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Free Course: Animal Behaviour

Animals are a reflection of their environment, and their behaviour a result of both evolution and environmental influences. Animal behaviour is a fascinating subject, as animals can be sometimes so funny, dazzling, puzzling, or even a reflection of their owners behaviour! With this course you may learn the basics to identify factors affecting animal behaviour and explain how animals perceive and respond to various stimuli.

Course content

Part 1: Explains what factors affect and define animal behaviour.

Part 2: Explain what animals perceive in their environment and how they respond to the different stimuli.

The course also has some tasks to perform to apply your newly acquired knowledge, and you can test your progress doing Self Assessment Tests. The course finishes with an assignment, that you can have marked for a small fee, and an award sent to you if passed successfully.

Just click on the name of the part you wish to study below to download the file.

  • (1) Animal Behaviour Part One (Adobe PDF Document, 178 KB)
  • (2) Self Assessment Test One (Flash File, 173 KB)
  • (3) Animal Behaviour Part Two (Adobe PDF Document, 71.2 KB)
  • (4) Self Assessment Test Two (Flash File, 173 KB)
  • (5) Assignment (Adobe PDF Document, 20.4 KB)

    • This mini course is based upon extracts from parts of a much larger course. The mini course should take on average about 4 hours to complete. The full course is a 100 hour course. Its contents are listed below. For more information follow this link Animal Behaviour course. Also check out our specialty websites on Agriculture and Environment

    ANIMAL BEHAVIOUR (BAG203) 

    An understanding of animal behaviour is important in any situation where a person works with animals, from farmers to animal keepers at zoos, and from horse trainers to kennel owners. This is an excellent foundation course, and relevant to working with animals in any situation.

    Duration: 100 Hours

    COURSE STRUCTURE
    There are eight lessons in this course:

    1. Introduction: Influences and motivation.
      1. What is behaviour 
      2. Causes of behaviour (eg. genetics, learning, external and internal influences) 
      3. Reactive, active and cognitive behaviour 
      4. Conditioning
    2. Genetics and Behaviour.
      1. Understanding biology
      2. Natural selection
      3. Genetic variation
      4. Development of behaviour
      5. Behavioural genetics
    3. Animal Perception and Behaviour.
      1. How animals perceive things
      2. What stimulates them and how do those stimuli function
      3. Instinct
      4. Neural control
      5. Sensory processes, sight, sound, hearing etc.
    4. Behaviour and the Environment.
      1. Coordination
      2. Orientation
      3. Homeostasis
      4. Acclimatisation
      5. Circadian rhythms
      6. Biological clocks
      7. Reproductive cycles etc.
    5. Social Behaviour.
      1. Animal Societies
      2. Aggression
      3. Social constraints
      4. Social order
      5. Play
      6. Biological clocks
      7. Communication
    6. Instinct and Learning.
      1. Conditioning and learning
      2. Extinction and habituation
      3. Instrumental learning
      4. Reinforcement
      5. Operant behaviour
      6. Biological and cognitive aspects of learning
    7. Handling Animals.
      1. Psychological affects of different handling techniques
      2. Training animals (horses, cats, dogs, etc).
      3. The student has a choice of which types of animals to focus on, though a variety will still be covered.
    8. Behavioural Problems.
      1. Abnormal behaviour (eg. Psychotic, neurotic);
      2. Domestication of animals
      3. Reducing human contact
      4. Reducing human dependence

    Each lesson culminates in an assignment which is submitted to the school, marked by the school's tutors and returned to you with any relevant suggestions, comments, and if necessary, extra reading.

    Aims