BI/PSY 441, Animal Behavior
Instructor: Rebecca Burton, Ph.D.
Office: CO 221
Classroom: TL 212
Email: rebecca.burton@alverno.edu
Texts: Animal Behavior, Drickamer et al. &
Additional readings
Introduction
Animal behavior is studied by people in a wide range of fields, including
behavioral ecology, comparative psychology, anthropology, agricultural science,
neurobiology, wildlife management, and veterinary medicine. While all of these
researchers use the scientific framework, they may ask different questions because
they are interested in different concepts and applications. For example, a
psychologist might be interested in infanticide in a particular species because
she hopes to gain insight into human behavior. A behavioral ecologist is interested
in how infanticide affects evolutionary fitness. A neurophysiologist could be
quantifying the changes in brain chemistry during infanticide. A veterinarian
might be looking for information that will help her decrease the likelihood
of infanticide in a captive population. This course is intended to serve students
with interests in any field concerning animal behavior. Therefore, we will look at
questions that might be asked by researchers in several different fields. Specific
review topics chosen by the student will help to direct her learning towards aspects
of animal behavior which interest her most. Because psychology courses are available
for the study of human behavior, non-human animals will be the focus of this course.
Resources
Alverno Biology Dept. home page
Alverno Psychology Dept.
Last update: 1/12/04 by Rebecca Burton, Dept. of Biology, Alverno College