Identification of laboratory animals

Abstract

Laboratory animals are used for scientific investigations, and also for special breeding programmes. In all cases the need for an accurate and unmistakable means of identification is self-evident. The smaller laboratory animals, such as rats and mice, are used in rather large numbers, and to identify all individuals positively might raise serious practical problems were it not for the fact that the animals are caged, either singly or in small groups. It is much easier to put a label on a cage than to ask a small animal to carry an identity disc, and if the animal is very small the marker has also to be so small that it can carry very little information.