Environmental enrichment diminishes abnormal behaviors in laboratory animals such as rodents, lagomorphs, dogs, cats, and nonhuman primates. Thirteen male single housed New Zealand White rabbits were offered three different toys and the time spent chewing on the toys instead of on the cage was evaluated. Every toy was offered to each rabbit for two separate one week periods. Each rabbit was mon...

This study aimed to assess the effects of (1) environmental enrichment with either straw bedding or a plastic toy and (2) the way in which the plastic toy was presented on the behaviour of finishing pigs in two different housing systems. One thousand and twenty four (LargeWhite Landrace) LargeWhite pigs were housed contemporarily in either a straw-based (ST) or fully slatted (FS) building from ...

Before 1960, the brain was considered by scientists to be immutable, subject only to genetic control. In the early sixties, however, investigators were seriously speculating that environmental influences might be capable of altering brain structure. By 1964, two research laboratories proved that the morphology and chemistry or physiology of the brain could be experientially altered (Bennett et ...

It has previously been shown that environmental enrichment can enhance structural plasticity in the brain and thereby improve cognitive and behavioral function. In this study, we reared developmentally noise-exposed rats in an acoustic-enriched environment for ∼4 weeks to investigate whether or not enrichment could restore developmentally degraded behavioral and neuronal processing of sound fre...

Before 1960, the brain was considered by scientists to be immutable, subject only to genetic control. In the early sixties, however, investigators were seriously speculating that environmental influences might be capable of altering brain structure. By 1964, two research laboratories proved that the morphology and chemistry or physiology of the brain could be experientially altered (Bennett et ...

Laboratory rats (Rattus norvegicus) are usually housed in polycarbonate, polypropylene or stainless steel solid bottom cages (SBCs) with bedding, although grid floor cages (GFCs) without contact bedding are also used. When housing rodents in laboratory conditions group housing and environmental enrichment are generally recommended. Due to the large number of rats used in biomedical research eac...

Environmental enrichment may improve the quality of life of captive animals by altering the environment of animals so that they are able to perform more of the behavior that is within the range of the animal's species-specific repertoire. When enrichment is introduced into an animal's environment, it is important to evaluate the effect of the enrichment program and to assess whether the animal ...