Animal Behavior

Catalog description

This course will introduce the student to the field of animal behavior. To gain a full understanding of the complexities of this subject, students will study aspects that influence innate behaviors, such as genetics, population biology, evolution and learned behaviors, such as learning theory and cultural transmission. The course examines theoretical and conceptual issues in animal behavior using experiments and case studies to highlight examples. We will focus on many important biological activities such as mating, the role of kinship, cooperation, communication, aggression, and play. In addition to identifying major patterns and processes of animal behavior, we will discuss the observational and experimental techniques used to study behavior and explore the major conceptual models guiding past and current research in this field. The course is offered as an upper level science course aimed at environmental science and psychology majors.