Sammanfattning

Aggression among group-housed male mice is a major animal welfare concern often observed at animal facilities. Studies designed to understand the causes of male mice aggression have used different methodological approaches and have been heterogeneous, using different strains, environmental enrichments, housing conditions, group formations and durations. By conducting a systematic literature review based on 198 observed conclusions from 90 articles, we showed that the methodological approach used to study aggression was relevant for the outcome and suggested that home cage observations were better when studying home cage aggression than tests provoking aggression outside the home cage. The study further revealed that aggression is a complex problem; one solution will not be appropriate for all animal facilities and all research projects. Recommendations were provided on promising tools to minimize aggression, based on the results, which included what type of environmental enrichments could be appropriate and which strains of male mice were less likely to be aggressive.

Nyckelord

male mice; group housing; aggression; animal welfare; environmental enrichment; group formation; housing conditions; resident-intruder; social dominance; wound scoring

Publicerad i

Animals
2023, Volym: 13, nummer: 1, artikelnummer: 143

SLU författare

• Weber, Elin

  • Institutionen för tillämpad husdjursvetenskap och välfärd, Sveriges lantbruksuniversitet
    

• Zidar, Josefina

  • Institutionen för tillämpad husdjursvetenskap och välfärd, Sveriges lantbruksuniversitet
    

Associerade SLU-program

SLUsystematic


UKÄ forskningsämne

Husdjursvetenskap


Publikationens identifierare

DOI: https://doi.org/10.3390/ani13010143

Permanent länk till denna sida (URI)

https://res.slu.se/id/publ/123659