What to Expect

Hands-on work in the barn is a big part of an animal behavior student's life.

Alessia Ortolani studied for her master's degree in animal behavior in the psychology department of the University of California at Davis. She says her undergrad program was half classes and half working with animals. "I literally devoted almost every day of my week to doing recordings of animal behavior."

That included working with and recording the behavior of horses and sheep, as well as recording vocalizations and other aspects of their behaviour.

Moira Harris took her PhD in animal behaviour in a college of agriculture. She did her bachelor's degree in psychology and her master's in animal behavior.

She had no typical day. "I [did] a lot of hands-on stuff," Harris says. "I [worked] with the animals quite a lot and I [spent] time in the office writing, reading, analyzing data, working on the computer."

In terms of the amount of homework, Harris says it's pretty much like a full-time job. "It can amount to an eight-hour day, sometimes less, but sometimes it might be a lot more. It you're doing a project, sometimes you can be up all night."

Survival Tips

"Find a place that will allow you to do hands-on research and collaborate on faculty projects," Ortolani advises.

She also emphasizes the importance of self-discipline to succeed in this program. Many programs are self-directed and students get to choose their own courses. You need to be disciplined enough to pick courses you may not enjoy.

Ortolani adds that it is very important that you position yourself as an expert in a particular field. If you're most interested in the biology of behavior, major in biology or zoology for your bachelor's degree. If you're more interested in psychology, a psych degree with classes in comparative psychology would be a good idea.

How to Prepare

Ortolani says you should definitely take all the basic science classes. "Biology is very important if you are going to study animal behavior," she says. Most animal behavior studies are a mixture of biology and psychology.

And don't forget those computer skills. "It is very important for an undergraduate to know how to use a computer, at least for the basics such as Word programs, and if you're doing science to know Excel," Ortolani says.

If you think this area of study might be for you, get involved in the field any way you can.

"Work with any kind of animals in a zoo or on a farm or at a veterinary clinic, that would be good," Harris says.