Use of PVC Conduits by Rats of Various Strains and Ages Housed Singly and in Pairs

Bennett G. Galef, Jr. and Robert E. Sorge
Department of Psychology, McMaster University

This study observed the frequency with which laboratory rats (Rattus norvegicus) entered polyvinylchloride (PVC) conduits placed in their cages to provide environmental enrichment. The study found that use of PVC conduits by Norway rats varied with subjects' strain, age, sex, and housing condition. Adult male Long-Evans rats rarely entered PVC conduits unless housed in pairs, in which case the lighter (presumably subordinate) pair member frequently used the conduit, possibly to avoid contact with his dominant partner. Adult male Sprague-Dawley rats entered PVC conduits only during the illuminated portion of the day-night cycle and only if housed on shelves exposed to direct overhead illumination. Both juvenile rats and female rats made extensive use of PVC conduits throughout the day:night cycle. This paper discusses implications of these findings for determining how best to enrich environments in which laboratory rodents are maintained.
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Determining the Value of Social Companionship To Captive Tufted Capuchin Monkeys (Cebus apella)

Elizabeth Dettmer and Dorothy Fragaszy
Department of Psychology
University of Georgia

This study used a method similar to one introduced by Dawkins in 1990 to assess the magnitude of the psychological need for social companionship in pair-housed tufted capuchin monkeys (Cebus apella). This method permits classification of commodities as necessities or luxuries. The study directly compared the commodity of social companionship to the commodity of food, a known physiological necessity, in a series of preference tests following commodity deprivations. The majority of subjects chose their social companion over food at baseline and persisted in this preference even after several hours of food deprivation. In addition, subjects' preferences shifted from one commodity to the other with manipulation of social and food deprivation levels. Capuchin monkeys perceived social companionship as a necessity at a level similar to that of food.
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Stray Dogs in an Island Community: A Case Study from New Providence, The Bahamas

William J. Fielding and Jane Mather
Advocates for Animal Rights
Cable Beach, Nassau

The "stray dog problem" in New Providence, The Bahamas, has been a recurring social complaint throughout the twentieth century. This paper looks at some aspects of the problem's background and reports the findings of a resident perception study. The results suggest that it is unlikely that short-term policies will be successful in eradicating free-roaming dogs from the island.
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Blood Collection Procedure of Laboratory Primates: A Neglected Variable in Biomedical Research

Viktor Reinhardt and Annie Reinhardt
Animal Welfare Institute, Washington, DC

A survey of 75 biomedical articles dealing with stress-dependent blood parameters in caged primates revealed that the conditions under which blood collection occurred were in most cases described either not at all or so haphazardly that it would be impossible to determine if humane handling procedures were used and basic principles of scientific methodology applied. These findings were unexpected because not only is there ample scientific evidence that stress-sensitive research data are influenced by traditional blood sampling procedures but also that those data-biasing effects can be avoided. If dependent variables of the blood collection procedure are not controlled, data variability will increase, automatically increasing the number of animals needed for statistical analysis. For ethical and scientific reasons, it was recommended that editors of biomedical journals require authors to provide sufficient information of the blood collection-and when applicable also of the sedative injection-procedure to ensure that the experiment was done with the smallest number of animals possible to achieve statistical significance and that the investigation can be replicated reliably in another laboratory and the research data interpreted with reasonable accuracy.
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Effect of Enclosure Quality on Reactivity and Welfare of Captive Soemmerring's Gazelle (Gazella soemmerringii)

Atef A. H. Mansour
Faculty of Medicine, Memorial University of Newfoundland, Canada

Abdel H. Zakaria
Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Cairo University, Egypt

Andrew F. Fraser
Faculty of Medicine (Retired), Memorial University of Newfoundland, Canada

The welfare of nonhuman animals in zoos is a great challenge to the zookeeper. Changes in the behavioral response of captive animals to their immediate environment can be used as a method for evaluating their welfare status. This study evaluates reactive responses of three groups of captive Soemmerring's gazelle (Gazella soemmerringii) kept in enclosures of different quality at Giza Zoo, Egypt. The study ascribes variations in observed behaviors to the differences in the living standards of the three groups. The group most concealed from visitors' disturbance (group III) was the least reactive. With the morning onset of human-nonhuman animal interaction, reactivity reached significantly higher levels. The study noted no difference in reactivity between male and female animals. The main sign of the animals' alertness was their attention to sources of disturbances; vocalization was minimal. Animals in groups II and I, those most accessible to visitors, had higher agonistic reactions than animals in group III.
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