ZOO 4513C ANIMAL BEHAVIOR WITH LAB 4 credits

Prerequisite: BSC 2011/2011L and PCB 3043C. This course teaches how and why animals behave the way that they do.  How animals behave is the realm of proximate causation, which incorporates physiological, developmental and genetic bases of behavior.  Why animals behave a certain way is ultimate causation, which investigates the adaptive value of behavior.  The adaptive component of behavior also introduces the sub-discipline of behavioral ecology, where the animal’s behavior is studied in an ecological and evolutionary context.  This allows us to merge concepts from Animal Physiology, Genetics and Ecology with behavior to provide a highly integrated program of study.  This course is a combined lecture and lab class.   The lab component helps students to understand the scientific process and to develop skills in observation, description, data analysis, basic statistics, literature review and evaluation, and writing.  92 contact hours.