animal research report

How to write an animal report

Your teacher wants a written report on the beluga whale . Not to worry. Use these organizational tools from the Nat Geo Kids Almanac so you can stay afloat while writing a report.

STEPS TO SUCCESS:

Your report will follow the format of a descriptive or expository essay and should consist of a main idea, followed by supporting details and a conclusion. Use this basic structure for each paragraph as well as the whole report, and you’ll be on the right track.

Introduction

State your main idea .

The beluga whale is a common and important species of whale.

Provide supporting points for your main idea.

1. The beluga whale is one of the smallest whale species.

2. It is also known as the “white whale” because of its distinctive coloring.

3. These whales are common in the Arctic Ocean’s coastal waters.

Then expand on those points with further description, explanation, or discussion.

1a. Belugas range in size from 13 to 20 feet (4 to 6.1 m) in length.

2a. Belugas are born gray or brown. They fade to white at around five years old.

3a. Some Arctic belugas migrate south in large herds when sea ice freezes over.

Wrap it up with a summary of your whole paper.

Because of its unique coloring and unusual features, belugas are among the most familiar and easily distinguishable of all the whales.

Key Information

Here are some things you should consider including in your report:

What does your animal look like? To what other species is it related? How does it move? Where does it live? What does it eat? What are its predators? How long does it live? Is it endangered? Why do you find it interesting?

SEPARATE FACT FROM FICTION: Your animal may have been featured in a movie or in myths and legends. Compare and contrast how the animal has been portrayed with how it behaves in reality. For example, penguins can’t dance the way they do in Happy Feet.

PROOFREAD AND REVISE: As with any essay, when you’re finished, check for misspellings, grammatical mistakes, and punctuation errors. It often helps to have someone else proofread your work, too, as he or she may catch things you have missed. Also, look for ways to make your sentences and paragraphs even better. Add more descriptive language, choosing just the right verbs, adverbs, and adjectives to make your writing come alive.

BE CREATIVE: Use visual aids to make your report come to life. Include an animal photo file with interesting images found in magazines or printed from websites. Or draw your own! You can also build a miniature animal habitat diorama. Use creativity to help communicate your passion for the subject.

THE FINAL RESULT: Put it all together in one final, polished draft. Make it neat and clean, and remember to cite your references.

Download the pdf .

More resources

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The ARRIVE guidelines (Animal Research: Reporting of In Vivo Experiments) are a checklist of recommendations for the full and transparent reporting of research involving animals – maximising the quality and reliability of published research, and enabling others to better scrutinise, evaluate and reproduce it.

11 May 2023

Pocket-sized, physical copies of the ARRIVE Guidelines are available to order for free, worldwide.

The ARRIVE guidelines ensure that research involving animals is reported in enough detail to add to the scientific knowledge base.

A wide range of resources are available to help with the use and promotion of the ARRIVE guidelines 2.0.

Journals, funders, universities, and other research organisations have a crucial role to play in championing behaviour changes to improve reporting practices.

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6 Steps for Guiding Students Through Researching and Writing an Animal Report with a FREE Template

Are you looking for an exciting way to engage your students in learning how to write animal reports ? Are you interested in a FREE Animal Report Template ?

Not only will students be encouraged to explore and discover interesting facts about animals , but they will also gain valuable research and writing skills through this process.

An array of resources and tips to help teachers guide their students through the process to write animal reports. With a differentiated graphic organizer, animal report template, and various research options, this resource is an engaging way to encourage students to research any animal of their choice.

In this blog post, we’ll provide easy tips on teaching your elementary students about animals while also educating them on the structure of a great animal report. We’ll explain different ways for kids to research their chosen topic and take notes about the animal facts they learn. Additionally, we will link resources such as an animal report template, which offers a fast yet effective framework for completing the project.

So let’s dive in – it’s time to learn more about teaching your class all things useful with fun-filled reports about animals!

Introduce the project – explain to students what an animal report is and why they should write animal reports

Introducing animal reports to your students is a great way to get them thinking about animals and animal research! An animal report is an assignment requiring students to research an animal of their choosing and present information such as diet, habitat, and lifestyle to build their knowledge.

With animal research resources and a report template for guidance, students can explore new animal information that will help improve their understanding of the animal kingdom. Encouraging your students to write animal reports can also help develop essential research and writing skills while they have fun learning about animals at the same time!

Brainstorm a List of Animals and Choose An Animal to Write About

Start by having students brainstorm a list of animals. Teachers can do open brainstorming without categories or they ask students to brainstorm animals within specific categories, such as mammals, birds, and fish.

We have a FREE Brainstorming tool in the FREE Animal Report Template resource! Click the image below to download the free animal report template!

An array of resources and tips to help teachers guide their students through the process of writing an animal report. With a differentiated graphic organizer, animal report template, and various research options, this resource is an engaging way to encourage students to research any animal of their choice.

Once students have brainstormed their list of animals, ask them to choose the top four animals they want to learn about and then choose the one animal they are most interested in studying. Asking students to give you several animals and their favorite will help you assign separate animals to each student.

Outline the tasks and necessary components of an animal report

Writing an animal report is a lot of fun for your students, as it will help them become acquainted with different animals and develop their research skills.

The steps that I have students take when writing an animal report include:

Choosing an animal
Reading about the animal and watching videos about it
Taking notes about the animal
Organizing their notes and facts into categories
Using a template or graphic organizer to start their writing
Writing a rough draft
Writing a final draft
Putting it all together

I don’t present all of these steps to students all at once, but I will provide a general overview, like researching, organizing, and writing.

Research and Write down Facts About the Animal

To begin the process, set your students off with a task to research a particular animal. They need to include information such as the animal’s physical features, behavior, and habitat, as well as any interesting facts about their subject.

At this point, I allow students to write down their facts as a brainstormed list or using a circle map. I do not require students to organize and categorize the facts yet. This allows them to just focus on the information they have and get it down on paper. After the facts are written, I will ask students to look at their list of facts and try to group things together that have a common theme or idea.

Provide online resources and books for animal research topics

Finding ideas for animal research topics can be a fun and engaging way to get kids started on their animal report project. There are plenty of online resources available, such as National Geographic Kids , where students can access information about different types of animals and their habitats.

Books are also an excellent resource, with specific titles focusing on individual species or whole collections about different types of animals. Encourage your students to search for interesting creatures they wouldn’t normally encounter in everyday life – from unique insects to fascinating fish.

High-Interest Animal Articles for Elementary Students

It’s hard to find informational articles and books written for students to use as research tools. In fact, it was so challenging, I decided to write my own!

I have Animal Articles available individually , by habitats, and all together as a collection! Each animal article resource includes engaging, high-interest text, scaffolded reading comprehension resources, a fact sort that will help students organize all the facts and details, and mini-report writing options.

With my collection of 142 Animal Articles , your students will get invaluable materials for reading, research, note-taking, and writing about animals. The Animal Article Collection gives you access to ALL 142 animals, an animal report, informational writing tools, and more! Check it out here.

Researching these unique animals could not only spark a new love for the animal kingdom but also give them access to a wealth of knowledge that can help shape the outline and template for their reports.

Do you need more engaging and high-interest informational text for your elementary students to read? Here are over 126 Animal Articles with reading comprehension and informational writing activities. There are over 14 ecosystems with a variety of mammals, birds, reptiles, fish, and more! Give your students the power to choose which animal they study and help them write an engaging animal report, learn to read informational text, or do structured writing.

Teach Students How to Research, Take Notes, and Organize Facts

I start our animal report project with an introduction to informational writing. We read about an animal, take notes on it using a circle map, and work with the facts and details to organize a paragraph about the animal.

Check out this blog post to discover the specifics of our initial week in teaching informational writing . You won’t want to miss how we kick off this unit!

Find out how we do informational and expository writing in second graders. It's all about animals. We gather our facts, work with our facts, and then do our writing. Students (and teachers) love this process.

Once they’ve finished their research and gathered enough animal facts, you can provide them with an animal report writing template to help them structure and organize the facts into something cohesive. This should include sections like Introduction and Description, Habitat, Behaviour, and Conclusion.

Offer tips on using facts and evidence in their writing

When teaching your students about writing an animal report, it’s important to emphasize the importance of using facts and evidence. Encourage them to back up their opinions or arguments with credible research from experts, as well as general knowledge. Using facts and evidence in their writing will help your students create an effective animal report that is both informative and accurate.

If you are looking for guidance on how to help your students organize facts when writing about animals, then this comprehensive series of blog posts is the answer . Through the use of engaging nonfiction articles and fact sorts, I effectively show students how to extract information from a text, break apart the information into usable parts, then move the parts around to organize the facts and details into a cohesive paragraph or multi-paragraph report about an animal.

Create a template or provide guidelines on the structure of an animal report

Writing an animal report can be a fun and educational way to teach students about the different species on our planet. To help guide your students through this project, create a template or provide guidelines on the structure of their report.

Animal reports are a great way to provide insight into different species while at the same time teaching important research and writing skills.

Our Animal Report for Any Animal is designed specifically to make research and report writing fun and engaging. It’s packed with differentiated graphic organizers, animal report templates, various options as well as other useful items! By taking advantage of this versatile resource your students will be able to explore their favorite animals in a unique way.

This Animal Report includes full-page and half-page report pages, as well as a lapbook, trifold, graphic organizers and more! The animal report can be used with ANY animal and is geared toward use in second grade, third grade, fourth grade, and fifth grade. It includes templates for animal appearance, habitat, diet, feeding, predators, and more. Teach students how to research and write animal reports #animalreport #reportwriting #secondgradereprot #thirdgradereport

FREE Animal Report Template

Would you like a FREE Animal Report Template to use with your students?

With an animal report, teachers have the unique opportunity to help students engage in complex critical thinking and communication skills. We provided several resources and tips to guide them through the entire process. From introducing the report to helping them research their chosen topic and sorting facts into categories, having a clear understanding of each step is integral for the successful completion of this task.

Ultimately, with the appropriate guidance, students will have what they need to confidently approach and complete their own animal reports. Thank you for taking the time to learn about teaching animal reports – we hope that your class enjoys this project!

I would love the free animal report template.

There are two images above that say “click here”. Click on either one.

How To Write An Animal Report

Are you writing animal reports with your students? Want an easy step-by-step process to support your students? Check out this simple process.

Steps On How To Write An Animal Report

There are seven steps (with an optional 8th step) to follow when teaching your students to write an animal report. The steps are:

Choose Your Animal
Research Your Animal
Make Jot Notes
Write a Draft
Revise and Edit
Write a Good Copy
Illustrate Report
Assess Report (Optional)

How To Write An Animal Report Writing Objectives

In this writing activity students will:

conduct research to find out about their animals,
write sentences that contain important information, and
create reports that provide information to their readers.

Materials For Animal Research Activity

Here are the files you’ll need for the animal research report writing activity:

Animal Topic Cards (FREE)
Animal Report Writing Posters – Black and White (FREE)
Animal Report Writing Posters – Color (Members Only)
Jot Note Templates (FREE)
Animal Report – Draft Templates (FREE)
Animal Report – Final Copy Templates Primary Lines (FREE)
Animal Report – Final Copy Templates Regular Lines (FREE)
Animal Report – Cover (FREE)
Editing Checklist 1 – Black and White (FREE)
Editing Checklist 1 – Color (Members Only)
Editing Checklist 2 – Black and White (FREE)
Editing Checklist 2 – Color (Members Only)
Editing Checklist 3 – Black and White (FREE)
Editing Checklist 3 – Color (Members Only)
Editing Checklist 4 – Black and White (FREE)
Editing Checklist 4 – Color (Members Only)
Report Writing Rubric – Black and White (FREE)
Report Writing Rubric – Color (Members Only)
Writing Mechanics Rubric – Black and White (FREE)
Writing Mechanics Rubric – Color (Members Only)

Directions For Report Writing Activity

Step one: choose topic for animal report.

To begin, students choose an animal for their report. There are different ways that students can choose the topic for their animal reports. Students can:

choose their own topic.
pick an animal out of a hat.
be assigned an animal.

Step Two: Research Animal For Report

Next, students can use different sources to find information about their animals depending on the resources you have available. Students can use:

websites such as National Geographic For Kids and San Diego Zoo ,
magazines, and
trading cards.

*** These jot notes are a part of the animal report found in the Teaching With a Touch of Honey Writing Club.

Step Three: Make Jot Notes On Animal Research Report Template

Students look through the sources and make notes about the information they find. Making jot notes is a difficult skill for students to master. Provide your students with jot note templates to support them with this process. Students can write one category that they are researching on each template. Categories may include:

Description
Family or Life Cycle
Other Interesting Facts

Step Four: Write A Draft Copy of Animal Report

Once students have finished writing their jot notes, they can write their draft reports. Students take the information they have gathered on their jot note templates and make them into paragraphs for their reports.

Give students a draft template for each category they researched. If they found information on all six categories, provide students with 6 draft templates. Students write the category at that top of the draft template and then use their jot notes to write their paragraphs.

Step Five: Revise and Edit Animal Report

Next, students revise and edit their reports. Teachers can support their students as they revise and edit with differentiated writing checklists. Choose a checklist that matches the individual learning needs of your students. Students work through the checklist to make their writing better.

Step Six: Write Animal Report Good Copy

After students edit and revise their draft reports, they’re ready to write the good copy of their report. Students can use the final copy templates to write their good copy of their report.

Step Seven: Illustrate Animal Research Report

The last step of the report writing process is adding illustrations to the final copy templates to enhance what students have written in their reports.

Step Eight: Assess Report (Optional)

An optional step of the report writing process is to assess the work done by the students. This can be accomplished through self, peer, and teacher assessments. Rubrics could also be used.

Differentiated Instruction Ideas

There are different ways you can differentiate this activity in your classroom.

Draft Templates: There are 3 different draft templates provided for each of the writing activities. You can provide each student with a copy of the draft template that matches their learning needs. The templates look similar but require students to provide a different number of details in their story.
Number of Categories and Facts:
Partner Writing: Studnets
Provide Choice: Let students choose the animal they research.
Editing Bookmarks: There are 4 different editing bookmarks. Provide each student with a copy of the bookmark that matches their learning needs. The bookmarks are similar but include a different number of editing skills.

What Teachers are Saying About the Animal Report Writing Activity:

❤️ “This is a well planned out project. I invited my students to select an animal from the list that they wanted to learn about. Then over three weeks in the computer lab, they were charged with learning about their animal and took notes on the pages provided. Their final project was written and they received a writing grade for their hard work. My principal said she really like this project. Thank you!” – Peggy R.

❤️ “I am using this for our research/informational writing unit. I love how there are differentiated pages for learners of all types, visual steps of the process, and the rubrics at the end!” – Kristin Y.

❤️ “My students were able to use this resource with little help. It is well organized and gives them step by step guidance. I look forward to using it again this year.” – JoAnne V.

❤️ “ I loved this resource. It was a perfect packet to use as I introduced writing a research paper. The note taking options for different level students was perfect. The note taking step helped the students pick important information instead of writing everything! I only had to get books from the library in order to make this project a success! Loved this resource!” – Nancy B.

Here are even more Report Writing FREEBIES :

Ant report writing activities.

Ant Report Cut-and-Paste Jot Notes (FREE)
Ant Report Cut-and Paste Jot Notes – Answer Key (Members Only)
Ant Report Draft Templates (FREE)
Ant Report Final Copy Templates (FREE)
Ant Report Cover (FREE)
Ant Report Table of Contents (FREE)

Bumblebee Report Writing Activities

Bumblebee Cut-and-Paste Jot Notes (Members Only)
Bumblebee Report Cut-and Paste Jot Notes – Answer Key (Members Only)
Bumblebee Report – Draft Copy Template (Members Only)
Bumblebee Report – Final Copy Template (Members Only)
Bumblebee Report – Cover (Members Only)
Bumblebee Report – Table of Contents (Members Only)

Butterfly Report Writing Activities

Butterfly Cut-and Paste Jot Notes (Members Only)
Butterfly Report Cut-and Paste Jot Notes – Answer Key (Members Only)
Butterfly Report – Draft Copy Template (Members Only)
Butterfly Report – Final Copy Template (Members Only)
Butterfly Report – Cover (Members Only)
Butterfly Report – Table of Contents (Members Only)

Dragonfly Report Writing Activities

Dragonfly Cut-and Paste Jot Notes (Members Only)
Dragonfly Report Cut-and Paste Jot Notes – Answer Key (Members Only)
Dragonfly Report – Draft Copy Template (Members Only)
Dragonfly Report – Final Copy Template (Members Only)
Dragonfly Report – Cover (Members Only)
Dragonfly Report – Table of Contents (Members Only)

Grasshopper Report Writing Activities

Grasshopper Cut-and Paste Jot Notes (Members Only)
Grasshopper Report Cut-and Paste Jot Notes – Answer Key (Members Only)
Grasshopper Report – Draft Copy Template (Members Only)
Grasshopper Report – Final Copy Template (Members Only)
GrasshopperReport – Cover (Members Only)
Grasshopper Report – Table of Contents (Members Only)

House Fly Report Writing Activities

House Fly Cut-and Paste JotNotes (Members Only)
House Fly Report Cut-and Paste Jot Notes – Answer Key (Members Only)
House Fly Report – Draft Copy Template (Members Only)
House Fly Report – Final Copy Template (Members Only)
House Fly Report – Cover (Members Only)
House Fly Report – Table of Contents (Members Only)

Ladybug Report Writing Activities

Ladybug Cut-and Paste Jot Notes (Members Only)
Ladybug Report Cut-and Paste Jot Notes – Answer Key (Members Only)
Ladybug Report – Draft Copy Template (Members Only)
Ladybug Report – Final Copy Template (Members Only)
Ladybug Report – Cover (Members Only)
Ladybug Report – Table of Contents (Members Only)

Mosquito Report Writing Activities

Mosquito Cut-and Paste Jot Notes (Members Only)
Mosquito Report Cut-and Paste Jot Notes – Answer Key (Members Only)
Mosquito Report – Draft Copy Template (Members Only)
Mosquito Report – Final Copy Template (Members Only)
Mosquito Report – Cover (Members Only)
Mosquito Report – Table of Contents (Members Only)

Editing Bookmarks

Editing Bookmark 1 – Black and White (FREE)
Editing Bookmark 1 – Color (Members Only)
Editing Bookmark 2 – Black and White (FREE)
Editing Bookmark 2 – Color (Members Only)
Editing Bookmark 3 – Black and White (FREE)
Editing Bookmark 3 – Color (Members Only)
Editing Bookmark 4 – Black and White (FREE)
Editing Bookmark 4 – Color (Members Only)

Assessments and Rubrics (Insects)

Self-Assessment – Happy Faces Black and White (Members Only)
Self-Assessment – Happy Faces Color (Members Only)
Self-Assessment – 4 Point Scale Black and White (Members Only)
Self-Assessment – 4 Point Scale Color (Members Only)
Peer-Assessment – Happy Faces Black and White (Members Only)
Peer-Assessment – Happy Faces Color (Members Only)
Peer-Assessment – 4 Point Scale Black and White (Members Only)
Peer-Assessment – 4 Point Scale Color (Members Only)
Teacher Assessment – Happy Faces Black and White (Members Only)
Teacher Assessment – Happy Faces Color (Members Only)
Teacher Assessment – 4 Point Scale Black and White (Members Only)
Teacher Assessment – 4 Point Scale Color (Members Only)
Narrative Writing Rubric – Color (Members Only)
Writing Mechanics – Color (Members Only)

Benefits of Writing an Animal Report

Writing animal reports is a great way to develop various skills and help students become better writers. These benefits include:

expand their vocabulary,
improve sentence structure, and
enhance their overall language skills.
Research Skills – Students develop their research skills when they search for information for their reports. They learn how to locate information from books, websites, and other sources.
the topic they will write about,
how to organize the information they discover,
how to present the information to their readers.
Organizational Skills – When students organize their report, they learn the structure of a report that is a skill they will use throughout their school career and beyond.
Communication Skills – Students develop their written communication skills as they write their animal reports. They learn how to clearly communicate their ideas in their report.
Self- Confidence – Students are proud of the reports they create which helps to increase their self-confidence in writing and the products they produce.

