This programme gives both practical experience with animals and an academic understanding of animal behaviour, their biology and their welfare.
Why study this course?
The BSc Honours degree in Animal Behaviour and Welfare provides a unique combination of rigorous academic study with hands-on training and experience in animal care and welfare. You will have daily contact with animals throughout your first year of study at Reaseheath College in Nantwich, Cheshire.
Here a very large collection of domestic animals and an impressive range of zoo animals gives you the opportunity to learn about the handling and care not only of domestic mammals and birds, but also reptiles, amphibians, birds of prey, and exotic species including a colony of meerkats and a troop of ring-tailed lemurs.
The Chester Campus offers all the research facilities of a modern university. Here you will explore the more academic understanding of animal behaviour and welfare issues that you gained practical experience of at Reaseheath.
The curriculum at Chester is informed by research and offers a challenging yet supportive academic environment at the cutting edge of knowledge. Work in the field will expand your knowledge of wild animal behaviour and conservation, and there is an opportunity to do dissertation work in the final year of the single honours degree, which allows students to work with lecturing staff on research projects in animal behaviour and welfare.
Features:
Scientific approach to the study of animal behaviour and the welfare of animals.
Sound grounding in biology and scientific method.
Experience of handling and caring for animals at Reaseheath College, including:
- Colony of meerkats
- A troop of ring-tailed lemurs
- Many domestic pets
- Birds (including birds of prey)
- Reptiles and amphibians
- Fish and invertebrates
- Farm animals in the college farm
Our programme includes Chester Zoo Membership in the final two years of your studies and trips to Chester Zoo.
Teaching:
Students are based at Reaseheath College during the first year, with one day of study per week spent at the University of Chester. You will then be based at the University of Chester during your second and third years, with one day of study per week in the second year spent at Reaseheath College. Transport is provided between both campuses for these weekly visits with costs included as part of the course. For students wishing to live close by, you will live in Halls of Residence at Reaseheath College during your first year.
More information about the programme can be found at: Reaseheath College
Programme Structure:
The programme is modular in structure and is delivered at three levels over three academic years. Some modules are common to other degree pathways, while others are highly specialised and have been developed specifically for the animal behaviour programmes.
Level 4 (Year 1):
This is based at Reaseheath College and develops essential skills in the care and welfare of a wide range of animal species, with an emphasis on practical experience. You will be introduced to core principles of biological science and more specialist principles in animal behaviour, with weekly visits to use the facilities on the Chester Campus to do two modules.
Level 4 modules:
- Introduction to Animal Behaviour: introduces the major approaches and the principal discoveries in animal behaviour.
- Animal Handling and Care: develops appropriate techniques for handling a range of captive animals safely and effectively, building knowledge of animal and public health and safety, and animal husbandry techniques.
- Animal Welfare Issues: develops knowledge and understanding of the role of animal welfare organisations, UK animal welfare legislation and current animal welfare issues.
- Animal Anatomy and Physiology: provides an introduction to the principles of animal physiology among the vertebrates and examines their ability to adapt to the universal challenges of life.
- Genetics an Evolution*: gives an introduction to basic principles and concepts in genetics and their role in natural selection and the evolution of form and behaviour.
- Behavioural Data Analysis and Project Design*: introduces basic forms of data handling and statistical analysis, with specialist skills in observing and recording animal behaviour.
*taught at the University of Chester
Level 5 (Year 2):
Based at Chester, this sees a shift in emphasis to more academic and research-informed subjects. Core concepts in animal behaviour are studied and skills in research methodology are developed in lectures and practiced in the field. The applied focus continues with weekly visits to Reaseheath. A work placement in the summer allows you to test out your academic knowledge in practice.
Level 5 modules:
- Behavioural Ecology: draws upon evolutionary principles to look at the way animals behave in relation to their social and physical environments.
- Adaptations to the Environment: looks at the variety of adaptations that animals have developed to enable them to thrive in a diverse array of environments.
- Research Methods: introduces the wider concept of research philosophy and practice, developing techniques in sourcing, analysing and communicating written and numeric information.
- Work-based or Experiential Learning: in the summer term of the second year you choose either a major field course or a one month work-placement that allows you to test out your skills and knowledge in the field or in an animal-related business or concern.
- Animal Health & Disease*: explores the biology of disease and strategies used to manage health at the individual and population level.
- Zoos and Exotics*: looks at the management of exotic species including, a wide range of species, including Mammals, Birds, Fish, Reptiles, Amphibians, Invertebrates and introduces students to the skills, protocols, techniques and practices involved in the husbandry of exotic species.
*taught at Reaseheath College
Level 6 (Year 3):
The Dissertation is a core module in level 6 to give you an understanding and experience of research. It can be done as a single or a double module. Students then have a choice of either 3 or 4 optional modules (depending on whether they choose the single or double dissertation module) taught by lecturers with research expertise in the area allows you to specialise according to your interests.
Level 6 modules:
- Dissertation (compulsory): a single or double module double module where you pursue your own research project in animal behaviour or science communication, working closely with a tutor who has research expertise in the area.
- Ethics, Welfare and Applied Animal Behaviour: seeks to examine philosophical approaches to the notion of animal rights, examining the tensions that arise between animal and human interests, and critically evaluates the extent to which animal behaviour theory can be used to assess welfare in animals across a variety of settings.
- Animal Behaviour and Conservation: is an emerging research field at the interface between animal behaviour and conservation biology, giving students the opportunity to integrate their existing knowledge of animal behaviour in this applied context.
- Conservation and Environmental Impact: how scientific knowledge of global ecosystems, habitats and species is combined with human economic and social development issues to determine conservation strategies.
- Physiology and Behaviour: builds on earlier modules to examine the latest research and theory concerning the different ways in which physiological processes act and interact in bringing about animal behaviour.
- Applied Learning Theory and Behaviour Modification: explores the application of learning theory to animal training and problem behaviour modification.
- Animal Cognition: explores how we can understand the way animals process information and perceive their world.
- Evolution and Human Behaviour: explores key theoretical principles of evolutionary psychology to show how they illuminate the way humans think and behave. In essence, it applies the theories and principles of animal behaviour to studies of human beings.
