Overview
From world-class zoos to wildlife in Africa, you’ll explore and understand the lives of animals on this Cambridge-based course. Take part in cutting-edge research in our specialist labs, closely linked to Cambridge University, and study animal behaviour in marine and terrestrial systems in the field. Recognised by the Royal Society of Biology, this course offers an optional placement year, giving you both the scientific training and practical skills for a career in zoos, wildlife conservation or environmental consultancy.
If you’re interested in a career exploring and understanding the lives of animals, you’ll be in good company – alongside Charles Darwin, Dian Fossey, Jane Goodall and David Attenborough.
Zoology is closely connected to subjects such as cell biology and genetics. You could choose to specialise in areas such as animal behaviour, wildlife biology or ecology and conservation.
Field work is an important part of zoology. It’s a practical subject and we’ll 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 overseas. You’ll need to pay for these optional trips.
Cambridge is becoming a world centre for wildlife conservation, with Fauna and Flora International, Birdlife International and the World Conservation Monitoring Centre based here. You’ll have opportunities to attend lectures and visit specialist museums and libraries in the city. If you’re interested in captive animal behaviour, you can access the facilities at the College of West Anglia, Cambridge.
Our course is recognised by the Royal Society of Biology’s degree-recognition scheme.
You can choose to take an optional placement year as part of your degree.
Careers
We work with employers to make sure you graduate with the knowledge, skills and abilities they need. They help us review what we teach and how we teach it – and they offer hands-on, practical opportunities to learn through work-based projects, internships or placements.
We’ll encourage you to do voluntary or paid work at every opportunity to build your practical experience and help to attract employers. For example, you could support your local wildlife trust.
Our course will open up a world of professional careers relating to the biology of animals. You’ll have good general training as a scientist, so you could choose to work in the field, in the laboratory, or both – and anywhere in the world.
After graduating, you might work for a zoo, a government agency, an environmental consultancy, a wildlife conservation organisation, or an education or research establishment. Graduates of this course have gone to work for leading zoos, the RSPB, local wildlife trusts, the BBC Natural History Unit, and fieldwork and research teams in exciting places from Costa Rica to Africa.
As a graduate of this course, you’ll be able to apply for membership of the Zoological Society of London, the Royal Society of Biology, and other professional organisations.
Graduation doesn’t need to be the end of your time with us. If you’d like to continue your studies we offer a range of full-time and part-time postgraduate courses including MSc Animal Behaviour: Applications for Conservation and MSc Applied Wildlife Conservation.
Modules & Assessment
Year one, core modules
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Animal Form and Function
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Introduction to Wildlife and Conservation
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Biomeasurement
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Introduction to Animal Behaviour
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Origins of Life
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Ecology
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Evolution and Biodiversity
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Introduction to Marine Biology
Year two, core modules
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Biological Research Skills
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Field Skills in Biology
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Invertebrate Biology
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Vertebrate Biology
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Principles of Genetics and Evolution
Year two, optional modules
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Marine and Terrestrial Communities
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Evolution of Behaviour
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Animal Health and Nutrition
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Biological Bases of Behaviour
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Parasitology
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Biological Oceanography
Year three, core modules
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Wildlife Conservation
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Behavioural Ecology
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Undergraduate Major Project
Year three, optional modules
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Advanced Approaches in Animal Management
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Zoos and Zoo Animal Management
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Biogeography
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Mammalogy
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Cognition, Evolution and Behaviour
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Countryside Management
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Population Ecology and Wildlife Management
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Practical Marine Biology
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Tropical Ecology and Management
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Coastal Marine Biology
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Animal Communication
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Applied Ethology and Animal Welfare
Assessment
Throughout the course, we’ll use a range of assessment methods to help you measure your progress. Besides exams, these include essays, practical reports, computer-based assessments, presentations, debates, classroom- or laboratory-based tests, and reviews of scientific papers.
Where you’ll study
Your faculty
The Faculty of Science & Engineering is one of the largest of the four faculties at Anglia Ruskin University. Whether you choose to study with us full-time or part-time, on campus or at a distance, there’s an option whatever your level – from a foundation degree, BSc, MSc, PhD or professional doctorate.
Whichever course you pick, you’ll gain the theory and practical skills needed to progress with confidence. Join us and you could find yourself learning in the very latest laboratories or on field trips or work placements with well-known and respected companies. You may even have the opportunity to study abroad.
Everything we do in the faculty has a singular purpose: to provide a world-class environment to create, share and advance knowledge in science, technology and engineering fields. This is key to all of our futures.
