
Royal Society Open Science, Journal Year: 2025, Volume and Issue: 12(3)
Published: March 1, 2025
Captivity, frequently used in animal research, can profoundly alter brain size, cognitive abilities and activity levels. Critically, persistent exposure to stressors captive environments lead chronic stress subsequently a range of health issues. However, the direct implications captivity on research outcomes have not been thoroughly investigated. We examined effects common shrew, Sorex araneus , species that exhibits profound seasonal reversible change body size. compared wild shrews during summer winter assess changes size behaviour then contrasted these findings with kept for six months. Using repeated vivo magnitic resonance imaging, we determined extent was affected by semi-natural conditions. led increased levels reduced learning motivation shrews, indicative stress. These results suggest even conditions significantly outcome studies need be quantified before experimentation.
Language: Английский