Report Writing Activities

The animal report activities, along with the report writing projects, are included in the Writing Club . If you want to purchase the report writing materials individually, click on the topic to check it out in my TpT store.

animals , arctic animals ,
biographies,
community helpers , coral reef animals ,
desert animals , dinosaurs and other prehistoric reptiles ,
pets , plants,

Want ALL these report writing activities and SO MUCH MORE ?

Simply click the image below to get all of our resources.

Don’t forget to Pin this lesson on report writing!

Other teaching ideas.

Hopefully, you enjoyed How To Write An Animal Report . Want more teaching ideas and resources? Check out:

How To Teach Inquiry-Based Learning
Dinosaur Narrative Writing Activities
How To Teach Vocabulary to Kids

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The ARRIVE guidelines 2.0: Updated guidelines for reporting animal research

Roles Conceptualization, Data curation, Formal analysis, Funding acquisition, Investigation, Methodology, Project administration, Resources, Supervision, Visualization, Writing – original draft, Writing – review & editing

* E-mail: [email protected]

Affiliation NC3Rs, London, United Kingdom

Roles Data curation, Investigation, Methodology, Project administration, Resources, Writing – original draft

Roles Investigation, Methodology, Resources, Writing – original draft, Writing – review & editing

Affiliations The William Harvey Research Institute, London, United Kingdom, Barts Cardiovascular CTU, Queen Mary University of London, London, United Kingdom

Affiliation Taylor & Francis Group, London, United Kingdom

Affiliation Health Science Practice, ICF, Durham, North Carolina, United States of America

Affiliation Nature, San Francisco, California, United States of America

Affiliation School of Education, University of Bristol, Bristol, United Kingdom

Affiliation PLOS ONE, Cambridge, United Kingdom

Affiliation School of Biological Sciences, University of Bristol, Bristol, United Kingdom

Affiliation QUEST Center for Transforming Biomedical Research, Berlin Institute of Health & Department of Experimental Neurology, Charite Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Berlin, Germany

Affiliation National Heart and Lung Institute, Imperial College London, London, United Kingdom

Affiliation Centre for Evidence Synthesis in Global Health, Clinical Sciences Department, Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, Liverpool, United Kingdom

Affiliation Clinical and Experimental Sciences, University of Southampton, Southampton, United Kingdom

Affiliation Tasmanian School of Medicine, University of Tasmania, Hobart, Australia

Affiliation Data Sciences & Quantitative Biology, Discovery Sciences, R&D, AstraZeneca, Cambridge, United Kingdom

Roles Writing – review & editing

Affiliation Prioris.ai Inc, Ottawa, Canada

Roles Investigation, Project administration, Writing – review & editing

Affiliation Hindawi Ltd, London, United Kingdom

Affiliation Centre for Clinical Brain Sciences, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, United Kingdom

Affiliation Academia Europaea Knowledge Hub, Cardiff University, Cardiff, United Kingdom

Affiliation Medical Research Council, London, United Kingdom

Affiliation Statistics in Anesthesiology Research (STAR) Core, Department of Anesthesiology, College of Medicine, University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida, United States of America

Affiliation Discipline of Exercise and Sport Science, Faculty of Medicine and Health, University of Sydney, Sydney, Australia

Affiliation National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, Bethesda, Maryland, United States of America

Affiliation Janssen Pharmaceutica NV, Beerse, Belgium

[ ... ],

Affiliation Veterinary Public Health Institute, Vetsuisse Faculty, University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland

[ view all ]
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Nathalie Percie du Sert,
Viki Hurst,
Amrita Ahluwalia,
Sabina Alam,
Marc T. Avey,
Monya Baker,
William J. Browne,
Alejandra Clark,
Innes C. Cuthill,

Published: July 14, 2020

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pbio.3000410
Reader Comments

Reproducible science requires transparent reporting. The ARRIVE guidelines (Animal Research: Reporting of In Vivo Experiments) were originally developed in 2010 to improve the reporting of animal research. They consist of a checklist of information to include in publications describing in vivo experiments to enable others to scrutinise the work adequately, evaluate its methodological rigour, and reproduce the methods and results. Despite considerable levels of endorsement by funders and journals over the years, adherence to the guidelines has been inconsistent, and the anticipated improvements in the quality of reporting in animal research publications have not been achieved. Here, we introduce ARRIVE 2.0. The guidelines have been updated and information reorganised to facilitate their use in practice. We used a Delphi exercise to prioritise and divide the items of the guidelines into 2 sets, the “ARRIVE Essential 10,” which constitutes the minimum requirement, and the “Recommended Set,” which describes the research context. This division facilitates improved reporting of animal research by supporting a stepwise approach to implementation. This helps journal editors and reviewers verify that the most important items are being reported in manuscripts. We have also developed the accompanying Explanation and Elaboration (E&E) document, which serves (1) to explain the rationale behind each item in the guidelines, (2) to clarify key concepts, and (3) to provide illustrative examples. We aim, through these changes, to help ensure that researchers, reviewers, and journal editors are better equipped to improve the rigour and transparency of the scientific process and thus reproducibility.

Citation: Percie du Sert N, Hurst V, Ahluwalia A, Alam S, Avey MT, Baker M, et al. (2020) The ARRIVE guidelines 2.0: Updated guidelines for reporting animal research. PLoS Biol 18(7): e3000410. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pbio.3000410

Academic Editor: Isabelle Boutron, University Paris Descartes, FRANCE

This is an open access article, free of all copyright, and may be freely reproduced, distributed, transmitted, modified, built upon, or otherwise used by anyone for any lawful purpose. The work is made available under the Creative Commons CC0 public domain dedication.

Funding: This work was supported by the National Centre of the Replacement, Refinement and Reduction on Animals in Research (NC3Rs, https://www.nc3rs.org.uk/ ). NPdS, KL, VH, and EJP are employees of the NC3Rs.

Competing interests: I have read the journal’s policy and the authors of this manuscript have the following competing interests: AA is the editor in chief of the British Journal of Pharmacology. WJB, ICC, and ME are authors of the original ARRIVE guidelines. WJB serves on the Independent Statistical Standing Committee of the funder CHDI foundation. AC is a Senior Editor for PLOS ONE. AC, CJM, MM, and ESS were involved in the IICARus trial. ME, MM, and ESS have received funding from NC3Rs. ME sits on the MRC ERPIC panel. STH is chair of the NC3Rs board; trusteeship of the BLF, Kennedy Trust, DSRU, and CRUK; member of Governing Board, Nuffield Council of Bioethics, member Science Panel for Health (EU H2020); founder and NEB Director Synairgen; consultant Novartis, Teva, and AZ; and chair MRC/GSK EMINENT Collaboration. VH, KL, EJP, and NPdS are NC3Rs staff; role includes promoting the ARRIVE guidelines. SEL and UD are on the advisory board of the UK Reproducibility Network. CJM has shareholdings in Hindawi, is on the publishing board of the Royal Society, and on the EU Open Science policy platform. UD, MM, NPdS, CJM, ESS, TS, and HW are members of EQIPD. MM is a member of the Animals in Science Committee and on the steering group of the UK Reproducibility Network. NPdS and TS are associate editors of BMJ Open Science. OHP is vice president of Academia Europaea, editor in chief of Function, senior executive editor of the Journal of Physiology, and member of the Board of the European Commission’s SAPEA (Science Advice for Policy by European Academies). FR is an NC3Rs board member and has shareholdings in GSK. FR and NAK have shareholdings in AstraZeneca. PR is a member of the University of Florida Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee and editorial board member of Shock. ESS is editor in chief of BMJ Open Science. SDS’s role is to provide expertise and does not represent the opinion of the NIH. TS has shareholdings in Johnson & Johnson. SA, MTA, MB, PG, DWH, and KR declared no conflict of interest.

Abbreviations: ARRIVE, Animal Research: Reporting of In Vivo Experiments; E&E, Explanation and Elaboration; FAIR, Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, Reusable; MDAR, Materials, Design, Analysis and Reporting; NIH, National Institutes of Health

See S1 Annotated Byline for individual authors ’ positions at the time this article was submitted .

Why good reporting is important

In recent years, concerns about the reproducibility of research findings have been raised by scientists, funders, research users, and policy makers [ 1 , 2 ]. Factors that contribute to poor reproducibility include flawed study design and analysis, variability and inadequate validation of reagents and other biological materials, insufficient reporting of methodology and results, and barriers to accessing data [ 3 ]. The bioscience community has introduced a range of initiatives to address the problem, from open access and open practices to enable the scrutiny of all aspects of the research [ 4 , 5 ] through to study preregistration to shift the focus towards robust methods rather than the novelty of the results [ 6 , 7 ], as well as resources to improve experimental design and statistical analysis [ 8 – 10 ].

Transparent reporting of research methods and findings is an essential component of reproducibility. Without this, the methodological rigour of the studies cannot be adequately scrutinised, the reliability of the findings cannot be assessed, and the work cannot be repeated or built upon by others. Despite the development of specific reporting guidelines for preclinical and clinical research, evidence suggests that scientific publications often lack key information and that there continues to be considerable scope for improvement [ 11 – 18 ]. Animal research is a good case in point, where poor reporting impacts on the development of therapeutics and irreproducible findings can spawn an entire field of research, or trigger clinical studies, subjecting patients to interventions unlikely to be effective [ 2 , 19 , 20 ].

In an attempt to improve the reporting of animal research, the Animal Research: Reporting of In Vivo Experiments (ARRIVE) guidelines were published in 2010. The guidelines consist of a checklist of the items that should be included in any manuscript that reports in vivo experiments, to ensure a comprehensive and transparent description [ 21 – 30 ]. They apply to any area of research using live animal species and are especially pertinent to describe comparative research in the laboratory or other formal test setting. The guidelines are also relevant in a wider context, for example, for observational research, studies conducted in the field, and where animal tissues are used. In the 10 years since publication, the ARRIVE guidelines have been endorsed by more than a thousand journals from across the life sciences. Endorsement typically includes advocating their use in guidance to authors and reviewers. However, despite this level of support, recent studies have shown that important information as set out in the ARRIVE guidelines is still missing from most publications sampled. This includes details on randomisation (reported in only 30%–40% of publications), blinding (reported in only approximately 20% of publications), sample size justification (reported in less than 10% of publications), and animal characteristics (all basic characteristics reported in less than 10% of publications) [ 11 , 31 , 32 ].

Evidence suggests that 2 main factors limit the impact of the ARRIVE guidelines. The first is the extent to which editorial and journal staff are actively involved in enforcing reporting standards. This is illustrated by a randomised controlled trial at PLOS ONE , designed to test the effect of requesting a completed ARRIVE checklist in the manuscript submission process. This single editorial intervention, which did not include further verification from journal staff, failed to improve the disclosure of information in published papers [ 33 ]. In contrast, other studies using shorter checklists (primarily focused on experimental design) with more editorial follow-up have shown a marked improvement in the nature and detail of the information included in publications [ 34 – 36 ]. It is likely that the level of resource required from journals and editors currently prohibits the implementation of all the items of the ARRIVE guidelines.

The second issue is that researchers and other individuals and organisations responsible for the integrity of the research process are not sufficiently aware of the consequences of incomplete reporting. There is some evidence that awareness of ARRIVE is linked to the use of more rigorous experimental design standards [ 37 ]; however, researchers are often unfamiliar with the much larger systemic bias in the publication of research and in the reliability of certain findings and even of entire fields [ 33 , 38 – 40 ]. This lack of understanding affects how experiments are designed and grant proposals prepared, how animals are used and data recorded in the laboratory, and how manuscripts are written by authors or assessed by journal staff, editors, and reviewers.

Approval for experiments involving animals is generally based on a harm–benefit analysis, weighing the harms to the animals involved against the benefits of the research to society. If the research is not reported in enough detail, even when conducted rigorously, the benefits may not be realised, and the harm–benefit analysis and public trust in the research are undermined [ 41 ]. As a community, we must do better to ensure that, where animals are used, the research is both well designed and analysed as well as transparently reported. Here, we introduce the revised ARRIVE guidelines, referred to as ARRIVE 2.0. The information included has been updated, extended, and reorganised to facilitate the use of the guidelines, helping to ensure that researchers, editors, and reviewers—as well as other relevant journal staff—are better equipped to improve the rigour and reproducibility of animal research.

Introducing ARRIVE 2.0

In ARRIVE 2.0, we have improved the clarity of the guidelines, prioritised the items, added new information, and generated the accompanying Explanation and Elaboration (E&E) document to provide context and rationale for each item [ 42 ] (also available at https://www.arriveguidelines.org ). New additions comprise inclusion and exclusion criteria, which are a key aspect of data handling and prevent the ad hoc exclusion of data [ 43 ]; protocol registration, a recently emerged approach that promotes scientific rigour and encourages researchers to carefully consider the experimental design and analysis plan before any data are collected [ 44 ]; and data access, in line with the FAIR Data Principles [ 45 ] (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, and Reusable). S1 Table summarises the changes.

The most significant departure from the original guidelines is the classification of items into 2 prioritised groups, as shown in Tables 1 and 2 . There is no ranking of the items within each group. The first group is the “ARRIVE Essential 10,” which describes information that is the basic minimum to include in a manuscript, as without this information, reviewers and readers cannot confidently assess the reliability of the findings presented. It includes details on the study design, the sample size, measures to reduce subjective bias, outcome measures, statistical methods, the animals, experimental procedures, and results. The second group, referred to as the “Recommended Set,” adds context to the study described. This includes the ethical statement, declaration of interest, protocol registration, and data access, as well as more detailed information on the methodology such as animal housing, husbandry, care, and monitoring. Items on the abstract, background, objectives, interpretation, and generalisability also describe what to include in the more narrative parts of a manuscript.

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https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pbio.3000410.t001

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pbio.3000410.t002

Revising the guidelines has been an extensive and collaborative effort, with input from the scientific community carefully built into the process. The revision of the ARRIVE guidelines has been undertaken by an international working group—the authors of this publication—with expertise from across the life sciences community, including funders, journal editors, statisticians, methodologists, and researchers from academia and industry. We used a Delphi exercise [ 46 ] with external stakeholders to maximise diversity in fields of expertise and geographical location, with experts from 19 countries providing feedback on each item, suggesting new items, and ranking items according to their relative importance for assessing the reliability of research findings. This ranking resulted in the prioritisation of the items of the guidelines into the 2 sets. Demographics of the Delphi panel and full methods and results are presented in Supporting Information S1 Delphi and S1 Data . Following their publication on BioRxiv, the revised guidelines and the E&E were also road tested with researchers preparing manuscripts describing in vivo studies, to ensure that these documents were well understood and useful to the intended users. This study is presented in Supporting Information S1 Road Testing and S2 Data .

While reporting animal research in adherence to all 21 items of ARRIVE 2.0 represents best practice, the classification of the items into 2 groups is intended to facilitate the improved reporting of animal research by allowing an initial focus on the most critical issues. This better allows journal staff, editors, and reviewers to verify that the items have been adequately reported in manuscripts. The first step should be to ensure compliance with the ARRIVE Essential 10 as a minimum requirement. Items from the Recommended Set can then be added over time and in line with specific editorial policies until all the items are routinely reported in all manuscripts. ARRIVE 2.0 are fully compatible with and complementary to other guidelines that have been published in recent years. By providing a comprehensive set of recommendations that are specifically tailored to the description of in vivo research, they help authors reporting animal experiments adhere to the National Institutes of Health (NIH) standards [ 43 ] and the minimum standards framework and checklist (Materials, Design, Analysis and Reporting [MDAR] [ 47 ]). The revised guidelines are also in line with many journals’ policies and will assist authors in complying with information requirements on the ethical review of the research [ 48 , 49 ], data presentation and access [ 50 – 52 ], statistical methods [ 51 , 52 ], and conflicts of interest [ 53 , 54 ].

Although the guidelines are written with researchers and journal editorial policies in mind, it is important to stress that researchers alone should not have to carry the responsibility for transparent reporting. Funders, institutions, and publishers’ endorsement of ARRIVE has been instrumental in raising awareness to date; they now have a key role to play in building capacity and championing the behavioural changes required to improve reporting practices. This includes embedding ARRIVE 2.0 in appropriate training, workflows, and processes to support researchers in their different roles. While the primary focus of the guidelines has been on the reporting of animal studies, ARRIVE also has other applications earlier in the research process, including in the planning and design of in vivo experiments. For example, requesting a description of the study design in line with the guidelines in funding or ethical review applications ensures that steps to minimise experimental bias are considered at the beginning of the research cycle [ 55 ].

Transparent reporting is clearly essential if animal studies are to add to the knowledge base and inform future research, policy, and clinical practice. ARRIVE 2.0 prioritises the reporting of information related to study reliability. This enables research users to assess how much weight to ascribe to the findings and, in parallel, promotes the use of rigorous methodology in the planning and conduct of in vivo experiments [ 37 ], thus increasing the likelihood that the findings are reliable and, ultimately, reproducible.

The intention of ARRIVE 2.0 is not to supersede individual journal requirements but to promote a harmonised approach across journals to ensure that all manuscripts contain the essential information needed to appraise the research. Journals usually share a common objective of improving the methodological rigour and reproducibility of the research they publish, but different journals emphasise different pieces of information [ 56 – 58 ]. Here, we propose an expert consensus on information to prioritise. This will provide clarity for authors, facilitate transfer of manuscripts between journals, and accelerate an improvement of reporting standards.

Concentrating the efforts of the research and publishing communities on the ARRIVE Essential 10 items provides a manageable approach to evaluate reporting quality efficiently and assess the effect of interventions and policies designed to improve the reporting of animal experiments. It provides a starting point for the development of operationalised checklists to assess reporting, ultimately leading to the build of automated or semi-automated artificial intelligence tools that can detect missing information rapidly [ 59 ].

Improving reporting is a collaborative endeavour, and concerted effort from the biomedical research community is required to ensure maximum impact. We welcome collaboration with other groups operating in this area, as well as feedback on ARRIVE 2.0 and our implementation strategy.

Supporting information

S1 table. noteworthy changes in arrive 2.0..

This table recapitulates noteworthy changes in the ARRIVE guidelines 2.0, compared to the original ARRIVE guidelines published in 2010.

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pbio.3000410.s001

S1 Delphi. Delphi methods and results.

Methodology and results of the Delphi study that was used to prioritise the items of the guidelines into the ARRIVE Essential 10 and Recommended Set.

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pbio.3000410.s002

S1 Data. Delphi data.

