Date of Award

2024

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Bachelors

Department

Natural Sciences

Second Department

Social Sciences

First Advisor

Rycyk, Athena

Area of Concentration

Animal Well Being and Conservation wth Psychology

Abstract

Enriching environments consist of elements that provoke more naturalistic behaviors to appear within a focal species through incorporating novelty typically not provided within laboratory environments. This study set out to compare the behaviors displayed by domesticated rats when provided with two distinct enriching environments. It was hypothesized that there would be differences in the behaviors displayed between the different cages. To test this hypothesis the behaviors of two senior female rats were observed during their time in a standard pet rat cage and a bioactive/naturalistic cage over the course of three periods (control, experimental, and reintroduction), with the standard pet rat cage serving as the control. The behavior of the rats was observed and categorized for a total of 7.2 hours per period. There was a difference in the behaviors displayed between periods, even among the control and reintroduction periods. This is in part due to both individuals decreasing their hiding during the experimental period by 24.1% and 20.8%. This study demonstrates that differing environments have an influence on behavioral expression within domesticated rats.

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