Environmental Enrichment for Rats and Mice Housed in Laboratories: A Metareview

Environmental enrichment has been widely studied in rodents, but there is no consensus on what enrichment should look like or what it should achieve. Inconsistent use of the term "enrichment" creates challenges in drawing conclusions about the quality of an environment, which may slow hous...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Animals (Basel) 2022-02, Vol.12 (4), p.414
Main Authors: Ratuski, Anna S, Weary, Daniel M
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Animal behavior
Animal welfare
Behavior
Breeding of animals
Domestication
Enrichment
environmental complexity
Laboratories
Laboratory animals
Neurosciences
Rats
refinement
Review
rodent
Rodents
Systematic review
Terminology
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Summary:Environmental enrichment has been widely studied in rodents, but there is no consensus on what enrichment should look like or what it should achieve. Inconsistent use of the term "enrichment" creates challenges in drawing conclusions about the quality of an environment, which may slow housing improvements for laboratory animals. Many review articles have addressed environmental enrichment for laboratory rats and mice ( and ). We conducted a metareview of 29 review articles to assess how enrichment has been defined and what are commonly described as its goals or requirements. Recommendations from each article were summarised to illustrate the conditions generally considered suitable for laboratory rodents. While there is no consensus on alternative terminology, many articles acknowledged that the blanket use of the terms "enriched" and "enrichment" should be avoided. Environmental enrichment was most often conceptualised as a method to increase natural behaviour and improve animal welfare. Authors also commonly outlined perceived risks and requirements of environmental enrichment. We discuss these perceptions, make suggestions for future research, and advocate for the adoption of more specific and value-neutral terminology.
ISSN:2076-2615
2076-2615
DOI:10.3390/ani12040414