What environmental factors are monitored in a laboratory animal facility?

In a laboratory animal facility, it is crucial to monitor various environmental factors to ensure the well-being of the animals and the integrity of the research being conducted. The correct answer highlights that monitoring includes the amount, age, quality, and palatability of food and water.

This is essential because the diet and hydration of laboratory animals directly affect their health, behavior, and the validity of experimental results. Ensuring that animals have access to high-quality food and clean, palatable water is fundamental to maintaining optimal health and ensuring that any research outcomes are reliable and reproducible.

Monitoring aspects such as food age and quality helps prevent issues that could arise from expired or contaminated feed, which could lead to health problems in the animals or skew research results. Additionally, palatability ensures that animals consume their diets adequately, which is vital for their overall well-being and experimental integrity.

The other options, while mentioning environmental factors, are limited in scope. They either focus solely on temperature and humidity, health status, or cleanliness without considering the broader aspects of nutrition and hydration, which are equally critical in a laboratory setting.