ArticleRoyal Society open science2016
The importance of burrowing, climbing and standing upright for laboratory rats.
Article in Royal Society open science, 2016. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. An erratum has been issued. Cited by 26 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
26 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- Conventional laboratory housing increases morbidity and mortality in research rodents: results of a meta-analysis.BMC biology · 2022Pooled it
- Shelved cages impact affective behavior in Sprague Dawley rats - implications for animal welfare.Laboratory animals · 2026Article
- Prenatal and neonatal housing conditions affect anxiety-like behavior in adulthood in rats and interact with brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) Val66Met to alter expression of BDNF and stress markers in the ventral hippocampus.Frontiers in molecular neuroscience · 2026Article
- Assessment of Behavioral, Clinical, and Histological Outcomes in Sprague-Dawley Rats Housed in Enriched Colony Cages Versus Conventional Pair Housing over 28 Days.Animals : an open access journal from MDPI · 2025Article
- Resourcefulness, Robustness, and Recovery: Tail Use during Climbing in Rats.Integrative and comparative biology · 2025Article
- Housing in a Large Open Cage Did Not Affect the Phenotypic Traits of Obese Male Zucker fa/fa Rats When Compared to IVC-Housed Rats, but Improved the Rats' Well-Being.Animals : an open access journal from MDPI · 2025Article
- What Are the Most Prevalent Welfare Issues for Pet Small Mammals?Animals : an open access journal from MDPI · 2025Article
- Double-decker cage reduces mount frequency and ejaculation latency, resulting in reduced weight loss in male rats after mating behavior.Experimental animals · 2024Article
- Positive effect of a diggable substrate on the behaviour of a captive naked mole rat colony.Scientific reports · 2024Article
- Optimizing environmental enrichment for Sprague Dawley rats: Exemplary insights into the liver proteome.PloS one · 2024Article
- Fully implanted battery-free high power platform for chronic spinal and muscular functional electrical stimulation.Nature communications · 2023Article
- Research Animal Behavioral Management Programs for the 21st Century.Animals : an open access journal from MDPI · 2023Review
- Developing guidelines for pet rat housing through expert consultation.The Veterinary record · 2023Article
- Climbing behavior by mice as an endpoint for preclinical assessment of drug effects in the absence and presence of pain.Frontiers in pain research (Lausanne, Switzerland) · 2023Article
- The use of ball pits and playpens in laboratory Lister Hooded male rats induces ultrasonic vocalisations indicating a more positive affective state and can reduce the welfare impacts of aversive procedures.Laboratory animals · 2022Article
- Rodents Prefer Going Downhill All the Way (Gravitaxis) Instead of Taking an Uphill Task.Biology · 2022Article
- Ultrasonic Vocalization Analysis as a Novel Metric to Assess Cage Enrichment in Rats.Journal of the American Association for Laboratory Animal Science : JAALAS · 2022Article
- Environmental Enrichment for Rats and Mice Housed in Laboratories: A Metareview.Animals : an open access journal from MDPI · 2022Review
- Evaluation of small mammal pet supplies offered in German retail under animal welfare aspects.PloS one · 2022Article
- Volumetric spatial behaviour in rats reveals the anisotropic organisation of navigation.Animal cognition · 2021Article
Corrections and comments
- Erratum issued
Authors and funding
2 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Standard laboratory cages prevent rats (Rattus norvegicus) from performing many behaviours that they perform in the wild, but little is known about how this may affect their welfare. The aims of this study were (i) to record the propensity to burrow, climb and stand upright in 3-, 8- and 13-month old laboratory rats housed in semi-naturalistic environments and (ii) to compare the frequency of lateral stretching in semi-naturalistic versus standard-housed rats; we predicted standard-housed rats would perform more lateral stretches to compensate for the inability to stretch upright. Rats' propensity to burrow remained constant as they aged (approx. 30 bouts per day totalling 20-30 min), suggesting burrowing is important to rats. Climbing decreased from 76 to 7 bouts per day at 3 versus 13 months, probably because of declining physical ability. Upright standing decreased from 178 to 73 bouts per day, but continued to be frequently expressed even in older rats. Standard-housed rats stretched much more frequently than semi-naturalistic-housed rats (53 versus 6 bouts per day at 13 months), perhaps in compensation for inability to stretch upright and to relieve stiffness caused by low mobility associated with standard housing. These findings suggest that standard laboratory cages interfere with important natural behaviours, which is likely to compromise rat welfare.
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Registered trials
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