Publikationsdatenbank

Bored at home?
A systematic review on the effect of environmental enrichment on the welfare of laboratory rats and mice (2022)

Art

Zeitschriftenartikel / wissenschaftlicher Beitrag

Autoren

Mieske, Paul

Hobbiesiefken, Ute

Fischer-Tenhagen, Carola

Heinl, Céline

Hohlbaum, Katharina (WE 11)

Kahnau, Pia

Meier, Jennifer

Wilzopolski, Jenny

Butzke, Daniel

Rudeck, Juliane

Lewejohann, Lars (WE 11)

Diederich, Kai

Quelle

Frontiers in veterinary science : FVETS

Bandzählung: 9

Seiten: Artikel 899219

ISSN: 2297-1769

Sprache

Englisch

Verweise

URL (Volltext): https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fvets.2022.899219/full

DOI: 10.3389/fvets.2022.899219

Pubmed: 36061113

Kontakt

Institut für Tierschutz, Tierverhalten und Versuchstierkunde

Königsweg 67
14163 Berlin
+49 30 838 61146
tierschutz@vetmed.fu-berlin.de

Abstract / Zusammenfassung

Boredom is an emotional state that occurs when an individual has nothing to do, is not interested in the surrounding, and feels dreary and in a monotony. While this condition is usually defined for humans, it may very well describe the lives of many laboratory animals housed in small, barren cages. To make the cages less monotonous, environmental enrichment is often proposed. Although housing in a stimulating environment is still used predominantly as a luxury good and for treatment in preclinical research, enrichment is increasingly recognized to improve animal welfare. To gain insight into how stimulating environments influence the welfare of laboratory rodents, we conducted a systematic review of studies that analyzed the effect of enriched environment on behavioral parameters of animal well–being. Remarkably, a considerable number of these parameters can be associated with symptoms of boredom. Our findings show that a stimulating living environment is essential for the development of natural behavior and animal welfare of laboratory rats and mice alike, regardless of age and sex. Conversely, confinement and under-stimulation has potentially detrimental effects on the mental and physical health of laboratory rodents. We show that boredom in experimental animals is measurable and does not have to be accepted as inevitable.