., Bleich, A. 2026. Beyond single metrics: Multi-parameter home-cage monitoring improves welfare assessment. Laboratory Animals 60(1), 20–24.

GrimACE: Automated, multimodal cage-side assessment of pain and well-being in mice

Pain and welfare monitoring is essential for ethical animal testing, but current cage-side assessments are qualitative and subjective. Here we present the GrimACE, a fully standardized and automated cage-side monitoring tool for mice, the most widely used animals in research....

Year Published: 2026Topics: Welfare AssessmentAnimal Type: Mouse, Rodent

Citation: Sturman, O., Schmutz, M., Lorimer, T. et al. 2026. GrimACE: Automated, multimodal cage-side assessment of pain and well-being in mice. Lab Animal 55(4), 137–146.

Development and validation of a cynomolgus macaque grimace scale for acute pain assessment

Cynomolgus macaques may undergo surgical procedures for scientific and veterinary purposes. Recognition and assessment of pain using validated tools is a necessary first step for adequately managing pain in these primates. Grimace scales are one means of assessing the occurance...

Year Published: 2023Topics: Emotion, Pain, & Sentience, Welfare AssessmentAnimal Type: Macaque, Nonhuman Primate

Citation: Paterson, E. A., O’Malley, C. I., Moody, C. et al. 2023. Development and validation of a cynomolgus macaque grimace scale for acute pain assessment. Scientific Reports 13(1), 3209.

Health correlates of extended longevity in captive ring-tailed lemurs (Lemur catta)

Captive primates maintained at accredited institutions can live extraordinarily long lives and, as a result, are useful models for understanding the physiology of aging. Many institutions monitor primate health using serum chemistry panels and complete blood counts (CBCs), assays that...

Year Published: 2025Topics: Welfare AssessmentAnimal Type: Lemur, Nonhuman Primate

Citation: Mustill, R. L., Ellsaesser, L. N., Williams, C. V. et al. 2025. Health correlates of extended longevity in captive ring-tailed lemurs (Lemur catta). American Journal of Primatology 87(12), e70103.

Ethological scars? Exposure to multiple negative events over a lifespan may predict abnormal repetitive behaviour in laboratory-housed rhesus macaques

We tested the hypothesis that, in rhesus macaques used in biomedical research, the performance of abnormal repetitive behaviours (ARBs; e.g. pacing, hair-plucking, eye-poking) reflects the cumulative burden of negative experiences. For 240 macaques living in two facilities, we did this...

Year Published: 2026Topics: Abnormal/Problematic Behavior, Welfare AssessmentAnimal Type: Macaque, Nonhuman Primate

Citation: Mason, G., Coleman, K., McCowan, B. et al. 2026. Ethological scars? Exposure to multiple negative events over a lifespan may predict abnormal repetitive behaviour in laboratory-housed rhesus macaques. Biology Letters 22(3), 20250638.

Assessing laboratory animal welfare: The crucial importance of construct validity

Assessing laboratory animals’ welfare – their current and/or past subjective affective states – is essential for ethical and regulatory reasons (and central to biomedical research into, for example, pain, nausea or anxiety). But this is challenging; and in the quest...

Year Published: 2026Topics: Welfare AssessmentAnimal Type: All/General

Citation: Mason, G. 2026. Assessing laboratory animal welfare: The crucial importance of construct validity. Laboratory Animals 60(1), 13–19.