This course will use lecture, primary literature, discussion, and hands on activities to address common methods and techniques that are used in the study of animal behavior. These activities will focus on how topics in animal behavior are addressed scientifically and will provide exposure to both historical and modern techniques for animal behavior research. Topics covered will include behavioral sampling techniques, basic learning processes, and human behavior.

This course will challenge students to think about the ethical and individual consequences of keeping wild animals in captivity, and will address a number of practical considerations related to animal husbandry and captive breeding. Specific topical areas will include ethics of keeping animals in zoos and aquaria, basic mammal management, demographic and genetic strategies for species survival, zoos and aquaria as ex situ conservation sites, learning and behavior in captive environments, environmental enrichment methods and research, and endocrine monitoring for reproduction and stress.

The scientific study of animal communication draws from a range of disciplines, including physics, psychology, neuroscience, behavioral ecology, cognitive science and linguistics. This course will investigate communication from a taxonomically diverse and multimodal perspective, including acoustic, visual, and chemical signaling. Specific attention will be given to the social, environmental, and evolutionary drivers of communication within the network of signalers and receivers.

The Animal Welfare Assessment Contest aims to help students practice skills in animal welfare assessment, oral presentation, and argumentative logic. These goals are achieved through a series of live and virtual scenarios. Live scenarios consist of staged tours of animal management facilities. The virtual scenarios present competitors with information about two hypothetical animal care facilities. All scenarios include information about the health, physiology, behavior, and housing environment of animals in managed care (i.e., agricultural, companion, lab, and zoo settings). Competitors work independently and in teams of three to five to synthesize information, craft arguments about the welfare status of the animals, and present these arguments to judges with expertise in animal welfare. The goal of this course is to prepare students for participation in the AVMA’s annual Animal Welfare Assessment Contest. The primary contest is hosted every November. Instructor consent is required to join the team. Students interested in joining the team are recommended to have completed or be enrolled in Captive Animal Management (ANB 278), Applied Animal Behavior (PSY 305 / 505), Animal Learning and Behavior (ANB/PSY 384) or other non-UNE courses centered around themes of animal welfare theory.

This course will deal with multiple aspects of animal behavior across many species. Specific attention will be given to evolutionary psychology and the genetic basis of speciation. Following this, a number of different types of behavior will be discussed, with respect to both the similarities and differences among species and the adaptive significance of differing behaviors.

A major focus of this course will be on cognitive evolution in a variety of species, with specific attention to cognitive development in dolphins, whales, monkeys, apes, and humans. How do animals think without language as we know it? The fundamental principles and theories of learning and information processing in animals will be explored. The history, nature, and philosophical implications of cognitive science also will be explored, including attention to artificial intelligence.

The mixture of two disciplines, conservation biology and animal behavior, Conservation Behavior will challenge students to apply their knowledge of animal behavior to the conservation of captive and wild animals. After establishing foundational knowledge from the text and lectures, students will lead discussions of the primary scientific literature. In this course students will explore how an understanding of animal behavior can facilitate the effort to reverse the present biodiversity crisis.

Foraging is how animals get food, and foraging is risky business. Students will delve into the decisions animals must make when energy is expended and safety is risked in order to acquire the food needed for survival and reproduction. The course will be a mixture of introductory lectures, experimental work on small mammal foraging, and student-lead discussions of foundation and current literature. This is a 3 credit course. Prerequisites include PSY 225 or MAT 150 or MAT 151.

This course will cover historical and contemporary theories of learning and memory from a behaviorist perspective. We will focus on animal studies using classical and operant conditioning paradigms. A majority of the content will be concerned with environmental influences on behavior and focus on understanding the mechanisms of learning through investigation of empirical studies. This course fulfills a requirement for both the psychology and animal behavior majors and is an elective for the neuroscience major.

This course will build on the materials in ANB/PSY 275. Lecture, thorough discussion of primary literature, and the development of experiments to address topics in animal behavior research will be used. Through this course, you will gain an understanding of what it means to be an animal behavior scientist and the techniques and methods involved in the field. Topics covered will include the construction of ethograms, game theory and its application to behavior, and the influence of environment on behavior.

The student will be involved with animal projects, choosing from a variety of positions and/or research offering hands-on experience in aspects of animal care, training, and/or observation. At present, internships are available which apply to large marine mammal observation and training, marine mammal conservation (including an internship involving a National Geographic research team), canine training for behavioral problems and canine training for help with human disabilities. Internships are continually being developed in this program. Permission of instructor required.

The Animal Welfare Assessment Contest aims to help students practice skills in animal welfare assessment, oral presentation, and argumentative logic. These goals are achieved through a series of live and virtual scenarios. Live scenarios consist of staged tours of animal management facilities. The virtual scenarios present competitors with information about two hypothetical animal care facilities. All scenarios include information about the health, physiology, behavior, and housing environment of animals in managed care (i.e., agricultural, companion, lab, and zoo settings). Competitors work independently and in teams of three to five to synthesize information, craft arguments about the welfare status of the animals, and present these arguments to judges with expertise in animal welfare. The goal of this course is to prepare students for participation in the AVMA’s annual Animal Welfare Assessment Contest. The primary contest is hosted every November. Instructor consent is required to join the team. Students interested in joining the team are recommended to have completed or be enrolled in Captive Animal Management (ANB 278), Applied Animal Behavior (PSY 305 / 505), Animal Learning and Behavior (ANB/PSY 384) or other non-UNE courses centered around themes of animal welfare theory.