Animals in captivity commonly exhibit self-injurious behaviour where there is lack of enrichment.

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/236884259_Stereotypies_in_Captive_Primates_and_the_Use_of_Inositol_Lessons_from_ObsessiveCompulsive_Disorder_in_Humans?ev=prf_pub

Article Stereotypies in Captive Primates and the Use of Inositol: Le...

In the pain field, there is an outcome measure known as "autotomy", which could fit the description of self-mutilation. When nerves are severely damaged (usually 100% transection) it is thought that the animals experience both a loss of normal sensation and an increase in neuropathic symptoms (such as tingling/ pins&needles), which they respond to by chewing/biting their paws to such a degree that digits can be lost.

As more ethical and humane endpoints have been introduced, this measure is not often used as it clearly represents a serious and damaging behaviour. Depending on which country you are working in, it may be very difficult to study behaviours such as this which can result in serious harm to an organism.

Here are some references that might be useful:

http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/0165027091900522

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/1952211

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/12215442_Comparison_of_autotomy_behavior_induced_in_rats_by_various_clinically-used_neurectomy_methods

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/20150227_Autotomy_in_rats_after_peripheral_nerve_section_lack_of_effect_of_topical_nerve_or_neonatal_capsaicin_treatment

Article Comparison of autotomy behavior induced in rats by various c...

Article Autotomy in rats after peripheral nerve section: Lack of eff...

We have worked with an animal model of self-injury, which has broad implications for the types of self-injury that occur in neurodevelopmental disorders and in psychiatric disorders. I recommend that you look at the following 2 papers for a brief overview of these models:

Devine, D.P. (2012). Animal models of self-injurious behaviour: an overview, Psychiatric Disorders, Methods in Molecular Biology, 829: 68-85. PMID: 2223812

Devine, D.P. (2012). The pemoline model of self-injurious behaviour, Psychiatric Disorders, Methods in Molecular Biology, 829: 153-170. PMID: 22231807

There is a pharmacological model that mutilation induced by clonidine:

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/6087373

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/6093179

Large doses of methamphetamine in rats will evoke grooming to the point that they will injure themselves

Animals in captivity commonly exhibit self-injurious behaviour where there is lack of enrichment.

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/236884259_Stereotypies_in_Captive_Primates_and_the_Use_of_Inositol_Lessons_from_ObsessiveCompulsive_Disorder_in_Humans?ev=prf_pub

Article Stereotypies in Captive Primates and the Use of Inositol: Le...

Building from Shun Fam, in captive animals certain stereotypic behaviours can be self-harming. As the animals repetitively display a behaviour, it can cause tissue damage, especially in cases of overgrooming.

This is a introductory view of the issue by Mason 2006: http://uc-njavan.ir/MaXUpload/88/4-5-6/Stereotypic%20Animal%20Behaviour.pdf#page=337

Some dogs get acral lick granulomas, which can have a primarily behavioural cause with no other underlying pathology.

Thanks for all of your responses!

Tiziana

Hello Tiziana,

Research animals capture and confined away from there natural habitation will develop some self mutilation behaviours. In baboons (Olive baboons) which i work with we have observed males tearing their muscles. Others will even bang their heads against containment cages. This is much due to boredom, stress and lack of vigorous activity like the one they get in their natural habitats. Some males will even practice infanticide and eat up the carcass. They even pluck off their fur entirely. But this can be reduced by positive reinforcement in terms of enrichment and making live in captivity interesting.

Hi Tiziana,

In clinical animal behaviour both pet dogs and cat's have been known to self-mutilate due to OCD, or extreme fear during separation from the owner. Some dogs, for example, have been known to pull out their own claws when left alone during firework displays - not good! Here are a couple of papers on the subject:

http://avmajournals.avma.org/doi/abs/10.2460/javma.2003.222.1526?journalCode=javma

http://avmajournals.avma.org/doi/abs/10.2460/javma.2002.221.1445

Captive parrots are known for their self-mutilating behaviors, often due to lack of stimulation, anxiety, or poor husbandry. These behaviors manifest themselves in a multitude of ways ranging from feather plucking and extreme over-preening to biting at their own skin, claws, and feet. Cockatoos are infamous for pulling all the feathers from their chest and back, sometimes even removing tall, wing, and even blood feathers. Although feather plucking can be seen in birds as small as lovebirds, in smaller birds, it often appears that plucking stems often from more hormonal causes. Female cockatiels have been observed plucking just the feathers from the posterior region under their wings, where their ovary would be located. This is most likely due to over-stimulation and sexual frustration rather than boredom or stress, as seen in larger parrots. However, there is ongoing research to understand if perhaps there is more to these feather pluckers than meets the eye. Some birds pluck only one area, which often indicates something medical is going on, such as a tumor or, science forbid, PBFD, while birds that are noted to have a less concentrated area of plucking but instead rip out whatever they can reach are often diagnosed as anxious or under-stimulated.

Nyamongo, Naomi and Holly... thanks.

Melinda Novak and her lab have done a lot of work with this in Rhesus Macaques. You might want to check out some of her and her lab's work:

Lutz, C., Well, A., Novak, M. (2003) Stereotypic and self-injurious behavior in rhesus macaques: A survey and retrospective analysis of environment and early experience. American Journal of Primatology, 60(1): 1-15.

See Schroeder, S.R., Oster-Granite, M.L., & Thompson, T. (Eds.) (2002). Self-injurious behavior:gene-brain-behavior relationships. Washington D.C.: APA Books.