Tabs 1, 2, and 3: Panel members’ scores for each of the ARRIVE items during rounds 1, 2, and 3, along with descriptive statistics. Tab 4: Qualitative feedback, collected from panel members during round 1, on the importance and the wording of each item. Tab 5: Additional items suggested for consideration in ARRIVE 2.0; similar suggestions were grouped together before processing. Tab 6: Justifications provided by panel members for changing an item’s score between round 1 and round 2.

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pbio.3000410.s003

S2 Data. Road testing data.

Tab 1: Participants’ demographics and general feedback on the guidelines and the E&E preprints. Tab 2: Outcome of each manuscript’s assessment and justifications provided by participants for not including information covered in the ARRIVE guidelines.

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pbio.3000410.s004

S1 Road Testing. Road testing methods and results.

Methodology used to road test the revised ARRIVE guidelines and E&E (as published in preprint) and how this information was used in the development of ARRIVE 2.0.

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pbio.3000410.s005

S1 Annotated Byline. Individual authors’ positions at the time this article was submitted.

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pbio.3000410.s006

Acknowledgments

We would like to thank the members of the expert panel for the Delphi exercise and the participants of the road testing for their time and feedback. We are grateful to the DelphiManager team for advice and use of their software. We would like to acknowledge the late Doug Altman’s contribution to this project; Doug was a dedicated member of the working group and his input to the guidelines’ revision has been invaluable.

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The ARRIVE guidelines 2.0: Updated guidelines for reporting animal research

Affiliations.

1 NC3Rs, London, United Kingdom.
2 The William Harvey Research Institute, London, United Kingdom.
3 Barts Cardiovascular CTU, Queen Mary University of London, London, United Kingdom.
4 Taylor & Francis Group, London, United Kingdom.
5 Health Science Practice, ICF, Durham, North Carolina, United States of America.
6 Nature, San Francisco, California, United States of America.
7 School of Education, University of Bristol, Bristol, United Kingdom.
8 PLOS ONE, Cambridge, United Kingdom.
9 School of Biological Sciences, University of Bristol, Bristol, United Kingdom.
10 QUEST Center for Transforming Biomedical Research, Berlin Institute of Health & Department of Experimental Neurology, Charite Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Berlin, Germany.
11 National Heart and Lung Institute, Imperial College London, London, United Kingdom.
12 Centre for Evidence Synthesis in Global Health, Clinical Sciences Department, Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, Liverpool, United Kingdom.
13 Clinical and Experimental Sciences, University of Southampton, Southampton, United Kingdom.
14 Tasmanian School of Medicine, University of Tasmania, Hobart, Australia.
15 Data Sciences & Quantitative Biology, Discovery Sciences, R&D, AstraZeneca, Cambridge, United Kingdom.
16 Prioris.ai Inc, Ottawa, Canada.
17 Hindawi Ltd, London, United Kingdom.
18 Centre for Clinical Brain Sciences, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, United Kingdom.
19 Academia Europaea Knowledge Hub, Cardiff University, Cardiff, United Kingdom.
20 Medical Research Council, London, United Kingdom.
21 Statistics in Anesthesiology Research (STAR) Core, Department of Anesthesiology, College of Medicine, University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida, United States of America.
22 Discipline of Exercise and Sport Science, Faculty of Medicine and Health, University of Sydney, Sydney, Australia.
23 National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, Bethesda, Maryland, United States of America.
24 Janssen Pharmaceutica NV, Beerse, Belgium.
25 Veterinary Public Health Institute, Vetsuisse Faculty, University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland.
PMID: 32663219
PMCID: PMC7360023
DOI: 10.1371/journal.pbio.3000410

Reproducible science requires transparent reporting. The ARRIVE guidelines (Animal Research: Reporting of In Vivo Experiments) were originally developed in 2010 to improve the reporting of animal research. They consist of a checklist of information to include in publications describing in vivo experiments to enable others to scrutinise the work adequately, evaluate its methodological rigour, and reproduce the methods and results. Despite considerable levels of endorsement by funders and journals over the years, adherence to the guidelines has been inconsistent, and the anticipated improvements in the quality of reporting in animal research publications have not been achieved. Here, we introduce ARRIVE 2.0. The guidelines have been updated and information reorganised to facilitate their use in practice. We used a Delphi exercise to prioritise and divide the items of the guidelines into 2 sets, the "ARRIVE Essential 10," which constitutes the minimum requirement, and the "Recommended Set," which describes the research context. This division facilitates improved reporting of animal research by supporting a stepwise approach to implementation. This helps journal editors and reviewers verify that the most important items are being reported in manuscripts. We have also developed the accompanying Explanation and Elaboration (E&E) document, which serves (1) to explain the rationale behind each item in the guidelines, (2) to clarify key concepts, and (3) to provide illustrative examples. We aim, through these changes, to help ensure that researchers, reviewers, and journal editors are better equipped to improve the rigour and transparency of the scientific process and thus reproducibility.

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Conflict of interest statement

I have read the journal’s policy and the authors of this manuscript have the following competing interests: AA is the editor in chief of the British Journal of Pharmacology. WJB, ICC, and ME are authors of the original ARRIVE guidelines. WJB serves on the Independent Statistical Standing Committee of the funder CHDI foundation. AC is a Senior Editor for PLOS ONE. AC, CJM, MM, and ESS were involved in the IICARus trial. ME, MM, and ESS have received funding from NC3Rs. ME sits on the MRC ERPIC panel. STH is chair of the NC3Rs board; trusteeship of the BLF, Kennedy Trust, DSRU, and CRUK; member of Governing Board, Nuffield Council of Bioethics, member Science Panel for Health (EU H2020); founder and NEB Director Synairgen; consultant Novartis, Teva, and AZ; and chair MRC/GSK EMINENT Collaboration. VH, KL, EJP, and NPdS are NC3Rs staff; role includes promoting the ARRIVE guidelines. SEL and UD are on the advisory board of the UK Reproducibility Network. CJM has shareholdings in Hindawi, is on the publishing board of the Royal Society, and on the EU Open Science policy platform. UD, MM, NPdS, CJM, ESS, TS, and HW are members of EQIPD. MM is a member of the Animals in Science Committee and on the steering group of the UK Reproducibility Network. NPdS and TS are associate editors of BMJ Open Science. OHP is vice president of Academia Europaea, editor in chief of Function, senior executive editor of the Journal of Physiology, and member of the Board of the European Commission’s SAPEA (Science Advice for Policy by European Academies). FR is an NC3Rs board member and has shareholdings in GSK. FR and NAK have shareholdings in AstraZeneca. PR is a member of the University of Florida Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee and editorial board member of Shock. ESS is editor in chief of BMJ Open Science. SDS’s role is to provide expertise and does not represent the opinion of the NIH. TS has shareholdings in Johnson & Johnson. SA, MTA, MB, PG, DWH, and KR declared no conflict of interest.

Republished in

The ARRIVE guidelines 2.0: Updated guidelines for reporting animal research. Percie du Sert N, Hurst V, Ahluwalia A, Alam S, Avey MT, Baker M, Browne WJ, Clark A, Cuthill IC, Dirnagl U, Emerson M, Garner P, Holgate ST, Howells DW, Karp NA, Lazic SE, Lidster K, MacCallum CJ, Macleod M, Pearl EJ, Petersen OH, Rawle F, Reynolds P, Rooney K, Sena ES, Silberberg SD, Steckler T, Würbel H. Percie du Sert N, et al. J Cereb Blood Flow Metab. 2020 Sep;40(9):1769-1777. doi: 10.1177/0271678X20943823. Epub 2020 Jul 14. J Cereb Blood Flow Metab. 2020. PMID: 32663096 Free PMC article.

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v.19(5); 2018 May

Improving animal research reporting standards

Nikki osborne.

1 Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, Southwater, UK

Marc T Avey

2 Ottawa Hospital Research Institute, Ottawa, ON, Canada

Lida Anestidou

3 Institute for Laboratory Animal Research, National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine, Washington, DC, USA

Merel Ritskes‐Hoitinga

4 SYstematic Review Center for Laboratory animal Experimentation (SYRCLE), Radboud University Medical Center, Nijmegen, The Netherlands

Gilly Griffin

5 Canadian Council for Animal Care, Ottawa, ON, Canada

The HAARP guidelines aim to set a global minimum standard for reporting results from and details of research experiments using animals. Their adoption would contribute to more transparency in research and improve reproducibility.

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For more than 30 years, individuals and organizations have expressed concerns about the quality of reporting the results from and details of research experiments that use animals. These concerns and efforts to establish better standards along with guidelines for researchers (see Sidebar A ) have gained more attention and importance lately given the ongoing discussion about a “reproducibility crisis” in biomedical research along with similar efforts to further improve the welfare of laboratory animals. However, implementation of reporting standards by journals and adherence to these by authors is still patchy. Given this variation in awareness and implementation of current reporting standards, the International Council for Laboratory Animal Science (ICLAS) decided to seek to harmonize animal research reporting guidelines so as to encourage improvements in the quality of science where laboratory animals are involved. ICLAS, which was formed under the auspices of UNESCO in 1956 as an international scientific organization to advance human and animal health by promoting the ethical care and use of laboratory animals in research worldwide, believes that improving research reporting will aid the dissemination of responsible research practices worldwide and reduce the impact of cultural factors influencing the ethical use of animals. Here, we present simplified and general reporting principles that would make it easier for both journals and authors to report details of animal experiments. Adoption and implementation of these general principles could improve reproducibility of research results and animal welfare globally.

Sidebar A: Further reading

Papers outlining concerns regarding the reporting of animal experiments

Smith JA, Birke L, Sadler D (1997) Reporting animal use in scientific papers. Lab Animal 31: 312–317

Alfaro V (2005) Specification of laboratory animal use in scientific articles: current low detail in the journals’ instructions for authors and some proposals. Methods Find Exp Clin Pharmacol 27(7): 495–502

Phillips CJC (2005) Meta‐analysis – a systematic and quantitative review of animal experiments to maximise the information derived. Anim Welf 14(4): 333–338

Mignini LE, Khan KS (2006) Methodological quality of systematic reviews of animal studies: a survey of reviews of basic research. BMC Med Res Methodol 6: 10

Kilkenny C, Parsons N, Kadyszewski E, Festing MFW, Cuthill IC, Fry D et al (2009) Survey of the quality of experimental design, statistical analysis and reporting of research using animals. PLoS One 4: e7824

Landis SC, Amara SG, Asadullah K, Austin CP, Blumenstein R, Bradley EW et al (2012) A call for transparent reporting to optimize the predictive value of preclinical research. Nature 490: 187–191

Osborne NJ, Payne D, Newman ML (2009) Journal editorial policies, animal welfare, and the 3Rs. Am J Bioeth 9: 55–59

Taylor K (2010) Reporting the implementation of the Three Rs in European primate and mouse research papers: Are we making progress? Altern Lab Anim 2010; 38: 495–517

Muhlhausler BS, Bloomfield FH, Gillman MW (2013) Whole Animal Experiments Should Be More Like Human Randomized Controlled Trials. PLoS Biol 11: e1001481

Papers providing guidance on the reporting of experiments involving animal use

Ellery AW (1985) Guidelines for specification of animals and husbandry methods when reporting the results of animal experiments. Working Committee for the Biological Characterization of Laboratory Animals/GV‐SOLAS. Lab Anim 19(2): 106–108

Festing MFW, van Zutphen LFM (1997) Guidelines for reviewing manuscripts on studies involving live animals: Synopsis of the workshop. In Animal Alternatives, Welfare and Ethics , van Zutphen LFM, Balls M (eds), pp 405–410. New York: Elsevier

Brattelid T, Smith AJ (2000) Guidelines for reporting the results of experiments on fish. Lab Anim 34: 131–135

Festing MFW, Altman DG (2002) Guidelines for the design and statistical analysis of experiments using laboratory animals. ILAR J 43: 244–258

Taylor CF, Field D, Sansone S, Aerts J, Apweiler R et al . (2008) Promoting coherent minimum reporting guidelines for biological and biomedical investigations: the MIBBI project. Nat Biotechnol 26: 889–896

Hooijmans CR, Leenaars M, Ritskes‐Hoitinga M (2010) A gold standard publication checklist to improve the quality of animal studies, to fully integrate the three Rs, and to make systematic reviews more feasible. Altern Lab Anim 38: 167–182

Kilkenny C, Browne WJ, Cuthill IC, Emerson M, Altman DG. (2013) Improving bioscience research reporting: The arrive guidelines for reporting animal research. Animals 4: 35–44

National Research Council (2011) Guidance for the description of animal research in scientific publications . Washington, DC: National Academies Press

National Institutes of Health (2015) Principles and Guidelines for Reporting Preclinical Research. http://www.nih.gov/about/reporting-preclinical-research.htm

Editorial (2013) Announcement: Reducing our irreproducibility. Nature 496: 398–398

Pulverer B (2014) Transparent, reproducible data. EMBO J 33: 2597

Reporting guidelines for research with animals

The first specific guidance on reporting “animals and husbandry methods” was published in 1985 (see Sidebar A for an overview on animal reporting guidelines). In 1997, Michael Festing and colleagues published a checklist based on a workshop of journal editors discussing how to review manuscripts on studies involving live animals. More recently, the Institute for Laboratory Animal Research's (ILAR) Guidance for the description of animal research in scientific publications describes what should be reported in the Methods section of a research paper. Festing and Altman's guidelines adopt an alternative approach that emphasizes the importance of experimental design and statistical analysis in promoting efficient and humane animal‐based research, including addressing ethical concerns; minimizing waste, particularly of animal lives; and enabling extraction and subsequent reporting of useful information. Alfaro also focused on the practice of scientifically and ethically acceptable research, but for the first time consolidated the different pieces into the standard IMRAD (Introduction, Methods, Results and Discussion) structure of manuscripts to improve implementation. By 2008, a number of collaborative efforts focused on minimum information reporting guidelines to improve the quality of research articles over a wide range of experimental designs and analytical techniques, with and without animal experimentation. To bring these efforts together, the Minimum Information for Biological and Biomedical Investigations (MIBBI) project was launched to collate all the reporting guidelines and devise a standard protocol for their development so that they are compatible with each other ( http://www.fairsharing.org ).

… the HARRP could be used as an easily translatable minimum standard, upon which a more structured framework could be built.

In 2009, Nikki Osborne and colleagues reported that only 53% of journals publishing research involving animal experiments had an editorial policy or guidelines on reporting ( Sidebar A ). Most of these policies added little or no value in terms of the quality of information reported: many just included the word “animal” or requested that research conforms to legal standards. Thus, in the 20 or more years since the first guidelines were published, implementation was still lagging. A survey by Kilkenny and colleagues looking at how experimental design and statistical analysis were reported in published biomedical research involving animal use, identified a number of quality and reporting issues—that had been discussed since 1997—reinforcing the fact that nothing had changed.

Carlijn Hooijmans and colleagues identified the poor quality of animal research reporting as a critical factor impeding clinical researchers from systematically reviewing preclinical animal research‐derived data ( Sidebar A ). To improve the translatability of preclinical or basic studies as a basis for clinical trials, the “Gold Standard Publication Checklist” was published to make systematic reviews and meta‐analysis of animal studies more practical while promoting greater implementation of the 3Rs (reduce, refine and replace) principles of humane experimental technique 1 . This was quickly followed by the “Animals in Research: Reporting In Vivo Experiments” (ARRIVE) guidelines, the focus of which was to maximize the usefulness of published research. The ARRIVE guidelines, the result of the work of an expert group of scientists, statisticians, journal editors and research funders, are based upon the CONSORT statement for reporting randomized controlled clinical trials 2 . Again, it was thought that a standard reporting format would help to facilitate their implementation; however, despite being endorsed by more than 1,000 journals, their implementation and enforcement remain challenging 3 and a review is currently underway to determine the impact ARRIVE has had on animal research reporting to date ( https://ecrf1.clinicaltrials.ed.ac.uk/iicarus ).

Given the great variation in the level of awareness and implementation by the research community and journals of the three main animal research reporting standards (the Gold Standard Publication Checklist, the ARRIVE guidelines and ILAR's Guidance on the Description of Animal Research in Scientific Publications), ICLAS attempted to further harmonize animal research reporting guidelines. Representatives of the groups with guidelines and additional experts in research reporting were invited to participate in a “Working Group to Harmonize the Reporting of Animal Research”, charged with identifying key principles consistent across each guidance document for developers of health research reporting guidelines 4 and data synthesis methods 5 .

Soon after the working group commenced, the participants of a meeting held at the US National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS) in June 2012 called for “transparent reporting to optimize the predictive value of preclinical research” and proposed “a core set of reporting standards for rigorous study design”. Shortly thereafter, the Nature Publishing group announced the introduction of their own checklist to improve the reproducibility and reporting standards of research published in their journals. Similarly, EMBO Press published its own checklist to standardize the reporting of key information so as to support re‐analysis and repetition of experiments by the scientific community. These are consistent with another NIH initiative based on a 2014 meeting between funders and journals resulting in the “Principles and Guidelines for Reporting Preclinical Research” ( Sidebar A ).

The work of the ICLAS working group has resulted in eight harmonized animal research reporting principles (HARRP; see Boxes 1 and 2 ), based on a comparative analysis of the ARRIVE guidelines, the GSPC and the ILAR Guidance, with further development following a process similar to that of the CONSORT standards for reporting clinical trials 2 , 4 , 5 . Six of the key principles were agreed upon: ethics; background and objectives; study design; animal details; experimental protocol; and details of housing/husbandry and research environment. These principles along with a comment form and background letter were then submitted to 11 journal editors for comments. Based on the feedback from 13 editors (some of the editors contacted originally passed the email along to additional colleagues), the reporting principles were updated to include: “conflict of interests” and “data availability”.

Box 1: Animal research reporting principles

Ethics: Confirmation that an ethical review was conducted prior to the research being conducted must be mandatory in all publications where animals are used in research.
Funding and conflict of interests: Funding sources for animal‐based research and conflict of interest for any of the authors named in the publication must be reported.
Background and scientific objectives: For animal research, there must be sufficient scientific background to explain the rationale for the experimental approach, and a clear explanation of how and why the particular animal species and model are the most appropriate to address the scientific objectives.
Study design: All published animal studies must include sufficient detail to facilitate critical review of the methods and results presented.
Animal subjects: The source and details of animal subjects in research as well as the experimental characteristics that are monitored and recorded for the purposes of the study must be included in publications.
Experimental protocols: Details of experimental protocols must be reported and should include details of any procedures and materials related to the humane treatment and welfare of the animals.
Housing, husbandry and research environment: Housing, husbandry and all other non‐experimental research environmental factors related to animal‐based research must be reported.
Data availability: All animal‐derived in vitro or ex vivo data must be made available.

