Introduction to Animal Behavior
- The adaptive significance, development and mechanisms of animal behaviors
- How animals interact with their environments to help them reproduce and survive
- Animal social interactions, modes of communication, and responses to threats
- How to study animal behavior using scientific methods
- Animal movement and navigation and how they adapt to changing environments
- Dates
June 2 – 16, 2025Â | Mason’s academic calendar
- Available Formats
Undergraduate (CONS 472, 3 credits)
- Cost
- Who is eligible?
Undergraduate students, and non-degree-seeking students from any accredited college or university. Students should have taken an upper-level course in biology, ecology, conservation, or related discipline.
Meet the Faculty
Smithsonian-Mason School of Conservation
Curriculum
This course aims to provide undergraduate students with an understanding of animal behavior, from an evolutionary, ecological, and conservation perspective. Students will examine the developmental, genetic, physiological, and neurological underpinnings of animal behavior and how animals use behaviors to solve basic adaptations of survival and reproduction within various environments.
This two-week course is held online from June 2 to June 16, in an intensive, mostly asynchronous manner. There will be an opportunity to visit the animal collections at the Smithsonian’s Conservation Biology Institute in Front Royal and at the National Zoo in Washington, D.C., to get a chance to observe animal behaviors in person!