Also Schroeder, S.R., Loupe, P.S., & Tessel, R.E. (2008). Animal models of self-injurious behavior. In L.M. Glidden (Ed.) International Review of Research in Mental Retardation Vol. 36. (pp 191-231), New York: Elsevier

There are a b inch of animal models of SIB.

Kathrin and Stephen, thanks for the references!

Am J Psychiatry. 1978 Oct;135(10):1240-1.

"Experimental" self-mutilation.

Dubovsky SL.

Thanks to Senay and James.

Just I know about two models of self-mutilation that published many years ago:

http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/0014488679901080

http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/0304395992901647

Actually we found that Wistar albino rats in which limbic seizures were induced with a single subcutaneous injection of lithium chloride (3 mEq/kg) followed 4 hr later by a sub cu. injection of 30 mg/kg of pilocarpine and injected with acepromazine immediately after the onset of the forelimb clonus (epileptic seizure) often began to self-mutilate during the subsequent months. This was associated with their persistent gnawing that could be enhanced by experimental techniques and blocked with Haldol (see Bureau and Persinger, Life Sciences, 1993, 52, 869-876). We found that adding Purina food pellets or a rubber stopper in the cages decreased the self-mutilation significantly. That the rats could discern the nociception and respond appropriately was indicated by their preferential selection of analgesics in water rather than only water during periods when the self-gnawing increased (Persinger, M. A., Rats' preference for an analgesic compared to water: an alternative to "killing the rat so it does not suffer", Perceptual and Motor Skills, 2003, 96, 674-680).

Dogs often demonstrate compulsive licking for no medical reason and cause sores on themselves. Also, look up flank-sucking in Dobermans. Recent research published on this looking for the genetic component

Self-mutilation could be defined in two ways - one is as "Instinct" based on Darwinian theory and the other is by means of Freud's psycho-analysis i.e. "psychosis" or "neurosis". Through the means of instinct, we could give example of caterpillar. It's been noticed in most types of caterpillars, that they prefer dying to eating from a different tree other than the one they are used to. In neurotics we see instances of self-mutilation quite often. The possible explanation for this would be, the unexpected synaptic impulses between the pain centers and pleasure/reward centers. Just like epileptic seizures, thunderstorms of unsynchronized impulses resulting from stimulated pain centers, in turn stimulates the release of endorphins which ultimately brings dependency on constant self-mutilation in humans.

Thanks to all! Your responses have considerably improved my knowledge about these abnormal behaviors.

Here's a paper from Mario Capecchi's lab that may be worth checking out, they have mutant mice that display pathologic grooming similar to that observed in human OCD. Not exactly the same as self-mutilation, but it may be helpful and/or interesting nonetheless as it is a mechanistic paper. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20510925

I know this was posted 5 years ago, but here it goes. A small percentage of rhesus macaques show self injurious behaviors in captivity. This is often brought on my stressful events such as weaning, being introduced to a new social group, or individual housing. Tiefenbacher has a good review.

Tiefenbacher S, Novak MA, Lutz CK, Meyer JS (2005b) The physiology and neurochemistry of self-injurious behavior: a nonhuman primate model. Front Biosci 10:1-11.

also..

Baker KC (2002) Rearing and housing history of rhesus macaques (macaca mulatta) displaying self-injurious and noninjurious abnormal behaviors. Am J Primatol 57.

It is believed to be linked to endogenous opioid signaling. In rodents and other animals self injury is often a consequence of over grooming. In Macaques and other primates though, it can be deliberate wounding/biting. I am currently trying to get NIMH funding for a project on this, but it has not gone well. They fund disorders, not symptoms, even if I write the grant in such a way as to try to link it to a specific disorder, I think the R15 study section is just missing the point of the valuable resources my lab has collected over the years with donated tissue from the primate facility at my University. I need to turn to alternate funding because my start ups are used up. Seriously though, I believe that it is the best animal model for SIB/NSSI in humans.

rats and mice will over-groom to the point of serious lesions if given amphetamine or methamphetamine at high doses. could be a stereotypy and/or they think there are insects under under their skin (psychosis-like). Similar behaviour seen in human stimulant abusers. EH Ellinwood did some early work in the 1960s.

Self-mutilation in dogs and can can have an initial clinical cause (itchiness) but can rapidly progress to a habit/stereotypy as well as a neurological or idiopathic cause. It is compunded by the composition of canine saliva that promotes growth of cells, often resulting in acral lick dermatitis (lick granuloma).

Interesting about the granuloma formation.

Yes! Lick granulomas can be a real problem, but some interesting investigations into potential positive applications in an anti-microbial resistant world:

Akpomie O O et al(2011) Saliva of different dog breeds as antimicrobial agents against microorganisms isolated from wound infections, Animal Science Journal, V2(1), pp 18-22

Benjamin N (1997) Wound licking and nitric oxide, The Lancet, V349 (9067), pp 1776

Hart BL and Powell KL (1990) Antibacterial properties of saliva: Role in maternal peri-parturient grooming and in licking wounds, Physiology & Behaviour, V48(3), pp 383 - 386

Dealing with many canines myself, I have found, stress to be a trigger in self mutalation licking. I did a small study myself, working dogs, neo mastiff, Cane corso, Fila breseliero. They are protection breed, when their families left them in the hands of a caregiver , in their own environment, all 5 of the dogs began to chew and lick the back paws. Creating an ulcer and granuloma. The stress of thier separation from their “ job” as soon as the families returned , the licking subsided .