Box 2: HARRP in practice

a clear statement indicating that all animal use in the study received prior approval;
the name and location of the ethics review board(s) that approved the study;
all national, local and/or international regulations and guidelines that the study has complied with or has specific exemption from; and
all license, permit and protocol identifiers associated with the approvals.
the name of all sources of funding and other support;
the identifiers for all funding/support sources (e.g. grant code or equivalent);
the role of all funders/support in the study; and
a conflict of interest statement for all authors.
a description of the scientific background and rationale;
a description and justification of both the animal species and model;
an explanation of the expected findings’ generalizability or translation; and
the scientific hypotheses/objectives and all outcomes (primary and secondary).
the total number of animals and how the sample size was estimated (e.g. sample size calculation);
the number of experimental and control groups for all experiments including the total (absolute) number of animals in each of these groups;
the methods used to reduce bias when assigning animals to groups (randomization, allocation concealment and/or others) as well as how the personnel were blinded during the conduct of the study and assessment of results;
a description of the experimental unit and any inclusion/exclusion criteria; and
a description of each statistical test used including the unit of analysis and an explanation for why any data were excluded.
the species;
age (mean/median + range);
weight (mean/median + range);
international genetic nomenclature;
the source of the animals;
health status; and
the baseline age (mean/median + range) and weight (mean/median + range) for all groups.
the drug/vehicle formulation, doses, site, route of administration, the frequency including the time between and order of doses as well as the time between dose and sampling;
all use of anesthesia and analgesia including doses, site and route of administration;
all surgical procedures, including equipment and all monitoring procedures;
the method of euthanasia including, if applicable, the dose, site and route of administration;
all materials and equipment used including vendor and catalogue numbers or equivalent; and
adverse events during all stages of the experiment, for all groups.
the type of facility;
the type of housing and cage including the bedding material;
the number of animals per cage:
light/dark cycle;
temperature;
type of food and access to food; and
any environmental enrichment. These items should be reported for housing prior to the experiment and anytime that animals are returned to housing during the experiment (e.g. after surgery but prior to treatment).
all data be available (when legally and ethically appropriate) for review and analysis either during or after the publication; and
data be deposited into a public repository and linked (e.g. identification number in database and doi of published manuscript) to ensure data can be located.

The eight principles are listed in Box 1 , while Box 2 provides the essential reporting elements of each. If applied together, these should provide all interested parties with sufficient detail about the reproducibility and translatability of data, as well as the validity of the conclusions. This, in turn, has the potential to influence how research using animals is conducted globally, given that many researchers rely on publications to keep up to date with current research protocols, techniques and models. The HARRP incorporate and support the implementation of existing reporting standards as illustrated in Box 2 and build upon the ICLAS Ethical Guidelines for Researchers, Editors and Reviewers ( http://iclas.org/committees/ethics-and-animal-welfare-committee ).

There are now so many reporting guidelines that it is possible authors simply do not know which ones apply or when, and so they comply with none.

One of the criticisms of existing reporting standards is that they are written in technical language and written in English, which is not the primary language of many scientists. The HARRP, therefore, use non‐technical language to ensure that all parties involved understand which information must be clearly communicated in the Abstract, Introduction, Methods and Discussion sections. This aids transparency and could simplify translation of the principles into other languages—if any of the parties involved in the publication process does not fully understand the requirements of the reporting standards, it becomes difficult to make a meaningful assessment of whether papers are compliant. In areas of the world that lack regulation or a local framework governing the use of animals in research 6 , the HARRP could be used as an easily translatable minimum standard, upon which a more structured framework could be built.

Another common criticism is that the exact detail of what should be reported varies between research disciplines and/or experimental design. The HARRP represent a first attempt to harmonize reporting across all research fields that depend on the use of animals, including preclinical research, fundamental biomedical research, toxicology and regulatory studies, wildlife studies and field work, agricultural research and veterinary studies. For this reason, the principles are not intended to replace or supersede the more detailed guidelines already in existence, but to weave these together to improve reporting in individual disciplines. By identifying the underlying concerns and utilizing common themes, the HARRP should provide all stakeholders (journals, databases, conferences, funders, researchers, research institutes, plus scientific and publishing bodies) with a reporting standard that is simple to implement.

The experience from the CONSORT guidelines for clinical trial studies tells us that the unilateral adoption of a reporting standard by a significant number of journals can greatly help implementation by limiting the ability of authors to bypass such efforts through their choice of journal 7 . ICLAS believes that the HARRP provide such a solution by defining the minimum reporting standards for animal‐based research. Given the evidence that efforts to implement reporting standards, such as the ARRIVE guidelines, are falling short of achieving their intent 3 , the introduction of an aggregator minimum standard communicates to the research community and the public alike the benefits to improving animal research reporting in terms of reproducibility and reliability of animal studies. The availability of primary data allows the results to be included in secondary analyses, which maximizes the value from animals used in the research and potentially reduces their use in future experiments. It would also provide insurance against data loss, hardware/software malfunctions or out‐of‐contact authors. Thus, the HARRP communicate a non‐negotiable expectation that the standard of reporting for all animal‐based research must improve.

The number of papers reporting flaws in experimental design and limitations of animal models underline a need to better disseminate information about experimental protocols so that the whole research community can learn from it. Reporting of the study design is fundamental for ensuring valid and reproducible results. Reporting how the research was conducted depends on details of all procedures and materials to facilitate retrospective review of the protocol and, if necessary, inform changes to future studies. Details of experimental protocols can vary greatly but are all relevant for replication. Furthermore, housing, husbandry and other non‐experimental factors should be reported, because they are known to vary between laboratories and even within laboratories over time. As these factors may influence research results, they are equally important for interpreting individual or multiple studies.

Additionally, authors need to take reporting standards into account when planning and conducting their experiments; otherwise, it will require additional effort to provide the level of detail required. To address this point, the HARRP focus on a level of reporting consistent with legal minimum standards (where available) and generally accepted good practice for laboratory animal scientists. There should be nothing preventing authors working in countries that have established research frameworks from fulfilling and reporting these basic requirements.

Consistent with its aims to improve the quality of animal‐based research, ICLAS’ goal is to support all stakeholders, not just those in middle‐ to high‐income countries, to improve both the conduct and reporting of ethical animal‐based research. We are, therefore, keen to explore ways in which we can support the dissemination of the HARRP into countries where research is undertaken in the absence of specific regulatory, scientific or ethical guidelines or policies. Such an approach would provide a mechanism by which reporting standards could not only influence global standards of the treatment of laboratory animals, but also address the volume of poorly conducted or unethical research published in journals with substandard or absent review processes 8 .

Scientists’ awareness of initiatives that aim to change cultural and behavioural aspects, such as those promoting data sharing as well as research reporting standards, is difficult to measure and may be complicated by other factors. There are now so many reporting guidelines that it is possible that authors simply do not know which ones apply or when, and so they comply with none. If authors do not recognize flaws with their own experimental design and analysis that reporting guidelines are designed to highlight, then the issues are compounded further. Thus, awareness needs to be tackled collectively through ongoing education and training to support researchers at all stages of their career and to educate them about pitfalls and how to avoid them in their own work 8 .

Clinical field studies have shown that education in systematic reviews creates a quality awareness of all steps of the research process, inducing a motivation to improve performance of future research. At present, systematic reviews of animal studies are not easy to perform, because published reports often contain insufficient technical detail or are of insufficient quality to make the conduct of a meaningful review possible. Attention placed on good experimental design, encouraged through the need to report HARRP details, should mean that any future animal studies are properly reported so that data can be used in meta‐analyses. Any use of animals, such as protocol development, pilot studies, as a source of biological materials, or as “reagents” for in vitro studies should be reported. This is critical to ensuring that animals used are not wasted, that animal studies are not unnecessarily duplicated due to underreporting of research and that research can be repeated or verified if required 9 .

These concepts were supported by delegates of the eighth World Congress on Alternatives and Animal Use in the Life Sciences held in 2011, who adopted the Montréal Declaration on the Synthesis of Evidence to Advance the Principles of the 3Rs in Science 10 —calling for a change in planning, executing, reporting, reviewing and translating animal research. Funders can provide financial support to set up and maintain required resources, be that infrastructure, systems or education and training. They can also, as many already do, set out clear expectations regarding good practice as a condition of funding and enable the fulfilment of such expectations. Research institutions, journals, scientific and publishing societies can also ensure clear expectations regarding research reporting standards, as well as provide training opportunities. They can also work with other stakeholders to help disseminate, raise awareness of and reward good research practice.

So far, a clear strategy for identifying and addressing the real or perceived barriers within scientific cultures that continue to hinder progress in improving the use of animals in research and commensurate reporting standards has been missing. ICLAS recognizes that there is no “ideal”, one‐size‐fits‐all solution and stakeholders around the globe will need to tackle their own unique combination of issues relating to the culture and practice of scientific research. An immediate and unilateral worldwide commitment by all stakeholders to enforce the HARRP could provide the momentum to improve the practice and reporting of animal research and ultimately fulfil contemporary best practice reporting standards such as NIHPGRPR and ARRIVE.

[The copyright line of this article was changed on 3 September 2018 after original online publication.]

Open access
Published: 14 July 2020

The ARRIVE guidelines 2.0: Updated guidelines for reporting animal research

Nathalie Percie du Sert 1 ,
Viki Hurst 1 ,
Amrita Ahluwalia 2 , 3 ,
Sabina Alam 4 ,
Marc T. Avey 5 ,
Monya Baker 6 ,
William J. Browne 7 ,
Alejandra Clark 8 ,
Innes C. Cuthill 9 ,
Ulrich Dirnagl 10 ,
Michael Emerson 11 ,
Paul Garner 12 ,
Stephen T. Holgate 13 ,
David W. Howells 14 ,
Natasha A. Karp 15 ,
Stanley E. Lazic 16 ,
Katie Lidster 17 ,
Catriona J. MacCallum 18 ,
Malcolm Macleod 19 ,
Esther J. Pearl 1 ,
Ole H. Petersen 20 ,
Frances Rawle 21 ,
Penny Reynolds 22 ,
Kieron Rooney 23 ,
Emily S. Sena 19 ,
Shai D. Silberberg 24 ,
Thomas Steckler 25 &
Hanno Würbel 26

BMC Veterinary Research volume 16 , Article number: 242 ( 2020 ) Cite this article

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Reproducible science requires transparent reporting. The ARRIVE guidelines (Animal Research: Reporting of In Vivo Experiments) were originally developed in 2010 to improve the reporting of animal research. They consist of a checklist of information to include in publications describing in vivo experiments to enable others to scrutinise the work adequately, evaluate its methodological rigour, and reproduce the methods and results. Despite considerable levels of endorsement by funders and journals over the years, adherence to the guidelines has been inconsistent, and the anticipated improvements in the quality of reporting in animal research publications have not been achieved. Here, we introduce ARRIVE 2.0. The guidelines have been updated and information reorganised to facilitate their use in practice. We used a Delphi exercise to prioritise and divide the items of the guidelines into 2 sets, the “ARRIVE Essential 10,” which constitutes the minimum requirement, and the “Recommended Set,” which describes the research context. This division facilitates improved reporting of animal research by supporting a stepwise approach to implementation. This helps journal editors and reviewers verify that the most important items are being reported in manuscripts. We have also developed the accompanying Explanation and Elaboration document, which serves (1) to explain the rationale behind each item in the guidelines, (2) to clarify key concepts, and (3) to provide illustrative examples. We aim, through these changes, to help ensure that researchers, reviewers, and journal editors are better equipped to improve the rigour and transparency of the scientific process and thus reproducibility.

Why good reporting is important

Transparent reporting of research methods and findings is an essential component of reproducibility. Without this, the methodological rigour of the studies cannot be adequately scrutinised, the reliability of the findings cannot be assessed, and the work cannot be repeated or built upon by others. Despite the development of specific reporting guidelines for preclinical and clinical research, evidence suggests that scientific publications often lack key information and that there continues to be considerable scope for improvement [ 11 , 12 , 13 , 14 , 15 , 16 , 17 , 18 ]. Animal research is a good case in point, where poor reporting impacts on the development of therapeutics and irreproducible findings can spawn an entire field of research, or trigger clinical studies, subjecting patients to interventions unlikely to be effective [ 2 , 19 , 20 ].

In an attempt to improve the reporting of animal research, the ARRIVE guidelines (Animal Research: Reporting of In Vivo Experiments) were published in 2010. The guidelines consist of a checklist of the items that should be included in any manuscript that reports in vivo experiments, to ensure a comprehensive and transparent description [ 21 , 22 , 23 , 24 , 25 , 26 , 27 , 28 , 29 , 30 ]. They apply to any area of research using live animal species and are especially pertinent to describe comparative research in the laboratory or other formal test setting. The guidelines are also relevant in a wider context, for example, for observational research, studies conducted in the field, and where animal tissues are used. In the 10 years since publication, the ARRIVE guidelines have been endorsed by more than a thousand journals from across the life sciences. Endorsement typically includes advocating their use in guidance to authors and reviewers. However, despite this level of support, recent studies have shown that important information as set out in the ARRIVE guidelines is still missing from most publications sampled. This includes details on randomisation (reported in only 30–40% of publications), blinding (reported in only approximately 20% of publications), sample size justification (reported in less than 10% of publications), and animal characteristics (all basic characteristics reported in less than 10% of publications) [ 11 , 31 , 32 ].

Evidence suggests that 2 main factors limit the impact of the ARRIVE guidelines. The first is the extent to which editorial and journal staff are actively involved in enforcing reporting standards. This is illustrated by a randomised controlled trial at PLOS ONE , designed to test the effect of requesting a completed ARRIVE checklist in the manuscript submission process. This single editorial intervention, which did not include further verification from journal staff, failed to improve the disclosure of information in published papers [ 33 ]. In contrast, other studies using shorter checklists (primarily focused on experimental design) with more editorial follow-up have shown a marked improvement in the nature and detail of the information included in publications [ 34 , 35 , 36 ]. It is likely that the level of resource required from journals and editors currently prohibits the implementation of all the items of the ARRIVE guidelines.

The second issue is that researchers and other individuals and organisations responsible for the integrity of the research process are not sufficiently aware of the consequences of incomplete reporting. There is some evidence that awareness of ARRIVE is linked to the use of more rigorous experimental design standards [ 37 ]; however, researchers are often unfamiliar with the much larger systemic bias in the publication of research and in the reliability of certain findings and even of entire fields [ 33 , 38 , 39 , 40 ]. This lack of understanding affects how experiments are designed and grant proposals prepared, how animals are used and data recorded in the laboratory, and how manuscripts are written by authors or assessed by journal staff, editors, and reviewers.

Introducing ARRIVE 2.0

In ARRIVE 2.0, we have improved the clarity of the guidelines, prioritised the items, added new information, and generated the accompanying Explanation and Elaboration (E&E) document to provide context and rationale for each item [ 42 ] (also available at https://www.arriveguidelines.org ). New additions comprise inclusion and exclusion criteria, which are a key aspect of data handling and prevent the ad hoc exclusion of data [ 43 ]; protocol registration, a recently emerged approach that promotes scientific rigour and encourages researchers to carefully consider the experimental design and analysis plan before any data are collected [ 44 ]; and data access, in line with the FAIR Data Principles (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, Reusable) [ 45 ]. Additional file 1 summarises the changes.

Revising the guidelines has been an extensive and collaborative effort, with input from the scientific community carefully built into the process. The revision of the ARRIVE guidelines has been undertaken by an international working group—the authors of this publication—with expertise from across the life sciences community, including funders, journal editors, statisticians, methodologists, and researchers from academia and industry. We used a Delphi exercise [ 46 ] with external stakeholders to maximise diversity in fields of expertise and geographical location, with experts from 19 countries providing feedback on each item, suggesting new items, and ranking items according to their relative importance for assessing the reliability of research findings. This ranking resulted in the prioritisation of the items of the guidelines into the 2 sets. Demographics of the Delphi panel and full methods and results are presented in Additional files 2 and 3 . Following their publication on BioRxiv, the revised guidelines and the E&E were also road tested with researchers preparing manuscripts describing in vivo studies, to ensure that these documents were well understood and useful to the intended users. This study is presented in Additional files 4 and 5 .

While reporting animal research in adherence to all 21 items of ARRIVE 2.0 represents best practice, the classification of the items into 2 groups is intended to facilitate the improved reporting of animal research by allowing an initial focus on the most critical issues. This better allows journal staff, editors, and reviewers to verify that the items have been adequately reported in manuscripts. The first step should be to ensure compliance with the ARRIVE Essential 10 as a minimum requirement. Items from the Recommended Set can then be added over time and in line with specific editorial policies until all the items are routinely reported in all manuscripts. ARRIVE 2.0 are fully compatible with and complementary to other guidelines that have been published in recent years. By providing a comprehensive set of recommendations that are specifically tailored to the description of in vivo research, they help authors reporting animal experiments adhere to the National Institutes of Health (NIH) standards [ 43 ] and the minimum standards framework and checklist (Materials, Design, Analysis and Reporting [MDAR] [ 47 ]). The revised guidelines are also in line with many journals’ policies and will assist authors in complying with information requirements on the ethical review of the research [ 48 , 49 ], data presentation and access [ 50 , 51 , 52 ], statistical methods [ 51 , 52 ], and conflicts of interest [ 53 , 54 ].

The intention of ARRIVE 2.0 is not to supersede individual journal requirements but to promote a harmonised approach across journals to ensure that all manuscripts contain the essential information needed to appraise the research. Journals usually share a common objective of improving the methodological rigour and reproducibility of the research they publish, but different journals emphasise different pieces of information [ 56 , 57 , 58 ]. Here, we propose an expert consensus on information to prioritise. This will provide clarity for authors, facilitate transfer of manuscripts between journals, and accelerate an improvement of reporting standards.

Availability of data and materials

All data and supporting information are available at https://osf.io/unc4j/ .

Abbreviations

Animal Research: Reporting of In Vivo Experiments

Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, Reusable

Explanation and Elaboration

Materials, Design, Analysis and Reporting

National Institutes of Health

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the National Centre of the Replacement, Refinement & Reduction on Animals in Research (NC3Rs, https://www.nc3rs.org.uk/ ). NPdS, KL, VH, and EJP are employees of the NC3Rs. Supporting information.

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Sabina Alam

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Contributions

NPdS: conceptualisation, data curation, formal analysis, funding acquisition, investigation, methodology, project administration, resources, supervision, visualisation, writing – original draft, writing – review and editing; VH: data curation, investigation, methodology, project administration, resources, writing – original draft, writing – review and editing; SEL, EJP: writing – review and editing; KL: investigation, project administration, writing – review and editing; AA, SA, MTA, MB, WJB, AC, ICC, UD, ME, PG, STH, DWH, NAK, CJMcC, MMcL, OHP, FR, PR, KR, ESS, SDS, TS, HW: investigation, methodology, resources, writing – original draft, writing – review and editing. The author(s) read and approved the final manuscript.

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Correspondence to Nathalie Percie du Sert .

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Competing interests.

AA: editor in chief of the British Journal of Pharmacology. WJB, ICC and ME: authors of the original ARRIVE guidelines. WJB: serves on the Independent Statistical Standing Committee of the funder CHDI foundation. AC: Senior Editor, PLOS ONE. AC, CJM, MMcL and ESS: involved in the IICARus trial. ME, MMcL and ESS: have received funding from NC3Rs. ME: sits on the MRC ERPIC panel. STH: chair of the NC3Rs board, trusteeship of the BLF, Kennedy Trust, DSRU and CRUK, member of Governing Board, Nuffield Council of Bioethics, member Science Panel for Health (EU H2020), founder and NEB Director Synairgen, consultant Novartis, Teva and AZ, chair MRC/GSK EMINENT Collaboration. VH, KL, EJP and NPdS: NC3Rs staff, role includes promoting the ARRIVE guidelines. SEL and UD: on the advisory board of the UK Reproducibility Network, CJMcC: shareholdings in Hindawi, on the publishing board of the Royal Society, on the EU Open Science policy platform. UD, MMcL, NPdS, CJMcC, ESS, TS and HW: members of EQIPD. MMcL: member of the Animals in Science Committee, on the steering group of the UK Reproducibility Network. NPdS and TS: associate editors of BMJ Open Science. OHP: vice president of Academia Europaea, editor in chief of Function, senior executive editor of the Journal of Physiology, member of the Board of the European Commission’s SAPEA (Science Advice for Policy by European Academies). FR: NC3Rs board member, shareholdings in GSK. FR and NAK: shareholdings in AstraZeneca. PR: member of the University of Florida Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee, editorial board member of Shock. ESS: editor in chief of BMJ Open Science. SDS: role is to provide expertise and does not represent the opinion of the NIH. TS: shareholdings in Johnson & Johnson. SA, MTA, MB, PG, DWH, and KR declared no conflict of interest.

