Animal Behaviour BSc at Anglia Ruskin University
Our understanding of the behaviour of other animals has flourished over recent decades. Yet the discipline still presents many challenges and is set to provide some of the major scientific breakthroughs of the 21st Century. There has never been a more exciting and important time to be a student of Animal Behaviour. This programme at Anglia Ruskin is the longest-established degree course in Animal Behaviour in the United Kingdom and attracts students from throughout Europe.
You will gain a thorough understanding of how and why animals behave in the ways they do, and learn how this knowledge can be applied in areas such as the management and conservation of wild and domesticated animals. You will also acquire the skills needed to carry out your own investigations in order to contribute to future discoveries.
Members of the lecturing team are able to draw on their extensive experience from studying the behaviour of animals living on all five continents, as well as in many of the surrounding oceans and seas, to bring exciting examples and opportunities to their teaching. The team includes, for example, the Director of the Animal Behaviour Research Unit in Mikumi National Park (Tanzania). Staff are also involved in field and captive studies closer to home and have research links with a range of organisations studying British wildlife as well as at Britain’s most respected zoos.
Module guide
The core theme of the Animal Behaviour programme is the study and interpretation of the natural behaviour of animals and reflects the development of the discipline from both psychological and zoological origins. The Animal Behaviour programme covers the study of behaviour across the range of wild, farm, companion and laboratory animals.
At the start of the course, you will be given a comprehensive introduction to animal behaviour within a broader scientific, especially biological, context. This enables you to fully explore your specialist subject at higher levels. You will then go on to study the developmental, physiological, and evolutionary aspects of animal behaviour in more detail and practise observational study skills. In addition, the application of animal behaviour to areas such as welfare and pest control is developed.
The final phase of the course sees students extending their understanding of the evolution and function of animal behaviour in advanced topics such as behavioural ecology and sexual selection. All honours students are required to undertake a research project during the second half of their degree.
Year one core modules:
Animal Behaviour in Context
Biomeasurement
Core Biology
Introduction to Animal Behaviour & Welfare
Animal Form and Function
Year two core modules:
Biological Bases of Behaviour
Concepts in Animal Behaviour
Practical Biology
Preparation for Research
Applied Ethology and Animal Welfare
Year three core modules:
Undergraduate Project
Advanced Topics in Behavioural Ecology
Behavioural Ecology
Special Topics in Animal Behaviour
Associated careers
The practical skills you will acquire through this course will be useful in a variety of professional fields, although this degree will be of particular value to anyone wishing to pursue a career within wildlife conservation or zoo education. The pathway also provides excellent general training as a scientist, enabling you to work in the field or in the laboratory for a wide range of organisations. Potential employers include: government agencies, environmental consultancies, wildlife conservation organisations, educational and research establishments. The course may also lead on to further postgraduate study and a research career.
Assessment
This course uses a wide range of methods of assessment including essays, practical reports, computer based assessments, presentations, debates, steeplechase tests, reviews of scientific papers and examinations. The weighting of different assessment methods varies between modules and levels of study.
Special features
Field Trips – The Department organises a wide range of one-day and residential field trips to a variety of exciting locations both in the UK and abroad. Residential field trips currently include deer watching in Rum, Scotland; marine, terrestrial and freshwater ecology and animal behaviour in Devon; seabirds and seals in the Farne Islands, Northumberland; marine biology in western Scotland; Bialowieza primeval forest in Poland; zoo design and management in the Netherlands; tropical wildlife and ecology in Kenya, and diving and marine biology in the Red Sea.
Tags: anglia ruskin, animal behaviour, behaviour research, biological context, british wildlife, core theme, degree course, developme, discoveries, domesticated animals, five continents, laboratory animals, lecturing team, natural behaviour, oceans, origins, scientific breakthroughs, specialist subject, zoos