Animal Behaviour - BSc (Hons)

Learn how and why animals behave the way they do on our Royal Society of Biology-recognised course. Take a work placement that will open up wide-ranging careers in wildlife, conservation, zoo education and beyond. Gain the skills you’ll need to investigate animals and contribute to important discoveries. This course has been validated to include an optional Sandwich Placement year in industry.

For more information about Sandwich Placement opportunities, please contact the Placements Team.

Naked mole rats can run as fast backwards as they can forwards. Male penguins propose to their partners with the gift of a stone. Elephants bury their dead.

We understand more than ever before about the behaviour of animals – but with so much more to learn, could you be the one to discover one of the major scientific breakthroughs of the 21st century?

Our degree is the longest-established animal behaviour course in the UK, and it’s recognised by the Royal Society of Biology. Learn how and why animals behave the way they do, and how this can impact on the management and conservation of wild and domesticated creatures. You’ll develop the skills you’ll need to investigate animals and contribute to important discoveries in the future.

By studying animal behaviour, you’ll learn how we can manage and protect species. The development, physiology and evolution of species will form the basis of this course, but it’s not all theory. It’s a practical subject and we give you plenty of opportunities to learn and practise both in the lab and the field. In your second year you’ll take a week-long field trip to north Devon to experience both marine and terrestrial zoology, the costs of which are included in your course fees. On our optional field trips you might experience rutting red deer on the island of Rum; marine biology in Scotland; world-class zoos in the Netherlands; wildlife and ecology in Africa; and diving and marine biology in the Red Sea. You’ll need to pay for these trips.

Our staff are involved in field and captive studies internationally and in the UK, and have research links with organisations studying British wildlife and at Britain's most respected zoos.