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Supplementary information

Additional file 1..

Noteworthy changes in ARRIVE 2.0. This table recapitulates noteworthy changes in the ARRIVE guidelines 2.0, compared to the original ARRIVE guidelines published in 2010.

Additional file 2.

Delphi methods and results. Methodology and results of the Delphi study that was used to prioritise the items of the guidelines into the ARRIVE Essential 10 and Recommended Set.

Additional file 3.

Delphi data. Tabs 1, 2, and 3: Panel members’ scores for each of the ARRIVE items during rounds 1, 2, and 3, along with descriptive statistics. Tab. 4: Qualitative feedback, collected from panel members during round 1, on the importance and the wording of each item. Tab. 5: Additional items suggested for consideration in ARRIVE 2.0; similar suggestions were grouped together before processing. Tab. 6: Justifications provided by panel members for changing an item’s score between round 1 and round 2.

Additional file 4.

Road testing methods and results. Methodology used to road test the revised ARRIVE guidelines and E&E (as published in preprint) and how this information was used in the development of ARRIVE 2.0.

Additional file 5.

Road testing data. Tab 1: Participants’ demographics and general feedback on the guidelines and the E&E preprints. Tab 2: Outcome of each manuscript’s assessment and justifications provided by participants for not including information covered in the ARRIVE guidelines.

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Percie du Sert, N., Hurst, V., Ahluwalia, A. et al. The ARRIVE guidelines 2.0: Updated guidelines for reporting animal research. BMC Vet Res 16 , 242 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12917-020-02451-y

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Animal Research Reports

Teaching students about animal research reports is one of my favorite writing units! It’s the perfect combination of nonfiction reading and informational writing – all in one perfect unit of study!

I’ve got so much to share with you that I’m splitting this into two posts! You can find part two here !

How I Teach Animal Research in first and second grade

Getting Started with Animal Research Reports

To begin, I try to teach nonfiction text features and research writing at the same time. It’s also perfect for reviewing main idea and details in informational texts.

First, I choose an animal that I think my students will enjoy learning about as our whole group focus. I collect as many books and articles on this animal to use during whole group mini-lessons.

When I introduce this to my students for the first time, we start a KWL chart. I make a big anchor chart sized KWL chart, and my students begin their own chart in a research booklet that they’ll use throughout the unit.

ocean animal research booklets for sea turtles and octopuses

As we research, students write the facts learned in a little research booklet. These booklets help students keep track of all of the things they’ve learned. Especially with students who are just beginning to learn how to research, these booklets are extremely helpful.

Once we’ve studied and completed one animal research booklet together, I let students choose a different animal to try on their own!

I love these tabbed booklets because they are extremely helpful in getting students to write MULTIPLE, FOCUSED paragraphs. Students can take each section of the research booklet and turn it into a paragraph. By the end, they have 3-4 focused paragraphs, instead of one giant paragraph with a bunch of random facts.

I suggest pre-selecting 4-7 animals that your students can choose from. I have booklets made for polar animals, desert animals, rainforest animals, grassland animals, and ocean animals!

Why not grab a FREE polar bear research book to try with your students? Click the image below to get this FREE digital + printable booklet !

You can read more animal research tips in my part two blog post ! I’ll show you how to use envelopes and index cards to teach students how to research! It’s a great way to teach elementary students how to research!

Read more about: ELA

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Leave your email to access FREE weekly spiral math review, problem of the day, and daily word problems for 1st & 2nd grade!

Animal Report Printable for a Fun & Engaging Study

Sharing is caring!

Learning about animals, research and writing this week with our FREE Animal Report printable.

We are in the midst of studying endangered animals. Last week, I shared how we were learning about tigers . This week, we are continuing our study by discussing what animals, in general, eat and how they survive in the wild.

Our #Animal Report #printable for K-6 elementary grades has room for lots of fun information that can be written in or drawn. Engaging for all skill and grade levels. Journaling helps children remember information more effectively. Give this a try today--it's totally free! #homeschool #science

We especially are interested in our backyard animals during winter. Here is the information we are learning about animals in winter .

Every winter we participate in the Backyard Bird Count . In addition, we watch the behavior of the deer, foxes, and squirrels in our immediate area. We pay attention to feeding habits, markings, even signs of disease. In the past, we’ve noticed eye issues in birds and big, bare spots on squirrels. Winter is a good time to really watch animals and their behavior since we aren’t outside as much gardening, riding bikes, taking long hikes, or doing yard work.

Once you and your student read the information below, select an animal or two to research. Organize information into a report form using the animal report printable we have created.

The animal report printabl e below is a great tool for younger learners. They can use it to know what kind of questions they should be answering in an animal report. It will help them dig deeper in their research. Depending on the age, you can have the child answer in complete sentences or just a few lines. Older students can use this form as a start to a larger report or use many of these to record basic information about a larger number of animals.

Let us know where to send the printable by entering your email below. We will add you to our email list, but promise not to spam you! Then check out our list of animal resources below.

Use Our Animal Report Printable with Some of These Resources

Study birds – over 60 pages of worksheets.
Tiger information in our Are Tigers Endangered post .
70+ Resources for Studying Horses
Why Is the Rusty Bumble Bee Important – Never heard of this bee? Check it out!
B Benefits of Insects – With a free printable

I hold a master’s degree in child development and early education and am working on a post-baccalaureate in biology. I spent 15 years working for a biotechnology company developing IT systems in DNA testing laboratories across the US. I taught K4 in a private school, homeschooled my children, and have taught on the mission field in southern Asia. For 4 years, I served on our state’s FIRST Lego League tournament Board and served as the Judging Director. I own thehomeschoolscientist and also write a regular science column for Homeschooling Today Magazine. You’ll also find my writings on the CTCMath blog. Through this site, I have authored over 50 math and science resources.

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Writing an Animal Report: Mini Lessons to Teach

Science , writing

Spring is the perfect time to teach animal report writing! By this time of the year, students are reading and writing a bit more independently and are ready for a challenge. Writing an animal report is perfect for their first experience with how to do research. Today, I’m sharing some big ideas we want students to learn about conducting research and some mini lessons to teach in your primary classroom.

Animal Reports: Key Ideas to Teach

Whether you are researching animals, or another topic, there are some key concepts we want students to learn. These will help build a solid foundation for report writing in older grades.

You don’t have to read the entire book to do research.
You need to write in your own words.
You need to give credit to your information sources.

Model, Model, Model!

I am a HUGE believer in modeling! As a primary teacher, you are constantly teaching new content and processes that your students have never experienced before. Modeling the steps along the way is SO important for your emergent readers!

I always liked to have my own animal to research and write about. Webs make the perfect way for students to research and take notes. Each day, I would teach a minilesson and model completing one section of the web. When it is time to write the report, we would write about one section of the web each day and add our matching illustrations. This project would typically take us about 2-3 weeks of our writing block.

Are you looking for more writing tips? Check out this post for tips for teaching first grade writing .

Writing an Animal Report: 6 Mini Lessons to Teach

Animal research web and table of contents.

Mini Lessons for Finding Information Quickly

We want our students to be able to find their information quickly! Often, primary students will just begin reading the entire book. Use these mini lessons to help them learn to find information quickly.

Mini Lesson: How to use the Table of Contents to find specific information quickly.

Show the students a book with a table of contents about your animal. Give students the term “Table of Contents” and how it can quickly help us find information. Read through the table of contents. Ask questions such as, “Which section should I go to to learn about what my animal eats?” Then go to that section, and record information on your web.

Mini Lesson: Using illustrations and their captions to learn new information.

Many of our emergent readers are not going to be able to fluently read all of a text yet. This is a great strategy to help them see how they can quickly find information.

Teach your students how to look at captions while researching their animal.

Mini Lessons for Writing in Your Own Words

Learning to write in our own words and not copying too much is a tricky skill- but SO important for our students to learn! With some good modeling and structure, we can lay a good foundation for this skill.

Mini Lesson: Write only the important words on your web- don’t write the whole sentence.

Model for students how to only write 1-3 words per piece of information found. This will help them when they are writing to put the information into their own words and not copy from their information sources.

Mini Lesson: Webs completed first- then writing on another day.

Students complete their animal research web with short phrases.

Step one of the animal report writing process is completing their webs. Don’t hand out the writing pages, until student webs are complete. Talk with students about the “why”. Teach them we want to take our notes first, then give our minds a break before we begin writing.

Mini Lesson: Webs only when writing- books put away!

Now that webs are completed, it is time to begin the writing process! Students are going to use their notes to begin writing sentences about their animals. If your students are ready for it, teach them how to write topic sentences to begin their writing. Talk about how we have finished our research, now the books we used should be completely put away. If you checked out books from the library, return them before they begin writing.

Now students use their graphic organizer to write their animal report.

Mini Lesson (Advanced): Keep a list of books/websites you have read and used for your animal report writing.

It’s important to teach kids from a young age about citing sources. While primary students are not ready to fully understand this process, they can understand keeping a list of the resources you used for your research. You can download this free bibliography page for your students to use to keep track of their research.

Teach students to keep track of the books they used for their research project with this simple bibliography.

If this task is too tedious for your young learners, consider having them take photographs of the books they used and uploading them to a digital document.

Ready to Use Animal Webs and Report Booklets

If you love the idea of teaching your students to write animal reports. I have a set of ready to use webs and mini books to help! It includes materials for 44 different animals! You can also edit the web categories and report headings to customize the project to your students’ needs.

My first animal report includes webs and mini books to research 44 animals.

Hi, I’m Jaymie! Thanks for stopping by my blog. I taught for 17 years including 12 years in First Grade, 4 years as a Reading Interventionist, and 1 year in Pre-K.

I have a passion for creating rigorous, easy to use primary resources that require little or no prep! I hope you find some easy ideas to take back to your classroom or use in your homeschool!

Children learn about 6 animal habitats with these fun project ideas!

Animal Habitats Project Ideas

Engage your young scientists with these animal habitats project ideas! Learn about creating lapbooks for learning.

Blog post of activities for teaching about the Arctic and the animals that live there.

Engaging Arctic Animals Printables

Your students will love learning about Arctic animals with these quick and easy printable projects!

Zoo Field Trip Activities

Are you planning a field trip to the zoo? Here are some activities for before, during, and after your trip.

5 Ways to Use Reading Response Journals in 1st Grade

A reading response journal is a great way to work on reading comprehension skills as students write about the books they have read or listened to. This post shares five ways to use reader response notebooks in your first-grade classroom.

A blog post about using sentence writing worksheets to practice adding descriptive words to sentences.

Sentence Writing Worksheets to Practice Revising

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Animal Research Report Poster

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ANIMAL RESEARCH REPORT PRINTABLES

This download includes an Animal Research Report Poster for your students to complete with information and illustrations. It also includes differentiated writing templates for an animal research report.

This page is best when used along with my Animal Diorama and Research Report Project Pack and Animal Habitats Unit!

This FREE resource includes:

Animal Research Mini Poster Printable
Animal Research Report Template
Animal Research Report writing page

ANIMAL DIORAMA AND RESEARCH REPORT ~ PROJECT PACK

ANIMAL HABITATS UNIT

TEACHERS LIKE YOU SAID…

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Becky S. says, "I have the students do a culminating activity on animals and habitats in science class in the spring and this was a great resource for teaching them how to begin to write an informational paper on their animal. Easy steps to follow and ability to tailor the graphic organizers to students needs. Super resource for teachers."

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Sherri R. says, "Students love researching animals. This template gave them an organized way to keep up with the purpose for reading--for all levels of readers in first grade. Highly recommend! "

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Tiffany M. says, "This was a great beginning introduction into Research for my daughter. She had no experience with research and with this tool, she took it upon herself to research several animals. I am grateful for a tool that gave her enough confidence to do the work on her own."

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What Animal Studies Are Revealing About Their Minds—and Ours

N ever underestimate the mind of a crow. Members of a family of birds that includes ravens, rooks, magpies, and jays, crows have been known to bend wire into hooks to retrieve food; drop nuts in a road so passing cars will crack them open; and recognize humans who have posed a threat, harassing them on-sight even months after their first encounter. But some of the smartest crows of all may be found in the animal physiology lab at the University of Tübingen in Germany. It’s there that the birds are mastering a skill you couldn’t manage until you were up to 4 years old: counting.

In a new study published in Science , researchers trained three crows to emit one to four caws in response to seeing the numbers 1, 2, 3, or 4 projected on a screen. The birds also learned to count out the proper number of vocalizations when cued by sounds, with a guitar chord eliciting a single caw, a cash register eliciting two, a drum roll signaling three, and a frequency sweep calling for four. In doing so, the birds matched or beat the numeracy skills of human children who often don’t master rudimentary counting until kindergarten.

Says animal physiologist and study co-author Andreas Nieder : “When faced with a set of three objects and asked, ‘How many?’ toddlers recite the speech sounds ‘one, two, three’ or even ‘one, one, one.’ We show that crows have the ability to count vocally [too].”

And crows aren’t the only creatures that understand simple math. Similar skills have been observed in studies of comparatively intelligent animals including gorillas, dolphins, elephants, the rhesus macaque, and the squirrel and capuchin monkeys. Even the less-clever rat can fathom basic arithmetic, with a recent study in Science Advances showing that the animals can be trained to hear two or three tones and then press a button corresponding to one number or the other. The learning didn’t come easy: It took two months for the rats to make that distinction, but it was the fact that they could do it at all—not that they were slow on the uptake—that was the true news.

The last few months alone have been something of a boom time for research into the intelligence and behavior of animals. German researchers discovered a sort of pre-verbal stage in finches —similar to the babbling stage in humans—that leads to their becoming fluent in song. Studies in Sweden and Vienna explored the role of play among barnyard chicks and a species of falcon. French researchers studied advanced use of sticks as tools in chimps , and other work in the U.S. made similar findings among otters . And perhaps most remarkably, researchers in Indonesia published a study about a wild orangutan, nicknamed Rakus by the scientists, that was observed chewing the leaves of a plant with known medicinal and analgesic properties and applying the resulting pulp to a wound on its face.

“It may be that Rakus learned this behavior from other animals in his birth area,” says lead author and animal behaviorist Isabelle Laumer of the Max Planck Institute in Germany. It is also possible that he came upon the discovery on his own, she says, accidentally applying the plant juice to himself by touching his wound while feeding on the leaves. “Rakus may have felt immediate pain release, causing him to repeat the behavior several times and subsequently apply solid plant matter,” adds Laumer.

All of these studies and more have implications not just for our understanding of animals, but for our understanding of ourselves, as creatures with often-similar brain structures. In one European study , researchers pinpointed twin regions in the human brain that allow us to recognize emotions in other people’s faces, and found corresponding regions in the brains of mice, raising the possibility that one of our most sophisticated traits—our ability to read the minds and moods of others—might be distributed throughout the animal kingdom.

“These evolutionarily conserved mechanisms should be common in most mammals,” says Francesco Papaleo, senior researcher at the Instituto Italiano de Tecnologia in Genoa, Italy, and a co-author of the study. “Properly recognizing and appropriately responding to altered emotions in others is essential for survival.”

The play is the thing

Of all of the recent research, it is the studies that explore play that illustrate the most engagingly ingenuous side of animals. Domestic chickens may be nobody’s idea of a personable species, but a May study in Frontiers of Ethology observed extensive play behavior in young hatchlings, especially males. Investigators raised the chicks in relatively spartan cages and then periodically transferred them to playpen areas with other chicks, aged from 6 to 53 days. In the presence of the rest of the flock, the males engaged in a wide range of play behaviors—all in sight of females—including frolicking, wing-flapping, jumping, and sparring. When the researchers introduced a rubber worm into the pens, the nearest male would pick it up and scurry around with it. Known in the wild as worm-running or tidbitting, the behavior, which can involve other forms of food as well, is an apparent display for the benefit of the females—a means of impressing them with the male’s resource-gathering skills.

“We still don’t know the adaptive function of play for any species,” said Per Jensen, professor of ethology at Linköping University in Sweden and a co-author of the study, in a statement. “However the present study indicates that a possible function is to prepare animals for specific challenges they may encounter later in life. In a species like the chicken, where only males compete for territories, it makes sense that they engage in more social play as young.”

Falcons display similar behavior for equally practical reasons. A February study in the Journal of Raptor Research documented the Falkland Islands species known as Striated Caracaras routinely engaging in play with sheets of plastic, sea cabbage, stones, and even sheep dung. To qualify as play, animal and human behavior has to meet several criteria, including being voluntary and repeatedly performed, appearing intrinsically rewarding, and lacking apparent purpose. But appearances notwithstanding, there may be decidedly practical functions to play.

In the case of the falcons, which live in a place in which food resources are more available in some seasons than in others, playing with objects might reveal an unexpected nutrient source. “The more caracaras interact with the world around them, the more opportunities they have to learn what is food and what isn’t,” said study co-author and behavioral ecologist Katie Harrington, of the University of Veterinary Medicine in Vienna, in a statement.

Animals, including homo sapiens, also play to practice combat, hunting, mating, and territorial claims, all of which are needed later in life. “That we see play in so many different species—including humans—tells us that it’s a really important component of our behavioral repertoire,” adds Harrington in an email to TIME. “We tend to see age differences, where younger individuals play more than older individuals. Studying the diversity of play can help us learn how and why it developed to be so important.”

The canine mind

Far and away the most studied animal mind in the world may belong to the domestic dog, if only because, with 471 million pet dogs worldwide, every home becomes something of a real-time, real-world behavioral lab. Still, it is the formal, peer-reviewed research that produces the most rigorous findings, and there is no shortage of that work. In one May study published in Animal Behaviour , investigators from the University of Helsinki subjected 987 dogs to various tests of behavior and problem-solving skills, looking for the traits such as impulsiveness, persistence, independence, and willingness to turn to humans for assistance, which help dogs function better either as working animals, domestic animals, or both.

In one test , the dogs were shown a short, clear cylinder containing a treat that was accessible only by an opening at either end of the container rather than through its transparent but impenetrable middle. The fewer times a subject dog mouthed the closed part of the cylinder before turning to the open end, the higher it scored. Another, similar test placed a treat behind a clear, V-shaped wall that required the dog to detour around the barrier, rather than simply bumping up against it in an attempt to get at the reward. A third test placed a treat inside a clear, locked box that was impossible for the dog to open—measuring how persistent the animal would be before giving up and turning to a human for help. A little persistence is considered good. Too much suggests a lack of learning curve.

