Do young guinea pigs (Cavia porcellus) develop an attachment to inanimate objects?

Filial imprinting has been studied extensively in precocial birds. In these studies, inanimate objects were used as imprinting objects. Although attachment to the parents is common in mammals, experiments with inanimate objects are rare and mostly restricted to guinea pigs (Cavia porcellus). The results of these studies are inconclusive. The aim of the present experiment was to assess whether guinea pigs can develop an attachment to inanimate objects. For this purpose, 11 young guinea pig pups were taken from their mothers within 16 h after birth, and subsequently reared individually in the presence of an inanimate object. Between 2 and 35 days of age, the pups were submitted to preference tests as well as separation tests. Neither test provided evidence of attachment during separation, the pups did not increase their distress calling; moreover, pups preferred a novel object to their rearing object in the preference tests. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved

Refinements in husbandry, care and common procedures for non-human primates: Ninth report of the BVAAWF/FRAME/RSPCA/UFAW Joint Working Group on Refinement

This report produced by the British Veterinary Association Animal Welfare Foundation (BVAAWF)/Fund for the Replacement of Animals in Medical Experiments (FRAME)/Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (RSPCA)/Universities Federation for Animal Welfare (UFAW) Joint Working Group on Refinement (JWGR) sets out practical guidance on refining the husbandry and care of non-human primates (hereinafter primates) and on minimizing the adverse effects of some common procedures. It provides a valuable resource to help understand the physical, social and behavioural characteristics and needs of individual primates, and is intended to develop and complement the existing literature and legislative guidelines. Topics covered include refinements in housing, husbandry and common procedures such as restraint, identification and sampling, with comprehensive advice on issues such as primate communication, assessing and facilitating primate wellbeing, establishing and maintaining social groups, environmental and nutritional enrichment and animal passports. The most commonly used species are the key focus of this resource, but its information and recommendations are generally applicable to other species, provided that relevant individual species characteristics are taken into account