Animal Care and Husbandry
What to know
Husbandry questions reward a working knowledge of species-typical needs: social housing where appropriate, environmental enrichment, space and temperature ranges, and acclimation after transport. Understand the difference between quarantine (health protection for the colony) and acclimation (physiologic and behavioral stabilization after arrival). Both matter, and they are not interchangeable.
Know the purpose of enrichment and how to evaluate it: it should promote species-typical behavior, be safe, and be documented. Recognize signs of stress or poor welfare - barbering, stereotypies, reduced feeding, abnormal posture - and connect them to environmental causes before assuming disease.
Traps
- Confusing quarantine with acclimation.
- Assuming single housing is always acceptable; social species generally need compatible companions unless justified.
- Treating enrichment as optional decoration rather than a welfare requirement.
- Ignoring that group composition changes can trigger aggression.
Rule of thumb
Match the environment to the species' natural history, and document any deviation with a scientific justification.
Worked example: Newly arrived social rodents are placed in a quiet room for a defined stabilization period before study procedures begin. A question asks what this period is called and why it matters. The answer: acclimation, which reduces transport-related stress and variability in research data; quarantine is a separate health-screening measure.