Rohan looks on as her owner Paula Perez holds a ball during a test at the Eotvos Lorand University in Budapest

On the whole, says Saara Junttila, doctoral researcher with the university’s faculty of veterinary medicine and lead author of the paper, dogs with lower inhibitory control were good problem solvers and excelled in working roles and in canine sports, but were less tractable and trainable in the home.

“As an example, the Belgian shepherd Malinois was one of the fastest breeds at solving the V-detour task, and this breed spent a lot of time trying to solve a problem independently rather than looking at a human. [But it] is considered to be a more challenging breed [to train],” Juntilla says. “Other breeds such as the golden retriever may be more suitable for the role of pet dog, as they turn to humans during a problem-solving situation and have higher inhibitory control.”

The findings have implications not just for canine behavior but for humans, too. Some researchers have found parallels between attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) in people and similar distractibility and impulsiveness in dogs.

“Our results do seem to indicate that ADHD-type traits occur together,” says Junttila. “We found that dogs with low inhibitory control were more impulsive, less trainable, and had higher activity levels. People with ADHD [also] often have lower inhibitory control, impaired academic success, and higher impulsivity and hyperactivity.”

Dogs and people overlap in other ways, too. In one recent study published in Biologia Futura , investigators found that dogs that had been trained to imitate human behavior—such as turning or sitting or nodding their heads—do not need the cues to be delivered only in person, but could also obey them when simply seeing an image of a person on a computer screen. The dogs were better at imitating behavior when they saw the human from a perspective with which they were familiar—from the front or the side, for example, as opposed to from above. But either way, the investigators saw significance in the ability of the animals to make the leap that a two-dimensional image was effectively equivalent to a three-dimensional person.

Says lead author Claudia Fugazza, professor of ethology at Eötvös Loránd University in Budapest: “In general, dogs seem to be able…to extract the relevant information from 2D projections and use it to act appropriately in the 3D, real life context.” The findings have meaning that go beyond canine parlor tricks, opening up the possibility of virtual human-dog communications, serving to entertain the animals and provide emotional support to human companions.

Tooling about

The ability to use even simple tools was once seen as a talent limited to humans. Research has long since upended that belief, with studies showing a range of tool use among animals, including orangutans , which create whistles out of leaves to chase away predators; dolphins , which use marine sponges to scour the seafloor and stir up prey; and even the degus , a chinchilla-like rodent, which can be taught to use small rakes to look for food. New research is now turning up insights into the talents of one of nature’s most prodigious tool-users—the otter—with findings suggesting that the female of the species outperforms the male in this sophisticated skill.

The otters’ most common tool is a rock, which the animals use to crack open abalone shells to get to the tender meat inside. In a new study in Science , researchers from the University of Texas, Austin, and elsewhere observed 196 radio-tagged sea otters off the coast of California and discovered that the animals were using other tools as well—including shells and hard trash—to break open their prey. Females generally employed a wider array of tools than males did, an innovation they arrived at by necessity, as their smaller size and somewhat weaker jaws make cracking or biting open prey harder. Not only does more sophisticated tool use spare them tooth damage that they might otherwise sustain by trying to bite prey, it also provides them greater energy needed to raise and feed pups.

Chimps too are even better at tool use than commonly understood. The animals are most famously known for their ability to use twigs stripped of leaves to fish into small openings in logs and extract termites as food. New research in PLOS Biology found that this is not a static talent, but rather one that the animals improve throughout their lives, learning to fish for the insects by age 2 or so, and steadily improving their grip and eye-hand coordination over the years.

“The most efficient grips and actions to hold and manipulate stick tools continue to develop at least until [age] 15 [and] well into adulthood,” says lead author Mathieu Malherbe, primatologist with the Max Planck Institute in Germany.

This means war

Not every new trait animals exhibit is a noble one—a fact that is borne out by a recent study of bonobos. Colloquially known as the hippie chimp, for their generally peaceable ways and their matriarchal social structure, the great ape species turns out to be a lot more aggressive than thought, at least when it comes to male-on-male violence. Writing in the journal Current Biology , researchers from Harvard University found that male bonobos actually engage in three times the amount of mano-a-mano combat than their more warlike cousin, the chimpanzee. But the reason for the difference is paradoxical.

On the whole, chimps are significantly more violent as a group than bonobos, with bands of males engaging in sometimes mortal combat with other bands over access to food, territory, and females. This makes it essential that bonds within each tribe remain close—ensuring that the group presents the most united front when facing other tribes. Bonobos, which do not engage in organized warfare, can afford more squabbling and friction within the group without making themselves vulnerable to outsiders.

“The most likely causes of male aggression [among bonobos] are over who gets to stay in a feeding tree or at a good feeding spot,” says Martin Surbeck, assistant professor of human evolutionary biology at Harvard and a co-author of the study. “Chimpanzees depend on each other and thus have a lot of incentive not to make a fuss out of each potential conflict, while the individualistic nature of bonobo society makes aggression just way less costly and more frequent.”

The lovable scavenger

If the Striated Caracaras falcon is known for play, its cousin, the Chimango Caracaras, is developing a reputation for domestic bliss. In another study in the Journal of Raptor Research, investigators found elaborate co-parenting behavior between male and female pair-bonded birds. Among most species of raptors, the larger female incubates the eggs and defends the nest while the smaller male hunts for prey. Male and female Chimango Caracaras, however, which are scavengers, show little difference in size, and thus share responsibilities for gathering food as well as caring for the young.

A team led by PhD candidate Diego Gallego-Garcia of the Center for the Study and Conservation of Birds of Prey in Argentina studied 70 of the species’ nests and observed incubation, brooding, and food delivery responsibilities being evenly shared by both parents. The male and female alike also showed an understanding of the chicks’ needs throughout the day—brooding them more in the morning when temperatures were lower, for example. It is the species least lovely trait—its carrion diet—that contributes most to such an egalitarian household.

In raptors that kill live animals, says Gallego-Garcia, smaller males bring prey to the nest, but do not feed the chicks, relying on the larger female to “chunk the food” into bite-sized pieces. This, he says, “ties the female to the nest and prevents it from leaving to hunt. However in scavenger species, since carrion is usually brought as pieces of raw meat, it is more manageable for nestlings. This way the female is free to leave the nest and hunt, allowing for the biparental care that we observe.”

The balanced home is an animal grace note—one of a great many across both the human and the non-human world. “The case of the Chimango Caracara is rare among raptors, but is a general rule in most other birds, and not uncommon in mammals,” says Gallego-Garcia. “This reinforces the idea that, in these cases, both members of the couple are necessary for the successful rearing of the offspring.” As it goes in animals, so it goes in us.

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Only 1 in 20 animal studies results in treatments approved for humans

Only 5% of therapies tested in animals wind up being approved by regulators for human use, according to a new analysis. Photo by Adobe Stock/HealthDay News

Animal studies are often considered a first step in finding new drugs and treatments for human diseases, but a new review has discovered that precious few actually produce real-world therapies.

Only 5% of therapies tested in animals wind up being approved by regulators for human use, according to an analysis of 122 articles involving 54 different diseases and 367 potential treatments. Advertisement

That's despite the fact that 86% of the time positive results in animal studies are replicated in human clinical trials, researchers said.

GLP-1 drugs may help extremely obese patients qualify for weight-loss surgery
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Experts warn of diphtheria-like illness that may spread between people, pets

Research tends to follow a well-laid path -- animal studies followed by early studies in humans, followed by randomized controlled clinical trials to provide solid evidence of benefit. Trial results are then submitted to regulators to have the therapy approved for humans.

About 50% of animal studies make the transition into early human studies, which are meant to show feasibility, researchers found.

But only 40% make it to randomized controlled trials, and just 5% are approved by regulators. Advertisement

"Drawing from the field of clinical neurology, many therapies that have shown promise in animal studies and early trials reported as successful candidates herein, such as melatonin and mesenchymal stem cells for stroke, have not yet become standard clinical practice," the researchers said.

"A similar pattern can be seen in other neurological diseases like Alzheimer's disease and spinal cord injury, where there are several therapies with promising preclinical results but limited practical translation," the team added.

The average time periods for reaching the different stages were five years from animal to human study, seven years to randomized controlled trials, and 10 years to regulatory approval, researchers found.

The new review was published Thursday in the journal PLOS Biology .

One potential explanation is that the requirements of clinical trials and regulatory approval are too strict, "causing many potentially valuable treatments to be left behind," the researchers noted.

But they said it's more likely that poor and inconsistent design in animal and human studies result in unreliable findings. As a result, these potential therapies don't proceed to clinical trials.

"To improve animal-to-human translation, we advocate for enhanced study design robustness of animal and human research, which will not only benefit experimental animals but also affected patients," the researchers said in a journal news release. Advertisement

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Chemical treatments on invasive bivalve, corbicula fluminea, simple summary, 1. introduction, 1.1. life history, 1.2. asian clams dispersal in massachusetts, usa, 1.3. impacts of invasion, 1.4. management strategies.

The most vulnerable waterbodies must also be identified to allocate resources in the most cost-effective manner.
Public awareness plays a large role in limiting dispersal, so developing educational content and signage should be a priority. There must also be an investment in infrastructure to prevent spread, such as installing washing stations at susceptible waterbodies.
Analyze the ecological and economic impact of infestations on new water bodies.
Create an emergency response plan to proactively limit the species’ invasiveness.

1.5. Treatment Options

1.5.1. physical treatments, 1.5.2. biological treatments, 1.5.3. genetic treatments, 1.5.4. chemical treatments, 1.6. treatment selection, 1.7. regulations, systematic review, 3.1. applied chemical treatments, 3.2. toxicity studies, 3.2.1. asian clam sensitivity in laboratory testing, 3.2.2. potassium chloride and formalin, 3.3. chemical treatments on other bivalves, 3.3.1. zequanox ®, 3.3.2. combination of zequanox ® , earthtec qz ® , and potash (kcl), 3.3.3. cutrine ® ultra, 3.3.4. microencapsulation, 3.3.5. essential oils, 4. future directions, 5. conclusions, supplementary materials, author contributions, institutional review board statement, data availability statement, acknowledgments, conflicts of interest.

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Types of Control	Management Technique	Strategy Options	Pros	Cons	Source
Physical	Reactive	Gas Impermeable Benthic Barrier	Minimal impact to free-swimming, non-target species	Resource intensive: Time and money	[ , , ]
			Can achieve 100% mortality	Bottom substrate could impede barrier
				Negatively impacts non-target bivalves
				Short term control strategy
				Treats only adult life stage
		Hand Harvesting	Minimal impact to non-target species	Resource intensive: Time and money	[ ]
		Hand Harvesting		Treats only adult life stage	[ ]
		Suction Dredging	Capable of removing larger quantities of clams at once	Disruptive of aquatic habitat	[ , ]
				Negative impacts to non-target species
				Treats only adult life stage
		Water Level Control; Drawdown	Treats all life stages of clams	Only feasible in small ponds; Not feasible in large waterbodies or rivers	[ ]
		Water Level Control; Drawdown		More effective in colder climates	[ ]
		Thermal Control; Dry Ice, Open Flame, Steam	Commercially available dry ice pellets	Laboratory results only	[ ]
			Can be used directly (water absent) or indirectly (clams submerged)	Did not achieve 100% mortality
			Treats all life stages of clams	Open flame only available for emersed substrate
Biological	Reactive	Bacteria-based Molluscicide	Highly specific to target species	Target species currently limited to zebra mussels and quagga mussels	[ , , , ]
				Unknown reactions with non-target species
				Use in open water systems is debatable
		Predators (ex. barbel and crayfish)	Minimal impact to non-target species	Cannot eliminate or sustainably control invasive bivalves alone	[ , , ]
				Harder shells make them less palatable to most predators
				Treats only adult life stage
Chemical	Proactive and Reactive	Single Synthetic Chemical	Most commonly used treatment	Negative impacts to non-target species	[ , ]
			Treats all life stages of clams
			Most cost effective
		Encapsulated Formulations	More targeted treatment requires less product use	Treats only adult life stage	[ , , , ]
		Encapsulated Formulations		Emerging technology; few products available	[ , , , ]
		Plant Extracts	Chemical complexity make it difficult to become resistant	Mode of application more effective for terrestrial or mobile aquatic gastropods	[ ]
			Versatile uses	Mechanism of toxic action unknown
			Rapid degradation prevents persistence and bioaccumulation	Easily oxidized by heat, light, and air
			Non-toxic to non-target species and environment	Could be cost prohibitive in large volumes needed
				More effective treatment for adult life stages
Genetic	Proactive	Gene Manipulation	Proactive and preventative measure	Not currently a technique available for Asian clams	[ ]
			Reduces mollusc fecundity	Resource intensive: Time and money
				Results are inconclusive
				Only feasible to treat adult life stage
	Reactive	X-ray irradiation	Decrease development between zygote and trochophore stage	Limited induced mortality
				Not able to fully sterilize males (Quagga mussels)
				Only feasible to treat adult life stage

Type of Variable	Variables	Impact on Treatment	Source
Regulatory Variables	Chemicals permitted for use as molluscicide	Can vary by country, state, treatment area	[ , ]
Climate Variables	Minimum Temperature During the Coldest Months	Minimum temperature threshold and range shifts due to climate change	[ ]
Habitat Variables	Type of Waterbody (open/closed)	Permitting of chemical treatment varies	[ ]
	Treatment area size	Some treatments can be cost prohibitive depending on volume of chemical used	[ ]
	Location along tributary	Prefer upstream habitats but must also consider downstream effects of treatment	[ ]
	Water flow rate (River)	How to maintain effective concentrations throughout treatment area	[ ]
	Water Mixing (Lake/pond)	How to distribute product to maintain effective concentrations throughout treatment area	[ ]
	Bottom Substrate	Prefer coarse sand and soft mud	[ ]
	Bathymetry	Treatment denser than water may result in “hotspots” at greatest depths	[ ]
	Non-target Species Presence	Toxicity of non-target species must be considered to avoid causing unnecessary harm	[ ]
Water Quality Variables	Temperature	May impact the efficacy of the treatment (Zequanox, KCl, Copper-based pesticides)	[ , ]
	pH	May impact the efficacy of the treatment (KCl and Copper-based pesticides)	[ , , ]
	Salinity	May impact the efficacy of the treatment (KCl)	[ ]
	Turbidity	May impact the efficacy of the treatment (Zequanox, KCl, Copper-based pesticides)	[ ]
	Dissolved Oxygen Content	May impact the efficacy of the treatment (KCl, Copper-based pesticides)	[ ]
	Conductance	May impact the efficacy of the treatment (KCl)	[ , , ]
	Organic Carbon Content	May impact the efficacy of the treatment (Copper-based pasticides)	[ , ]
Clam Behavioral Variables	Time of Year	Feed less in colder months- may impact efficacy of ingested molluscicides	[ , ]
Clam Behavioral Variables	Food Preference	Changes seasonally- may impact efficacy of ingested molluscicides	[ ]
Project Goals	Reactive or Proactive	Resources required may vary	[ ]
Project Goals	Management, Suppression, or Extirpation	Determine how aggressive treatments should be	[ ]

Chemical	Brand Name	Effective Minimum Concentration (mg/L)	In Vivo Concentration under hypoxic Conditions < 2 mg/L Dissolved Oxygen) (mg/L)	In vivo Concentration under normoxic Conditions (>7 mg/L Dissolved Oxygen) (mg/L)	Exposure Time	LC Concentration (mg/L) under Normoxic Conditions [95% CI in Brackets]	Modes of Action	Advantages	Disadvantages	Notes	Source
Ammonium Nitrate		59.3	50–200	125–200	96 h	201.00 [185.95–218.20]	Damages the gill epithelium to cause asphyxiation	Already used in agricultural channels as it is commonly used in agricultural fertilizer	Non-target gammarid and amphibian species are very sensitive to exposure		[ , , , ]
							Promotes glycolysis and oxidative phosphorylation	Economical
								Non-toxic to most non-target species
Chlorpyrifos		0.05	NA	0.5–1.0	96 h	No mortality was observed	Reduces cholinesterase activity	Agricultural chemical already in use	Lethal and sub-lethal effects of chemical on freshwater bivalves is largely unknown		[ , , ]
Chlorpyrifos		0.05	NA	0.5–1.0	96 h	No mortality was observed	Reduces ability to burrow into the substrate	Exposure to chemical likely already occurring due to Asian clam proximity to agricultural fields			[ , , ]
Dimethoate		18	45–100	150–400	96 h	367.70 [325.68–429.79]	Inhibits acetylcholinesterase activity causing death or sub-lethal neurophysical effects including reduced burrowing capacity and alters bivalve closure behavior	Quickly degraded and non persistent in environment	Lethal to non-target species at low concentrations	Never reached 100% mortality	[ , , ]
Niclosamide	Bayluscide	0.08	0.1–0.5	0.2–1.2	96 h	0.46 [0.38–0.55]	Induces mitochondrial fragmentation	Requires lowest concentration of biocide to produce lethal effects	Non-selective and negatively impacts non-target species		[ , , ]
Niclosamide	Bayluscide	0.08	0.1–0.5	0.2–1.2	96 h	0.46 [0.38–0.55]	Contributes to apoptotc and autophagic cell death	Short-lived in water	Use in open water is highly restricted		[ , , ]
polyDADMAC		12.3	10–500	10–1200	96 h	108.68 [76.44–153.94]	Disrupts membrane transfer mechanisms including gas exchange in the gills	Multiple functions chemical	Lethal to non-target species at low concentrations		[ , , ]
polyDADMAC		12.3	Peak at 200	Peak at 200	96 h	108.68 [76.44–153.94]		More suitable for use in closed systems			[ , , ]
Potassium Chloride (KCl)	Potash	45	100–250	150–900	96 h	NA	Induces paralysis and alters behavior of closure behavior	Minimal impact to non-target species	Not for use in waterbodies with high algae and macrophyte concentrations		[ , , , ]
Potassium Chloride (KCl)	Potash	45	100–250	Peak at 450	96 h	NA	Promotes ciliostasis to reduce bivalve filtration rate		Volume needed to maintain efficacious concentrations could be cost prohibitive in large area		[ , , , ]
Potassium Chloride (KCl) and Formalin		NA	NA	750 KCl & 25 formalin	3–5 h	NA	Induces paralysis and alters behavior of closure behavior	Minimal impact to non-target species	Not for use in waterbodies with high algae and macrophyte concentrations	Only tested on Asian clam veligers life stage	48
Potassium Chloride (KCl) and Formalin		NA	NA	750 KCl & 25 formalin	3–5 h	NA	Promotes ciliostasis to reduce bivalve filtration rate	Treatment commonly used to kill zebra mussel veligers in hatchery trucks	Volume needed to maintain efficacious concentrations could be cost prohibitive in large area	Only tested on Asian clam veligers life stage	48

