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SHR Neuro Cancer Cardio Lipid Metab Microb
Obermueller, B; Castellani, C; Till, H; Reininger-Gutmann, B; Singer, G.
p An examination of nest-building behaviour using five different nesting materials in C57BL/6J and BALB/c mice
ANIM WELFARE. 2021; 30(4): 467-477.
Doi: 10.7120/09627286.30.4.010
Web of Science
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- Leading authors Med Uni Graz
- Castellani Christoph
- Obermüller Beate
- Co-authors Med Uni Graz
- Reininger-Gutmann Birgit
- Singer Georg
- Till Holger
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- Abstract:
- The aim of our study was to assess the nest-building behaviour of two mouse (Mus musculus) strains using different nesting materials and examine possible sex-and housing-specific effects. Adult mice of two strains (C57BL/6J; n = 64 and BALB/cAnNCrl; n = 99) were randomly alocated to the folowing housing groups: single-housed male, single-housed female, pair-housed male and pair-housed female. One of the folowing nest-building materials was placed in each home-cage in a random order: nestlets (Plexx BV, The Netherlands), cocoons (Carfil, Belgium), wooden wool, crinklets and compact (al three, Safe, Germany). The folowing day, nests were rated applying a nest-scoring scale ranging from 0 to 10, the nests were removed, and a different nest-building material provided. In both tested strains, nestlets achieved the highest nest-building scores when compared to the other four nest-building materials. Al nest-building materials scored higher in BALB/c mice compared to C57BL/6J animals reaching statistical significance in crinklets only. Sex comparison revealed that female C57BL/6J mice only scored significantly higher using crinklets than males and BALB/c female mice were rated significantly higher using wooden wool, cocoons and compact than their male counterparts. While pair-housed C57BL/6J animals built higher-rated nests than single-housed mice in the C57BL/6J strain in all five materials tested, the scores were not significantly different in the BALB/c strain. Results of the present study reveal significant strain-, sex-and housing-related influences on the complexity of nests using different standardised building materials. Such observations need to be taken into account when planning the optimal enrichment programme for laboratory animals.
- Find related publications in this database (Keywords)
- animal welfare
- behaviour
- enrichment
- laboratory mice
- nest building
- nest-building materials