Behavioral studies and the IACUC: challenges and opportunities.

81 T he overarching theme of this issue of the ILAR Journal is the neural control of social behavior. In the introduction, Scott Wersinger observes that animal behavior is diverse both across species and among members of the same species, but that there are common characteristics that defi ne social behaviors. Based on his insights and those of the other articles in this issue, I identify challenges and opportunities that institutional animal care and use committees (IACUCs1) face when evaluating animal study protocols that involve the analysis and measurement of animal behavior. Why might behavioral studies pose unique challenges for IACUCs? As explained below, the reasons are as diverse as the behavior itself. But, in addition, behavioral assessment plays a role when the primary goal of the study is not the assessment of behavior; for example, the Guidelines for the Care and Use of Mammals in Neuroscience and Behavioral Research (NRC 2003, 23) discuss behavioral assessment as a tool for determining animal well-being: