Animal models are widely used to test hypotheses about the mechanisms of a disease and to predict a treatment response in human patients.Modem techniques of molecular biology have resulted in a large increase of genetically modified mouse and rat models.In order to assess the suitability of these models to investigate human diseases or disorders, new strategies are necessary to allow an automated, high-throughput monitoring of their phenotypes.Such automated phenotyping would not only ensure the characterization of the animals, but also guarantee a simplified usage and the comparability of data.