Chemical	Brand Name	Species Tested	Effective Minimum Concentration (mg/L)	In Vivo Concentration under normoxic Conditions (>7 mg/L Dissolved Oxygen) (mg/L)	Exposure Time	Concentration for 100% Bivalve Mortality	Mode of Action	Advantages	Disadvantages	Notes	Source
Pseudomonas fluorescens strain CL145A cells	Zequanox	Zebra mussels		100	11 days	100 mg/L after 8 days *	Disrupt epithelial cells of digestive system lining, causing mortality	Registered EPA Office of Pesticides Programs Biopesticides and Pollution Prevention Division	Targeted for Zeba and Quagga mussels		[ , , , , ]
								Highly selective to target species	Newer application method for open water systems
									Cost prohibitive at scale
Copper Sulfate Pentahydrate (cupric ion [Cu ])	EarthTecQZ	Zebra mussels & Quagga mussels	0.18	0.18–1.0	96 h, repeated every 4–14 days	0.5–1.0 mg/L after 7 days *	Binds to gill membranes and causes tissue damage that interferes with gas exchange	Registered and approved by EPA as molluscicide (USEPA registration number 56576-1)	Can be toxic to non-target species in water and accumulated in soil		[ , , , , ]
								Affects all life stages of mollusc	Water quality may diminish efficacy of treatment
								Currently used as anti-fouling coating in industrial settings
								Beginning field tests on other bivalves
Chelated Copper- copper ions bound to amino acids	Cutrine Ultra	Zebra mussels	0.012	0.012–1.757	Maximum 96 h	NA	Binds to gill membranes and causes tissue damage that interferes with gas exchange	Registered and approved by EPA as algaecide, herbicide, and cyanobactericide (USEPA registration number 8959-53)	Not registered or approved by EPA for use as a molluscicide	72-h old trochophores achieved LC at value as low as 0.012 mg/L and LC at 0.047 mg/L within 2 h of exposure	[ , , ]
Chelated Copper- copper ions bound to amino acids	Cutrine Ultra	Zebra mussels	0.012	0.012–1.757	Maximum 96 h	NA			Not registered or approved by EPA for use as a molluscicide	Adults achieved 96-h LC at 0.0352 mg/L and 96-h LC at 1.757 mg/L	[ , , ]
Copper (Cu) Ethanolamine	Natrix	Quagga mussels	0.1	0.2–1.0	Maximum 96 h	NA	Binds to gill membranes and causes tissue damage that interferes with gas exchange	Registered and approved by EPA as molluscicide (USEPA registration number 67690-81)	Not-selective and negatively impacts non-target species	100% mortality never confirmed but 1 mg/L Natrix induced mortality of adult mussel within 48 h	[ , , ]
								Quickly degraded and non-persistent in the environment
								Only effects organisms with direct contact with application
Potassium Chloride, KCl (K )	Potash	Zebra mussels & Quagga mussels	NA	100–200	10 days	100 mg/L after 7–9 days *	Induces paralysis and alters behavior of closure behavior	Registered through site-specific regulatory exemption processes (Section 24© Special Local Needs exemption or Section 18 Emergency Exemption)	Not registered or approved by EPA for use as a molluscicide	Concentration of 50 mg/L achieved 100% mortality in same time frame with warmer water temperatures	[ , , ]
							Promotes ciliostasis to reduce bivalve filtration rate	Non-toxic to species other than gill-breathing mollscs	Toxic to shelled organisms, such as native molluscs, crayfish, and zooplankton
							Damages the gill epithelium to cause asphyxiation
Microencapsulated PolyDADMAC	BioBullets SB 1000	Golden mussels & Wedge clams	12.5	400	48 h	500 mg/L after 2 days	Binds to gill membranes and interferes with gas exchange	Encapsulation bipasses bivalve closing respone	Newer technology still in toxicity testing		[ , , , , ]
								Requires smaller concentration of active ingredient for similar efficacy	Unknown effects on non-target species
								Highly selective to target species based on particle size and shape	Biocide shows poor environmental selectivity
								New uses for existing active ingredients
								Nearly 10 times more toxic than microencapsulated KCl
Microencapsulated KCl	BioBullets SB 2000	Golden mussels & Wedge clams	125	3000	48 h	6000 mg/L after 2 days	Induces paralysis and alters behavior of closure behavior	Encapsulation bipasses bivalve closing respone	Newer technology still in toxicity testing		[ , ]
							Promotes ciliostasis to reduce bivalve filtration rate	Requires smaller concentration of active ingredient for similar efficacy	Unknown effects on non-target species
							Damages the gill epithelium to cause asphyxiation	Highly selective to target species based on particle size and shape
								New uses for existing active ingredients
Esential Oils (EO)	EO, Eugenol (compound found in cinnamon, clove, and bay leaves)	Freshwater snail species: Luminae acuminata	2.55	2.55–10.73 Increased toxicity at elevated temperatures	24 h	NA	Reduces fecundity, hatchability, and survival of young	Minimal impact to non target species and surrounding environment	Insoluable or minimially soluable in water: require additional organinc solvent	2.55–10.73 mg/L for 24 h to achieve LC	[ , ]
								Chemical compound complexity prevents resistance from developing	Easily oxidized in heat, light, and air
									Cost prohibitive at scale
									Newer technology still in toxicity testing

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Goulder, K.D.; Wong, W.H. Chemical Treatments on Invasive Bivalve, Corbicula fluminea . Animals 2024 , 14 , 1789. https://doi.org/10.3390/ani14121789

Goulder KD, Wong WH. Chemical Treatments on Invasive Bivalve, Corbicula fluminea . Animals . 2024; 14(12):1789. https://doi.org/10.3390/ani14121789

Goulder, Katie D., and Wai Hing Wong. 2024. "Chemical Treatments on Invasive Bivalve, Corbicula fluminea " Animals 14, no. 12: 1789. https://doi.org/10.3390/ani14121789

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African elephants call each other by unique names, new study shows

Have you ever wondered what the sounds of animals are meant for, or what they mean? New research suggests wild African elephants call each other unique names.

In this undated photo, an African elephant matriarch leads her calf away from danger in northern Kenya. A new study in Nature Ecology & Evolution demonstrates that elephants respond to individual names, one of the few animal species known to do so. (George Wittemyer via AP)

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In this undated photo, an African elephant family comforts a calf in Samburu National Reserve, Kenya. A new study in Nature Ecology & Evolution demonstrates that elephants respond to individual names, one of the few animal species known to do so. (George Wittemyer via AP)

WASHINGTON (AP) — African elephants call each other and respond to individual names — something that few wild animals do, according to new research published Monday .

The names are one part of elephants’ low rumbles that they can hear over long distances across the savanna. Scientists believe that animals with complex social structures and family groups that separate and then reunite often may be more likely to use individual names.

“If you’re looking after a large family, you’ve got to be able to say, ‘Hey, Virginia, get over here!’” said Duke University ecologist Stuart Pimm, who was not involved in the study.

It’s extremely rare for wild animals to call each other by unique names. Humans have names, of course, and our dogs come when their names are called. Baby dolphins invent their own names, called signature whistles, and parrots may also use names.

Each of these naming species also possesses the ability to learn to pronounce unique new sounds throughout their lives — a rare talent that elephants also possess.

For the study in Nature Ecology & Evolution , biologists used machine learning to detect the use of names in a sound library of savanna elephant vocalizations recorded at Kenya’s Samburu National Reserve and Amboseli National Park.

Mother, Chamchuri, stand with newborn elephant twins female, left, and male, right, in Ayutthaya province, Thailand, Monday, June 10, 2024. Buddhist monks in Thailand on Friday blessed twin baby elephants, one male, the other female, a week after their rare birth came close to being a tragedy. (AP Photo/Nathathaida Adireksara)

The researchers followed the elephants in jeeps to observe who called out and who appeared to respond — for example, if a mother called to a calf, or a matriarch called to a straggler who later rejoined the family group.

Analyzing only the audio data, the computer model predicted which elephant was being addressed 28% of the time, likely due to the inclusion of its name. When fed meaningless data, the model only accurately labeled 8% of calls.

“Just like humans, elephants use names, but probably don’t use names in the majority of utterances, so we wouldn’t expect 100%,” said study author and Cornell University biologist Mickey Pardo.

Elephant rumbles include sounds that are below the range of human hearing. The scientists still don’t know which part of the vocalization is the name.

Researchers tested their results by playing recordings to individual elephants, who responded more energetically, ears flapping and trunk lifted, to recordings that contained their names. Sometimes elephants entirely ignored vocalizations addressed to others.

“Elephants are incredibly social, always talking and touching each other — this naming is probably one of the things that underpins their ability to communicate to individuals,” said co-author and Colorado State University ecologist George Wittemyer, who is also a scientific adviser for nonprofit Save the Elephants.

“We just cracked open the door a bit to the elephant mind.” ___

The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Science and Educational Media Group. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

Disclaimer: Early release articles are not considered as final versions. Any changes will be reflected in the online version in the month the article is officially released.

Volume 30, Number 7—July 2024

Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza A(H5N1) Clade 2.3.4.4b Virus Infection in Domestic Dairy Cattle and Cats, United States, 2024

Materials and Methods

Milk samples (cases 2–5) and fresh and formalin-fixed tissues (cases 1, 3–5) from dairy cattle were received at the ISUVDL from Texas on March 21 and from Kansas on March 22, 2024. The cattle exhibited nonspecific illness and reduced lactation, as described previously. The tissue samples for diagnostic testing came from 3 cows that were euthanized and 3 that died naturally; all postmortem examinations were performed on the premises of affected farms.

The bodies of 2 adult domestic shorthaired cats from a north Texas dairy farm were received at the ISUVDL for a complete postmortem examination on March 21, 2024. The cats were found dead with no apparent signs of injury and were from a resident population of ≈24 domestic cats that had been fed milk from sick cows. Clinical disease in cows on that farm was first noted on March 16; the cats became sick on March 17, and several cats died in a cluster during March 19–20. In total, >50% of the cats at that dairy became ill and died. We collected cerebrum, cerebellum, eye, lung, heart, spleen, liver, lymph node, and kidney tissue samples from the cats and placed them in 10% neutral-buffered formalin for histopathology.

At ISUVDL, we trimmed, embedded in paraffin, and processed formalin-fixed tissues from affected cattle and cats for hematoxylin/eosin staining and histologic evaluation. For immunohistochemistry (IHC), we prepared 4-µm–thick sections from paraffin-embedded tissues, placed them on Superfrost Plus slides (VWR, https://www.vwr.com ), and dried them for 20 minutes at 60°C. We used a Ventana Discovery Ultra IHC/ISH research platform (Roche, https://www.roche.com ) for deparaffinization until and including counterstaining. We obtained all products except the primary antibody from Roche. Automated deparaffination was followed by enzymatic digestion with protease 1 for 8 minutes at 37°C and endogenous peroxidase blocking. We obtained the primary influenza A virus antibody from the hybridoma cell line H16-L10–4R5 (ATCC, https://www.atcc.org ) and diluted at 1:100 in Discovery PSS diluent; we incubated sections with antibody for 32 minutes at room temperature. Next, we incubated the sections with a hapten-labeled conjugate, Discovery anti-mouse HQ, for 16 minutes at 37°C followed by a 16-minute incubation with the horse radish peroxidase conjugate, Discovery anti-HQ HRP. We used a ChromoMap DAB kit for antigen visualization, followed by counterstaining with hematoxylin and then bluing. Positive controls were sections of IAV-positive swine lung. Negative controls were sections of brain, lung, and eyes from cats not infected with IAV.

We diluted milk samples 1:3 vol/vol in phosphate buffered saline, pH 7.4 (Gibco/Thermo Fisher Scientific, https://www.thermofisher.com ) by mixing 1 unit volume of milk and 3 unit volumes of phosphate buffered saline. We prepared 10% homogenates of mammary glands, brains, lungs, spleens, and lymph nodes in Earle’s balanced salt solution (Sigma-Aldrich, https://www.sigmaaldrich.com ). Processing was not necessary for ocular fluid, rumen content, or serum samples. After processing, we extracted samples according to a National Animal Health Laboratory Network (NAHLN) protocol that had 2 NAHLN-approved deviations for ISUVDL consisting of the MagMax Viral RNA Isolation Kit for 100 µL sample volumes and a Kingfisher Flex instrument (both Thermo Fisher Scientific).

We performed real-time reverse transcription PCR (rRT-PCR) by using an NAHLN-approved assay with 1 deviation, which was the VetMAX-Gold SIV Detection kit (Thermo Fisher Scientific), to screen for the presence of IAV RNA. We tested samples along with the VetMAX XENO Internal Positive Control to monitor the possible presence of PCR inhibitors. Each rRT-PCR 96-well plate had 2 positive amplification controls, 2 negative amplification controls, 1 positive extraction control, and 1 negative extraction control. We ran the rRT-PCR on an ABI 7500 Fast thermocycler and analyzed data with Design and Analysis Software 2.7.0 (both Thermo Fisher Scientific). We considered samples with cycle threshold (Ct) values <40.0 to be positive for virus.

After the screening rRT-PCR, we analyzed IAV RNA–positive samples for the H5 subtype and H5 clade 2.3.4.4b by using the same RNA extraction and NAHLN-approved rRT-PCR protocols as described previously, according to standard operating procedures. We performed PCR on the ABI 7500 Fast thermocycler by using appropriate controls to detect H5-specific IAV. We considered samples with Ct values <40.0 to be positive for the IAV H5 subtype.

We conducted genomic sequencing of 2 milk samples from infected dairy cattle from Texas and 2 tissue samples (lung and brain) from cats that died at a different Texas dairy. We subjected the whole-genome sequencing data to bioinformatics analysis to assemble the 8 different IAV segment sequences according to previously described methods ( 8 ). We used the hemagglutinin (HA) and neuraminidase (NA) sequences for phylogenetic analysis. We obtained reference sequences for the HA and NA segments of IAV H5 clade 2.3.4.4 from publicly available databases, including GISAID ( https://www.gisaid.org ) and GenBank. We aligned the sequences by using MAFFT version 7.520 software ( https://mafft.cbrc.jp/alignment/server/index.html ) to create multiple sequence alignments for subsequent phylogenetic analysis. We used IQTree2 ( https://github.com/iqtree/iqtree2 ) to construct the phylogenetic tree from the aligned sequences. The software was configured to automatically identify the optimal substitution model by using the ModelFinder Plus option, ensuring the selection of the most suitable model for the dataset and, thereby, improving the accuracy of the reconstructed tree. We visualized the resulting phylogenetic tree by using iTOL ( https://itol.embl.de ), a web-based platform for interactive tree exploration and annotation.

Gross Lesions in Cows and Cats

All cows were in good body condition with adequate rumen fill and no external indications of disease. Postmortem examinations of the affected dairy cows revealed firm mammary glands typical of mastitis; however, mammary gland lesions were not consistent. Two cows that were acutely ill before postmortem examination had grossly normal milk and no abnormal mammary gland lesions. The gastrointestinal tract of some cows had small abomasal ulcers and shallow linear erosions of the intestines, but those observations were also not consistent in all animals. The colon contents were brown and sticky, suggesting moderate dehydration. The feces contained feed particles that appeared to have undergone minimal ruminal fermentation. The rumen contents had normal color and appearance but appeared to have undergone minimal fermentation.

The 2 adult cats (1 intact male, 1 intact female) received at the ISUVDL were in adequate body and postmortem condition. External examination was unremarkable. Mild hemorrhages were observed in the subcutaneous tissues over the dorsal skull, and multifocal meningeal hemorrhages were observed in the cerebrums of both cats. The gastrointestinal tracts were empty, and no other gross lesions were observed.

Microscopic Lesions in Cows and Cats

Mammary gland lesions in cattle in study of highly pathogenic avian influenza A(H5N1) clade 2.3.4.4b virus infection in domestic dairy cattle and cats, United States, 2024. A, B) Mammary gland tissue sections stained with hematoxylin and eosin. A) Arrowheads indicate segmental loss within open secretory mammary alveoli. Original magnification ×40. B) Arrowheads indicate epithelial degeneration and necrosis lining alveoli with intraluminal sloughing. Asterisk indicates intraluminal neutrophilic inflammation. Original magnification ×400. C, D) Mammary gland tissue sections stained by using avian influenza A immunohistochemistry. C) Brown staining indicates lobular distribution of avian influenza A virus. Original magnification ×40. D) Brown staining indicates strong nuclear and intracytoplasmic immunoreactivity of intact and sloughed epithelial cells within mammary alveoli. Original magnification ×400.

Figure 1 . Mammary gland lesions in cattle in study of highly pathogenic avian influenza A(H5N1) clade 2.3.4.4b virus infection in domestic dairy cattle and cats, United States, 2024. A, B) Mammary gland...

The chief microscopic lesion observed in affected cows was moderate acute multifocal neutrophilic mastitis ( Figure 1 ); however, mammary glands were not received from every cow. Three cows had mild neutrophilic or lymphocytic hepatitis. Because they were adult cattle, other observed microscopic lesions (e.g., mild lymphoplasmacytic interstitial nephritis and mild to moderate lymphocytic abomasitis) were presumed to be nonspecific, age-related changes. We did not observe major lesions in the other evaluated tissues. We performed IHC for IAV antigen on all evaluated tissues; the only tissues with positive immunoreactivity were mastitic mammary glands from 2 cows that showed nuclear and cytoplasmic labeling of alveolar epithelial cells and cells within lumina ( Figure 1 ) and multifocal germinal centers within a lymph node from 1 cow ( Table 1 ).

Lesions in cat tissues in study of highly pathogenic avian influenza A(H5N1) clade 2.3.4.4b virus infection in domestic dairy cattle and cats, United States, 2024. Tissue sections were stained with hematoxylin and eosin; insets show brown staining of avian influenza A viruses via immunohistochemistry by using the chromogen 3,3′-diaminobenzidine tetrahydrochloride. Original magnification ×200 for all images and insets. A) Section from cerebral tissue. Arrowheads show perivascular lymphocytic encephalitis, gliosis, and neuronal necrosis. Inset shows neurons. B) Section of lung tissue showing lymphocytic and fibrinous interstitial pneumonia with septal necrosis and alveolar edema; arrowheads indicate lymphocytes. Inset shows bronchiolar epithelium, necrotic cells, and intraseptal mononuclear cells. C) Section of heart tissue. Arrowhead shows interstitial lymphocytic myocarditis and focal peracute myocardial coagulative necrosis. Inset shows cardiomyocytes. D) Section of retinal tissue. Arrowheads show perivascular lymphocytic retinitis with segmental neuronal loss and rarefaction in the ganglion cell layer. Asterisks indicate attenuation of the inner plexiform and nuclear layers with artifactual retinal detachment. Insets shows all layers of the retina segmentally within affected areas have strong cytoplasmic and nuclear immunoreactivity to influenza A virus.

Figure 2 . Lesions in cat tissues in study of highly pathogenic avian influenza A(H5N1) clade 2.3.4.4b virus infection in domestic dairy cattle and cats, United States, 2024. Tissue sections were stained with...

Both cats had microscopic lesions consistent with severe systemic virus infection, including severe subacute multifocal necrotizing and lymphocytic meningoencephalitis with vasculitis and neuronal necrosis, moderate subacute multifocal necrotizing and lymphocytic interstitial pneumonia, moderate to severe subacute multifocal necrotizing and lymphohistiocytic myocarditis, and moderate subacute multifocal lymphoplasmacytic chorioretinitis with ganglion cell necrosis and attenuation of the internal plexiform and nuclear layers ( Table 2 ; Figure 2 ). We performed IHC for IAV antigen on multiple tissues (brain, eye, lung, heart, spleen, liver, and kidney). We detected positive IAV immunoreactivity in brain (intracytoplasmic, intranuclear, and axonal immunolabeling of neurons), lung, and heart, and multifocal and segmental immunoreactivity within all layers of the retina ( Figure 2 ).

