Abstract
Housing systems for laboratory animals have often been designed on the basis of economic and ergonomic aspects (e.g., equipment, costs, space, work load, ability to observe the animals and to maintain a certain degree of hygiene) with little or no consideration for animal welfare. The environment of an animal consists of a wide range of stimuli, from the social environment (animals from the same or from other species, including humans) to the physical environment, such as the animal room (e.g., climate, illumination, noise) and the cage and its contents (Van de Weerd and Baumans 1995) (Fig. 3.1).
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Baumans V. Environmental enrichment: a right of rodents! In: Balls M, Van Zeller A-M, Halder ME, editors. Progress in the reduction, refinement and replacement of animal experimentation. Amsterdam: Elsevier; 2000. p. 1251–5.
Baumans V. The welfare of laboratory mice. In: Kaliste EK, editor. The welfare of laboratory animals—book series animal welfare and nutrition. Dordrecht: Kluwer Academic; 2004. p. 119–52.
Baumans V. Environmental enrichment for laboratory rodents and rabbits: requirements of rodents, rabbits and research. ILAR J. 2005;46(2):162–70.
Baumans V, Schlingmann F, Vonck M, van Lith HA. Individually ventilated cages: beneficial for mice and man? Contemp Top Lab Anim Sci. 2002;41(1):13–9.
Benefiel AC, Greenough WT. Effects of experience and environment on the developing and mature brain: implications for laboratory animal housing. ILAR J. 1998;39.
Berdoy M. The laboratory rat: a natural history. Oxford University; 2002. http://ratlife.org
Crabbe JC, Wahlsten D, Dudek BC. Genetics of mouse behavior: interactions with laboratory environment. Science. 1999;284:1670–2.
Eskola S, Lauhikari M, Voipio HM, Laitinen M, Nevalainen T. Environmental enrichment may alter the number of rats needed to achieve statistical significance. Scand J Lab Anim Sci. 1999;26:134–44.
Hubrecht RC. Comfortable quarters for dogs in research institutions. In: Reinhardt V, Reinhardt A, editors. Comfortable quarters for laboratory animals. 9th ed. Washington: Animal Welfare Institute; 2002. p. 56–64.
Hurst JL. Introduction to rodents. In: Poole T, editor. UFAW handbook on the care and management of laboratory animals. Oxford: Blackwell Science Ltd.; 1999. p. 262–73.
Krohn TC. Method developments and assessments of animal welfare in IVC systems. Thesis, The Royal Veterinary and Agricultural University, Frederiksberg; 2002.
Ladewig J. Chronic intermittent stress: a model for the study of long-term stressors. In: Moberg GP, Mench JA, editors. The biology of animal stress. Oxon: CAB International; 2000. p. 159–69.
Mattson MP, Duan W, Lee J, Guo Z. Suppression of brain aging and neurodegenerative disorders by dietary restriction and environmental enrichment: molecular mechanisms. Mech Ageing Dev. 2001;122:757.
Mohammed AH, Zhu SW, Darmopil S, Hjerling-Leffler J, Ernfors P, Winblad B, Diamond MC, et al. Environmental enrichment and the brain. In: Hofman MA, Boer GJ, Holtmaat AJGD, Van Someren EJW, Verhaagen J, Swaab DF, editors. Progress in brain research. Amsterdam: Elsevier Science BV; 2002.
Newberry RC. Environmental enrichment: increasing the biological relevance of captive environments. Appl Anim Behav Sci. 1995;44:229–43.
Olsson A, Dahlborn K. Improving housing conditions for laboratory mice: a review of “environmental enrichment”. Lab Anim. 2002;3:243–70.
Olsson AS, Nevison CM, Patterson-Kane EG, Sherwin CM, Van de Weerd HA, Würbel H. Understanding behaviour: the relevance of ethological approaches in laboratory animal science. Appl Anim Behav Sci. 2003;81:245–64.
Poole TB. Meeting a mammal’s psychological needs: basic principles. In: Shepherdson DJ, Mellen JD, Hutchins M, editors. Second nature: environmental enrichment for captive animals. Washington: Smithsonian Institution Press; 1998. p. 94.
Reinhardt V. In: Reinhardt V, Reinhardt A, editors. Comfortable quarters for laboratory animals. 9th ed. Animal Welfare Institute: Washington; 2002. p. 65–77.
Renner MJ, Rosenzweig MR. Enriched and impoverished environments. New York: Springer; 1987.
Stauffacher M. Environmental enrichment, fact and fiction. Scand J Lab Anim Sci. 1995;22:39–42.
Stauffacher M. Refinement in rabbit housing and husbandry. In: Balls M, van Zeller AM, Halder M, editors. Progress in the reduction, refinement and replacement of animal experimentation, developments in animal and veterinary sciences. Amsterdam: Elsevier Science BV; 2000. p. 1269–77.
Stewart KL, Bayne K. Environmental enrichment for laboratory animals. In: Reuter JD, Suckow MA, editors. Laboratory animal medicine and management. Ithaca: International Veterinary Information Service; 2004. B2520.0404.
Van de Weerd HA, Baumans V. Environmental enrichment in rodents. In: Environmental enrichment information resources for laboratory animals. AWIC Resource Series. 1995;2:145–9.
Van de Weerd HA, van Loo PLP, van Zutphen LFM, Koolhaas JM, Baumans V. Preferences for nesting material as environmental enrichment for laboratory mice. Lab Anim. 1997;31:133–43.
Van Loo PLP, Blom HJM, Meijer MK, Baumans V. Assessment of the use of two commercially available environmental enrichments by laboratory mice by preference testing. Lab Anim. 2005;39:58–67.
Wahlsten D, Metten P, Phillips TJ, Boehm II SL, Burkhart-Kasch S, Dorow J, et al. Different data from different labs: lessons from studies in gene-environment interaction. J Neurobiol. 2003;54:283–311.
Würbel H. Ideal homes? Housing effects on rodent brain and behaviour. Trends Neurosci. 2001;24:207–11.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2016 Springer International Publishing Switzerland
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Baumans, V. (2016). The Impact of the Environment on Laboratory Animals. In: Andersen, M., Tufik, S. (eds) Rodent Model as Tools in Ethical Biomedical Research. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-11578-8_3
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-11578-8_3
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-11577-1
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-11578-8
eBook Packages: Biomedical and Life SciencesBiomedical and Life Sciences (R0)