Animal Behavior

Catalog description

This course offers a comprehensive exploration of animal behavior and the ways in which animals interact with, adapt to, and survive within their environments. Students will investigate such core topics as animal learning, the evolution of behavioral mechanisms, foraging strategies, defense against predation, aggression, sensory systems, communication, mating systems, and parental care. Special topics such as the connections between animal behavior, art, and design, and biomimicry-drawing inspiration from the natural world to understand and solve human challenges, may be explored. Students will complete a semester-long behavioral observation project using concepts learned in class and raw data collection.