PCR Data from Cows and Cats

We tested various samples from 8 clinically affected mature dairy cows by IAV screening and H5 subtype-specific PCR ( Table 3 ). Milk and mammary gland homogenates consistently showed low Ct values: 12.3–16.9 by IAV screening PCR, 17.6–23.1 by H5 subtype PCR, and 14.7–20.0 by H5 2.3.4.4 clade PCR (case 1, cow 1; case 2, cows 1 and 2; case 3, cow 1; and case 4, cow 1). We forwarded the samples to the National Veterinary Services Laboratory, which confirmed the virus was an HPAI H5N1 virus strain.

When available, we also tested tissue homogenates (e.g., lung, spleen, and lymph nodes), ocular fluid, and rumen contents from 6 cows by IAV and H5 subtype-specific PCR ( Table 3 ). However, the PCR findings were not consistent. For example, the tissue homogenates and ocular fluid tested positive in some but not all cows. In case 5, cow 1, the milk sample tested negative by IAV screening PCR, but the spleen homogenate tested positive by IAV screening, H5 subtype, and H5 2.3.4.4 PCR. For 2 cows (case 3, cow 1; and case 4, cow 1) that had both milk and rumen contents available, both samples tested positive for IAV. Nevertheless, all IAV-positive nonmammary gland tissue homogenates, ocular fluid, and rumen contents had markedly elevated Ct values in contrast to the low Ct values for milk and mammary gland homogenate samples.

We tested brain and lung samples from the 2 cats (case 6, cats 1 and 2) by IAV screening and H5 subtype-specific PCR ( Table 3 ). Both sample types were positive by IAV screening PCR; Ct values were 9.9–13.5 for brain and 17.4–24.4 for lung samples, indicating high amounts of virus nucleic acid in those samples. The H5 subtype and H5 2.3.4.4 PCR results were also positive for the brain and lung samples; Ct values were consistent with the IAV screening PCR ( Table 3 ).

Phylogenetic Analyses

We assembled the sequences of all 8 segments of the HPAI viruses from both cow milk and cat tissue samples. We used the hemagglutinin (HA) and neuraminidase (NA) sequences specifically for phylogenetic analysis to delineate the clade of the HA gene and subtype of the NA gene.

Phylogenetic analysis of hemagglutinin gene sequences in study of highly pathogenic avian influenza A(H5N1) clade 2.3.4.4b virus infection in domestic dairy cattle and cats, United States, 2024. Colors indicate different clades. Red text indicates the virus gene sequences from bovine milk and cats described in this report, confirming those viruses are highly similar and belong to H5 clade 2.3.4.4b. The hemagglutinin sequences from this report are most closely related to A/avian/Guanajuato/CENAPA-18539/2023|EPI_ISL_18755544|A_/_H5 (GISAID, https://www.gisaid.org) and have 99.66%–99.72% nucleotide identities.

Figure 3 . Phylogenetic analysis of hemagglutinin gene sequences in study of highly pathogenic avian influenza A(H5N1) clade 2.3.4.4b virus infection in domestic dairy cattle and cats, United States, 2024. Colors indicate different...

For HA gene analysis, both HA sequences derived from cow milk samples exhibited a high degree of similarity, sharing 99.88% nucleotide identity, whereas the 2 HA sequences from cat tissue samples showed complete identity at 100%. The HA sequences from the milk samples had 99.94% nucleotide identities with HA sequences from the cat tissues, resulting in a distinct subcluster comprising all 4 HA sequences, which clustered together with other H5N1 viruses belonging to clade 2.3.4.4b ( Figure 3 ). The HA sequences were deposited in GenBank (accession nos. PP599465 [case 2, cow 1], PP599473 [case 2, cow 2], PP692142 [case 6, cat 1], and PP692195 [case 6, cat 2]).

Phylogenetic analysis of neuraminidase gene sequences in study of highly pathogenic avian influenza A(H5N1) clade 2.3.4.4b virus infection in domestic dairy cattle and cats, United States, 2024. Colors indicate different subtypes. Red text indicates the virus gene sequences from bovine milk and cats described in this report, confirming those viruses belong to the N1 subtype. The neuraminidase sequences from this report had 99.52%–99.59% nucleotide identities to sequences from viruses isolated from a chicken and wild birds in 2023.

Figure 4 . Phylogenetic analysis of neuraminidase gene sequences in study of highly pathogenic avian influenza A(H5N1) clade 2.3.4.4b virus infection in domestic dairy cattle and cats, United States, 2024. Colors indicate different...

For NA gene analysis, the 2 NA sequences obtained from cow milk samples showed 99.93% nucleotide identity. Moreover, the NA sequences derived from the milk samples exhibited complete nucleotide identities (100%) with those from the cat tissues. The 4 NA sequences were grouped within the N1 subtype of HPAI viruses ( Figure 4 ). The NA sequences were deposited in GenBank (accession nos. PP599467 [case 2, cow 1], PP599475 [case 2, cow 2], PP692144 [case 6, cat 1], and PP692197 [case 6, cat 2]).

This case series differs from most previous reports of IAV infection in bovids, which indicated cattle were inapparently infected or resistant to infection ( 9 ). We describe an H5N1 strain of IAV in dairy cattle that resulted in apparent systemic illness, reduced milk production, and abundant virus shedding in milk. The magnitude of this finding is further emphasized by the high death rate (≈50%) of cats on farm premises that were fed raw colostrum and milk from affected cows; clinical disease and lesions developed that were consistent with previous reports of H5N1 infection in cats presumably derived from consuming infected wild birds ( 10 – 12 ). Although exposure to and consumption of dead wild birds cannot be completely ruled out for the cats described in this report, the known consumption of unpasteurized milk and colostrum from infected cows and the high amount of virus nucleic acid within the milk make milk and colostrum consumption a likely route of exposure. Therefore, our findings suggest cross-species mammal-to-mammal transmission of HPAI H5N1 virus and raise new concerns regarding the potential for virus spread within mammal populations. Horizontal transmission of HPAI H5N1 virus has been previously demonstrated in experimentally infected cats ( 13 ) and ferrets ( 14 ) and is suspected to account for large dieoffs observed during natural outbreaks in mink ( 15 ) and sea lions ( 16 ). Future experimental studies of HPAI H5N1 virus in dairy cattle should seek to confirm cross-species transmission to cats and potentially other mammals.

Clinical IAV infection in cattle has been infrequently reported in the published literature. The first report occurred in Japan in 1949, where a short course of disease with pyrexia, anorexia, nasal discharge, pneumonia, and decreased lactation developed in cattle ( 17 ). In 1997, a similar condition occurred in dairy cows in southwest England leading to a sporadic drop in milk production ( 18 ), and IAV seroconversion was later associated with reduced milk yield and respiratory disease ( 19 – 21 ). Rising antibody titers against human-origin influenza A viruses (H1N1 and H3N2) were later again reported in dairy cattle in England, which led to an acute fall in milk production during October 2005–March 2006 ( 22 ). Limited reports of IAV isolation from cattle exist; most reports occurred during the 1960s and 1970s in Hungary and in the former Soviet Union, where H3N2 was recovered from cattle experiencing respiratory disease ( 9 , 23 ). Direct detection of IAV in milk and the potential transmission from cattle to cats through feeding of unpasteurized milk has not been previously reported.

An IAV-associated drop in milk production in dairy cattle appears to have occurred during > 4 distinct periods and within 3 widely separated geographic areas: 1949 in Japan ( 17 ), 1997–1998 and 2005–2006 in Europe ( 19 , 21 ), and 2024 in the United States (this report). The sporadic occurrence of clinical disease in dairy cattle worldwide might be the result of changes in subclinical infection rates and the presence or absence of sufficient baseline IAV antibodies in cattle to prevent infection. Milk IgG, lactoferrin, and conglutinin have also been suggested as host factors that might reduce susceptibility of bovids to IAV infection ( 9 ). Contemporary estimates of the seroprevalence of IAV antibodies in US cattle are not well described in the published literature. One retrospective serologic survey in the United States in the late 1990s showed 27% of serum samples had positive antibody titers and 31% had low-positive titers for IAV H1 subtype-specific antigen in cattle with no evidence of clinical infections ( 24 ). Antibody titers for H5 subtype-specific antigen have not been reported in US cattle.

The susceptibility of domestic cats to HPAI H5N1 is well-documented globally ( 10 – 12 , 25 – 28 ), and infection often results in neurologic signs in affected felids and other terrestrial mammals ( 4 ). Most cases in cats result from consuming infected wild birds or contaminated poultry products ( 12 , 27 ). The incubation period in cats is short; clinical disease is often observed 2–3 days after infection ( 28 ). Brain tissue has been suggested as the best diagnostic sample to confirm HPAI virus infection in cats ( 10 ), and our results support that finding. One unique finding in the cats from this report is the presence of blindness and microscopic lesions of chorioretinitis. Those results suggest that further investigation into potential ocular manifestations of HPAI H5N1 virus infection in cats might be warranted.

The genomic sequencing and subsequent analysis of clinical samples from both bovine and feline sources provided considerable insights. The HA and NA sequences derived from both bovine milk and cat tissue samples from different Texas farms had a notable degree of similarity. Those findings strongly suggest a shared origin for the viruses detected in the dairy cattle and cat tissues. Further research, case series investigations, and surveillance data are needed to better understand and inform measures to curtail the clinical effects, shedding, and spread of HPAI viruses among mammals. Although pasteurization of commercial milk mitigates risks for transmission to humans, a 2019 US consumer study showed that 4.4% of adults consumed raw milk > 1 time during the previous year ( 29 ), indicating a need for public awareness of the potential presence of HPAI H5N1 viruses in raw milk.

Ingestion of feed contaminated with feces from wild birds infected with HPAI virus is presumed to be the most likely initial source of infection in the dairy farms. Although the exact source of the virus is unknown, migratory birds (Anseriformes and Charadriiformes) are likely sources because the Texas panhandle region lies in the Central Flyway, and those birds are the main natural reservoir for avian influenza viruses ( 30 ). HPAI H5N1 viruses are well adapted to domestic ducks and geese, and ducks appear to be a major reservoir ( 31 ); however, terns have also emerged as an important source of virus spread ( 32 ). The mode of transmission among infected cattle is also unknown; however, horizontal transmission has been suggested because disease developed in resident cattle herds in Michigan, Idaho, and Ohio farms that received infected cattle from the affected regions, and those cattle tested positive for HPAI H5N1 ( 33 ). Experimental studies are needed to decipher the transmission routes and pathogenesis (e.g., replication sites and movement) of the virus within infected cattle.

In conclusion, we showed that dairy cattle are susceptible to infection with HPAI H5N1 virus and can shed virus in milk and, therefore, might potentially transmit infection to other mammals via unpasteurized milk. A reduction in milk production and vague systemic illness were the most commonly reported clinical signs in affected cows, but neurologic signs and death rapidly developed in affected domestic cats. HPAI virus infection should be considered in dairy cattle when an unexpected and unexplained abrupt drop in feed intake and milk production occurs and for cats when rapid onset of neurologic signs and blindness develop. The recurring nature of global HPAI H5N1 virus outbreaks and detection of spillover events in a broad host range is concerning and suggests increasing virus adaptation in mammals. Surveillance of HPAI viruses in domestic production animals, including cattle, is needed to elucidate influenza virus evolution and ecology and prevent cross-species transmission.

Dr. Burrough is a professor and diagnostic pathologist at the Iowa State University College of Veterinary Medicine and Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory. His research focuses on infectious diseases of livestock with an emphasis on swine.

Acknowledgment

We thank the faculty and staff at the ISUVDL who contributed to the processing and analysis of clinical samples in this investigation, the veterinarians involved with clinical assessments at affected dairies and various conference calls in the days before diagnostic submissions that ultimately led to the detection of HPAI virus in the cattle, and the US Department of Agriculture National Veterinary Services Laboratory and NAHLN for their roles and assistance in providing their expertise, confirmatory diagnostic support, and communications surrounding the HPAI virus cases impacting lactating dairy cattle.

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Figure 1 . Mammary gland lesions in cattle in study of highly pathogenic avian influenza A(H5N1) clade 2.3.4.4b virus infection in domestic dairy cattle and cats, United States, 2024. A, B) Mammary...
Figure 2 . Lesions in cat tissues in study of highly pathogenic avian influenza A(H5N1) clade 2.3.4.4b virus infection in domestic dairy cattle and cats, United States, 2024. Tissue sections were stained...
Figure 3 . Phylogenetic analysis of hemagglutinin gene sequences in study of highly pathogenic avian influenza A(H5N1) clade 2.3.4.4b virus infection in domestic dairy cattle and cats, United States, 2024. Colors indicate...
Figure 4 . Phylogenetic analysis of neuraminidase gene sequences in study of highly pathogenic avian influenza A(H5N1) clade 2.3.4.4b virus infection in domestic dairy cattle and cats, United States, 2024. Colors indicate...
Table 1 . Microscopic lesions observed in cattle in study of highly pathogenic avian influenza A(H5N1) clade 2.3.4.4b virus infection in domestic dairy cattle and cats, United States, 2024
Table 2 . Microscopic lesions observed in cats in study of highly pathogenic avian influenza A(H5N1) clade 2.3.4.4b virus infection in domestic dairy cattle and cats, United States, 2024
Table 3 . PCR results from various specimens in study of highly pathogenic avian influenza A(H5N1) clade 2.3.4.4b virus infection in domestic dairy cattle and cats, United States, 2024

Suggested citation for this article : Burrough ER, Magstadt DR, Petersen B, Timmermans SJ, Gauger PC, Zhang J, et al. Highly pathogenic avian influenza A(H5N1) clade 2.3.4.4b virus infection in domestic dairy cattle and cats, United States, 2024. Emerg Infect Dis. 2024 Jul [ date cited ]. https://doi.org/10.3201/eid3007.240508

DOI: 10.3201/eid3007.240508

Original Publication Date: April 29, 2024

Table of Contents – Volume 30, Number 7—July 2024

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Published: 05 June 2024

The urgent need for designing greener drugs

Tomas Brodin ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0003-1086-7567 1 na1 ,
Michael G. Bertram ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0001-5320-8444 1 , 2 , 3 na1 ,
Kathryn E. Arnold ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0002-6485-6065 4 ,
Alistair B. A. Boxall 4 ,
Bryan W. Brooks ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0002-6277-9852 5 ,
Daniel Cerveny ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0003-1491-309X 1 , 6 ,
Manuela Jörg ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0002-3116-373X 7 , 8 ,
Karen A. Kidd ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0002-5619-1358 9 ,
Unax Lertxundi ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0002-9575-1602 10 ,
Jake M. Martin 1 , 2 ,
Lauren T. May ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0002-4412-1707 11 ,
Erin S. McCallum 1 ,
Marcus Michelangeli ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0002-0053-6759 1 , 3 , 12 ,
Charles R. Tyler 13 ,
Bob B. M. Wong ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0001-9352-6500 3 ,
Klaus Kümmerer ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0003-2027-6488 14 , 15 na2 &
Gorka Orive 16 , 17 , 18 na2

Nature Sustainability ( 2024 ) Cite this article

994 Accesses

1 Citations

332 Altmetric

Metrics details

Drug regulation
Environmental impact

The pervasive contamination of ecosystems with active pharmaceutical ingredients poses a serious threat to biodiversity, ecosystem services and public health. Urgent action is needed to design greener drugs that maintain efficacy but also minimize environmental impact.

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Acknowledgements

We acknowledge funding support from the Swedish Research Council Formas (2018-00828 to T.B., 2020-02293 to M.G.B., 2020-00981 to E.S.M., 2020-01052 to D.C., 2022-00503 to M.M. and 2022-02796/2023-01253 to J.M.M.), the Kempe Foundations (SMK-1954, SMK21-0069 and JCSMK23-0078 to M.G.B.), the Swedish Research Council VR (2022-03368 to E.S.M.), the European Union’s Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Programme under the Marie Skłodowska-Curie grant agreement (101061889 to M.M.), Research England (131911 to M.J.), the Spanish Ministry of Economy, Industry and Competitiveness (PID2022-139746OB-I00/AEI/10.13039/501100011033 to G.O.), the Australian Research Council (FT190100014 and DP220100245 to B.B.M.W.), the Jarislowsky Foundation (to K.A.K.), a Royal Society of New Zealand Catalyst Leaders Fellowship (ILF-CAW2201 to B.W.B.) and the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences of the National Institutes of Health (1P01ES028942 to B.W.B.). The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institutes of Health.

Author information

These authors contributed equally: Tomas Brodin, Michael G. Bertram.

These authors jointly supervised this work: Klaus Kümmerer, Gorka Orive.

Authors and Affiliations

Department of Wildlife, Fish, and Environmental Studies, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Umeå, Sweden

Tomas Brodin, Michael G. Bertram, Daniel Cerveny, Jake M. Martin, Erin S. McCallum & Marcus Michelangeli

Department of Zoology, Stockholm University, Stockholm, Sweden

Michael G. Bertram & Jake M. Martin

School of Biological Sciences, Monash University, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia

Michael G. Bertram, Marcus Michelangeli & Bob B. M. Wong

Department of Environment and Geography, University of York, York, UK

Kathryn E. Arnold & Alistair B. A. Boxall

Department of Environmental Science, Baylor University, Waco, TX, USA

Bryan W. Brooks

Faculty of Fisheries and Protection of Waters, University of South Bohemia in České Budějovice, Vodňany, Czech Republic

Daniel Cerveny

Medicinal Chemistry Theme, Monash Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Monash University, Parkville, Victoria, Australia

Manuela Jörg

Centre for Cancer, Chemistry – School of Natural and Environmental Sciences, Newcastle University, Newcastle Upon Tyne, UK

Department of Biology, McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada

Karen A. Kidd

Bioaraba Health Research Institute, Osakidetza Basque Health Service, Araba Mental Health Network, Araba Psychiatric Hospital, Pharmacy Service, Vitoria-Gasteiz, Spain

Unax Lertxundi

Drug Discovery Biology, Monash Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Monash University, Parkville, Victoria, Australia

Lauren T. May

School of Environment and Science, Griffith University, Nathan, Queensland, Australia

Marcus Michelangeli

Biosciences, Faculty of Health and Life Sciences, University of Exeter, Exeter, UK

Charles R. Tyler

Institute of Sustainable Chemistry, Leuphana University Lüneburg, Lüneburg, Germany

Klaus Kümmerer

International Sustainable Chemistry Collaborative Centre (ISC3), Bonn, Germany

Laboratory of Pharmaceutics, School of Pharmacy, University of the Basque Country, Vitoria-Gasteiz, Spain

Gorka Orive

Biomedical Research Networking Centre in Bioengineering, Biomaterials and Nanomedicine, Vitoria-Gasteiz, Spain

Bioaraba, NanoBioCel Research Group, Vitoria-Gasteiz, Spain

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Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Tomas Brodin , Michael G. Bertram or Gorka Orive .

Ethics declarations

Competing interests.

The authors declare no competing interests.

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Nature Sustainability thanks Lydia Niemi, Terrence Collins and the other, anonymous, reviewer(s) for their contribution to the peer review of this work.

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Brodin, T., Bertram, M.G., Arnold, K.E. et al. The urgent need for designing greener drugs. Nat Sustain (2024). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41893-024-01374-y

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How to write an animal report

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Research and Write down Facts About the Animal

Provide online resources and books for animal research topics

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The ARRIVE guidelines 2.0: Updated guidelines for reporting animal research

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