Evaluating environmental enrichment
This resource compiled by the NC3Rs, RSPCA and Institute of Animal Technology (IAT) aims to help laboratory animals technicians make informed decisions about the suitability of environmental enrichment items for animals within their facility. A key aim is to empower technical staff to undertake robust evaluations of environmental enrichment items and assess their impact on animal welfare.
Example enrichment study protocols are provided for different levels of staff resource and expertise. The examples focus onmouse,ratandzebrafishhusbandry; however the general advice (e.g. on experimental design) is applicable across all species.
The content has been developed for animal technicians, with practicality in mind. It is not intended to provide detailed guidance on ethology and experimental design for those working outside of research animal facilities.
On this page
- What is environmental enrichment?
- Why do we need to evaluate environmental enrichment?
- Barriers to evaluating environmental enrichment
- How to use this resource
- Additional resources
What is environmental enrichment?
The term environmental enrichment can refer to any objects or general practices that enhance the level of physical, mental or social stimulation for captive animals. Good environmental enrichment improves the quality of life for animals by enabling them to carry out natural (species-typical) and desirable behaviours, providing cognitive challenges and opportunities to make choices and have a degree of control over the environment.
A more stimulating environment can be achieved through adapting cage size, design or contents. Equally as important is considering the quality and quantity of social stimulation, with an understanding that, for some species, social enrichment can come from both other animals and human handlers.
Why do we need to evaluate environmental enrichment?
Environmental enrichment needs to be suitable for the species, strain and individuals in question. Unsuitable enrichment items can, at best, go unused or, at worst, cause direct harm to the animals involved (e.g. by causing injury or increasing aggression). Conversely, enrichment that meets the needs of research animals can reduce their stress levels and make them calmer and easier to handle, ultimately improving data quality and benefiting the science. Many new enrichment products reach the market without any prior evaluation of their success in improving animal welfare.
Taking a science-based approach to evaluating enrichment items will allow you to demonstrate their suitability and effectiveness for the animals in your care. Many animal technicians will have a feeling of what kinds of enrichment might be appropriate and effective, but it is in the best interests of the animals and the facility management to back this up with robust data from repeated observations. Enrichment can be time consuming to provide; therefore, it is important for technicians to know that their limited time is not wasted on ineffective enrichment.
Barriers to evaluating environmental enrichment
Most animal technicians appreciate the importance of providing a high quality environment for their animals, but may encounter barriers that prevent them from evaluating enrichment using a scientific approach, some of which are discussed inan NC3Rs blog post. This resource has been designed with these constraints in mind, including a designated section addressing commonconcerns and FAQs.
How to use this resource
- Read through all sections to familiarise yourself with suitable enrichment for the laboratory animal species you work with and how to evaluate whether your chosen enrichment items will effectively improve animal welfare.
- Use the example protocols and other guidance on ourapproaches to evaluating enrichmentpage to plan your own enrichment evaluation study. In particular, the decision table will help you decide what type of study protocol might best suit your circumstances, taking account of the time investment and resources required. We also provide advice on adapting the protocols and improving the scientific quality of your study.
- Before you begin your study, consider准备requiredand the steps that follow on from data collection (i.e. data analysis and sharing your findings).
Additional resources
Abehavioural monitoring resource, produced for educators by the Association for the Study of Animal Behaviour (ASAB), that includes examples of behaviour sampling methods and data analyses.
A 1-hour Listen Againvideo presentationcovering the fundamentals of recording the behaviour of non-human primates in captivity, with advice applicable to all species.
A paper on how to improve the visualisation of data, with examples of different types of plots. This paper is aimed at researchers and therefore assumes prior knowledge on handling and presenting data. See Table 3 for free resources that can be used to create figures for small datasets.
A free, online course on data analysis, statistics and probabilityfrom the Khan Academy. Tutorials are also available via YouTube.
An article focusing on evaluating enrichment for zoo animals,其中包含的信息也可以达成ied to animals in a research setting.
A review article focusing on enrichment for captive animals, which includes sections on using enrichment to improve welfare in captivity and evaluating the success of enrichment. Note that this article was originally published in 1989 and therefore the referenced studies are dated. However, the general information within the article remains relevant.
TheS.P.I.D.E.R. frameworkestablished by Disney's Animal Kingdom to develop, initiate and maintain enrichment and animal training programmes. The components are setting goals, planning, implementing, documenting, evaluating and readjusting.