Coping with confinement — Features of the environment that influence animals' ability to adapt

Welfare problems of animals in confinement are related to adaptation. It is suggested that we have little reason to think that domestic animals are adequately adapted genotypically to confinement. Efforts to improve husbandry conditions should, therefore, focus on animals' ability to adapt phenotypically. Four components of the husbandry environment which have a bearing on its success are discussed. They are: (1) the physical environment (the amount and the complexity of space); (2) the social environment (re-grouping, population size, stocking density); (3) the animal-human relationship; (4) the ability to control and predict events.