Program Overview

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MOOC Animal Behaviour in Conservation

The MOOC Animal Behaviour in Conservation is a course designed to equip participants with the skills to assess human-caused impact on diverse species and apply behavioural principles to design more effective conservation actions.

Why follow this course?

Biodiversity in crisis

Climate change, habitat destruction, and overexploitation are among the anthropogenic threats faced by wild animals, leading to a decline in biodiversity. With over 40,000 species threatened with extinction, it is essential to adopt a conservation behaviour perspective to address these challenges.

Take the animal perspective

This course, developed by the makers of the popular MOOC ‘Introduction to Animal Behaviour’, helps participants take the animal perspective in major conservation challenges, such as environmental change, human-wildlife conflict, and wildlife reintroductions.

Design innovative conservation interventions

The course explores key concepts from animal behaviour and applies them to practical wildlife conservation issues. Behaviour-sensitive management has led to successful conservation interventions, including:

• A wind farm with technology warning for migrating birds decreased soaring bird mortality to zero with a shutdown period of only 0.2–1.2%.
• A livestock grazing strategy avoiding cheetah communication hubs reduced livestock losses with 86%.
• A mammal translocation program taking neighbour relations into account led to 24 times more offspring for translocated individuals.

Is this course for you?

This course is suitable for professionals working with wildlife, students of wildlife conservation or animal behaviour, and individuals with a general interest in animal behaviour or conservation. Participants will learn how to use animal behaviour in conservation to effectively monitor threats, increase understanding of diverse responses to environmental change, and design innovative interventions.

What you will learn

• Connect key behavioural concepts to relevant conservation challenges
• Understand how animals use behaviour to mitigate anthropogenic threats
• Recognize which behavioural traits can serve as threat and management indicators
• Identify successful examples of behaviour-based conservation management
• Use relevant resources to find species-specific information on biology and conservation challenges
• Design a basic species action plan incorporating a behaviour-based conservation action

Course leaders

• dr. L (Lysanne) Snijders
• prof.dr. M (Marc) Naguib

Course details

• Organised by: Wageningen University & Research
• Duration: 5 weeks, 4-6 hours per week

Related education

• MOOC Introduction to Animal Behaviour
• MOOC Urban rewilding: restore your local ecosystem
• MOOC Climate Action in Biodiverse Landscapes

Continuing education at WUR

Wageningen University & Research offers a range of continuing education programs, including in-company programs, to help professionals stay relevant in the dynamic labour market. With over 300+ offerings, the university aims to share its expertise worldwide.