Lab Animals

Invertebrate and vertebrate animals are vivisected for a wide range of laboratory research, testing, and teaching purposes. Vertebrates, however, serve as the primary experimental lab subjects for toxicity testing, as well as for pure and applied research by universities, corporate pharmaceutical testing labs, governmental health agencies, and the military. The number of vertebrates used annually as laboratory animals is estimated at approximately 100 million. Mice and rats are the most frequently used lab animals, but any animal may be bred, captured from the wild, or procured from pounds and specialized dealers for use in experimentation. While most lab animals are purposely bred, previously many wild animals were used in laboratories and this resulted in the depopulation of some species. For instance, population estimates for Indian ...