Develop your understanding of animal behaviour, and your ability to apply that to the handling of a variety of different types of animals.

COURSE STRUCTURE AND CONTENT
There are 8 lessons in this course, as follows:

1. Introduction: Influences and motivation.  What is behaviour; causes of behaviour (e.g. genetics; learning; external and internal influences); reactive, active and cognitive behaviour; conditioning.
2. Genetics and Behaviour.  Understanding biology; natural selection; genetic variation; development of behaviour; behavioural genetics.
3. Animal Perception and Behaviour.  How animals perceive things; what stimulates them and how do those stimuli function; instinct; neural control; sensory processes: sight, sound, hearing etc.
4. Behaviour and the Environment. Coordination; orientation; homeostasis; acclimatisation; circadian rhythms; biological clocks; reproductive cycles; etc.
5. Social Behaviour.  Animal societies; aggression; social constraints; social order; play; sexual behaviour; communication.
6. Instinct and Learning.  Conditioning and learning; extinction and habituation; instrumental learning; reinforcement; operant behaviour; biological and cognitive aspects of learning.
7. Handling Animals.  Psychological effects of different handling techniques.  Training animals (horses, cats, dogs, etc). The student can choose which animals to focus on, though a variety are covered.
8. Behavioural Problems.  Abnormal behaviour (e.g. Psychotic; neurotic); domestication of animals; reducing human contact/dependence.

LESSON AIMS

• Identify factors affecting animal behaviour.
• Describe the influence of genes on animal behaviour.
• Explain how animals perceive and how they respond to various stimuli.
• Explain the influence of environment factors, such as circadian rhythms, on biological clocks, reproductive cycles, orientation and other animal behaviours.
• Explain the social influences on animal aggression, play, sexual behaviour, communication and other behaviours.
• Describe different ways that animals learn (such as conditioning and habituation) and some effects of learning on behaviour.
• Discuss psychological implications of different handling techniques.
• Identify abnormal animal behaviour (e.g. psychotic, neurotic behaviour) and ways to reduce dependence on humans.

Examples of what you may do:

• Observe an animal in the zoo, in the wild, or a domestic animal.  Try to observe what you consider to be an example of operant conditioning.  Make notes.
• Talk with an animal breeder (amateur or professional). This may be a pet owner whose cat or dog has given birth; or it may be a farmer, dog breeder, horse breeder, bird breeder or some other animal breeder.
• Write a paragraph describing the behaviour of an animal (real or contrived) which utilizes the different words you learnt under “terminology” in this lesson
• Classify the following animals according to whether they are endotherms or ectotherms, a dog, a penguin, a single celled protozoon, a lizard.  How is heat lost from endotherms to the environment, and how can this heat loss be reduced? 
• Observe an animal while it is on its own.  Make notes of how it behaves. Observe the same animal or species of animal in a group situation or in the presence of one other animal of the same species.  Make notes on its behaviour and pay attention to any noticeable differences compared to its solitary behaviour. 
• Visit a zoo, wildlife park or farm where animals are being confined in some way and observe the behaviour of one particular type of animal over the course of an hour. This can be any animal you choose to study. Make notes on its behaviour, and any problems that you would anticipate with handling.