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Course Information

BIOL 3101: Animal Behaviour

• This course provides a basic introduction to the study of behaviour, concentrating on the evolution of behaviour by natural selection.
• Students will develop a basic understanding of the evolution and adaptation of behaviour.
• The course covers various topics, including feeding, habitat choice, antipredator behaviour, parental care and reproductive tactics, mating systems, social behaviour, and human behaviour.

Course Details

• Delivery methods: Online, self-paced
• Credits: 3.0
• Recommended requisite(s): BIOL 1113, BIOL 1115, BIOL 1213, BIOL 1215, BIOL 3021
• Exclusions: BIOL 3100
• Course duration: 30 weeks

Learning Outcomes

• Identify the types of questions that may be asked about animal behaviour, and formulate hypotheses to explain a given behaviour.
• Distinguish between individual and group selection explanations for the evolution of behaviour, and explain why the latter is incorrect.
• Trace the history of the study of animal behaviour and how the field of study became what it is today.
• Explain the principles involved in the historical evolution of any behaviour.
• Describe some of the mechanisms involved in the production of a behavioural sequence by an animal.
• Discuss the role of natural selection in the evolution of behaviour.
• Discuss the evolution of human behaviour.
• Critically examine scientific papers and identify hypotheses and predictions about behaviour, the procedures used to test them, the types of data collected, how the results are visually displayed and described, and how the results are interpreted by the authors.

Course Topics

• Unit 1: An Introduction to Behaviour
• Unit 2: Bird SongA Case Study for Understanding the Study of Behaviour
• Unit 3: The Role of Genetic, Environmental, Developmental, Hormonal, and Neuronal Factors in Animal Behaviour
• Unit 4: Acquiring Resources, Choosing Habitat, and Avoiding Predation
• Unit 5: Communication, Reproduction, and Mating Systems
• Unit 6: Sociality

Required Text and Materials

• de Waal, F. (2016). Are We Smart Enough to Know How Smart Animals Are? W. Norton & Company.
• Rubenstein DR. (2023). Animal Behaviour (12th ed.). Sinauer Associates.

Assessments

• Assignment 1: Unit 2 Paper Breakdown Changing Song Dialects (5%)
• Assignment 2: Blogs 1 3 (10%)
• Assignment 3: Unit 3 Paper Breakdown Cognition (6%)
• Assignment 4: Unit 4 Paper Breakdown Migration (7%)
• Assignment 5: Unit 5 Paper Breakdown Polyandry (7%)
• Assignment 6: Blogs 4 6 (10%)
• Assignment 7: Popular Science Essay (25%)
• Mandatory Final Exam (30%)
• Total (100%)