General ethology

Study of animal behavior and general approaches to zoo psychology. This course focuses on the research into the psychological and neurological bases of animal sensation, cognition, behavior, perception, and behavioral interactions within and outside the species.

This program typically includes in-depth instruction in ethology, neurobiology, behavioral neuroscience, cognition and sensory perception, behavioral evolution, motivators, hormonal controls, learning and instinct, community ecology, reproductive and developmental biology, functional behavior, and applications to specific behaviors and patterns as well as to specific phyla and species.

This course achieves a good balance between recent research and classic studies of animal behavior. It integrates both psychological and biological approaches and provides current information in the areas of animal learning and cognition, parasitism, and mutualism. It includes all phases of scientific animal behavior investigation.