Animal Behaviour and Welfare
Animal Behaviour and Welfare
Animal welfare has been described as a complex, multifaceted public policy issue which includes important scientific, ethical, and other dimensions. Improving our understanding of animal welfare, involves the fascinating study of animal behavior as well as the challenge of accessing the emotions of animals.
Overview
Animals occupy a huge part of the planet and our lives, and although we rely on them for all aspects of our own wellbeing food, draught power, medical advances, clothing, sport as well as pleasure, protection and comfort often their quality of life is questionable. The University of Appreciating how animal's experience the world they live in and the Edinburgh different behavioural needs of the various species we interact with, enables us to gain a better understanding of their welfare Natalie Waran requirements, so that long term improvements to animal lives can be made. 5 weeks There are now more than 60 billion land animals raised for meat each 13 hours of work / week year around the world, and with increasing human populations and a rise in meat consumption in many parts of the world, these figures are 14Jul to 17Aug2014 set to double by 2050. Added to this is a huge and growing world population of dogs and cats, many of whom are strays with Requirements associated health and welfare issues. International concern for animal welfare continues to grow with rising demand for measures to protect 5 x quiz animals and improve their care and wellbeing. The link between each quiz 20% of score animal welfare and human wellbeing is clear, and yet we still have a 60% for pass long way to go if we are to address welfare needs globally. Finding ways to achieve higher standards of animal welfare, is therefore a key priority for any developed and developing nation. Due to gaining in Grade importance internationally, there is increasing recognition of the need 100% Pass for animal welfare issues to be addressed objectively in a scientifically credible manner. In this animal behaviour and welfare course, you will learn about animal welfare and why it matters, develop an understanding of some of the main welfare issues animals have to cope with as well as gaining an insight into the behavioural needs and the emotions of dogs, cats, farmed animals and captive wildlife. Dana B. Taylor
https://www.coursera.org/course/animal
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Animal Behaviour and Welfare
Syllabus Week 1: Introduction, History, and Concepts of Animal Welfare. ● During this week, we will consider what animal welfare is, the meanings and definitions of animal welfare and the history of animal welfare in different parts of the world and how views on animal welfare are influenced by cultural, social, economical, political and other factors. Week 2: Animal Behaviour and Animal Welfare Assessment ● Animals show both shortterm and longterm behavioural, physiological responses and immunological responses to challenges in their environment. We can use knowledge of animal physiology and both normal and abnormal behaviour as complementary approaches in the assessment of the welfare of an animal in its captive environment. We can also employ experimental techniques to try to understand animal emotions in relation to their living conditions, for example; to determine their preferences, or what they don't like or find aversive about a procedure or environment. These experimental techniques allow us to ‘ask’ the animals how they feel about their environment. In week 2 we will explore a variety of techniques used practically and experimentally to provide an insight into the animal’s experience of its world. Week 3: Practical Animal Welfare: Companion Animal Welfare ● In many countries dogs and cats are traditionally kept as pets in the home, with stray/abandoned or unwanted animals usually housed in shelters, where there are frequently questions about their behavioural needs. In other parts of the world dogs and cats may exist very successfully as part of a ‘community’ or as ‘street’ animals, and this existence also presents unique challenges and benefits to the welfare of these species. In this lecture we will explore the place of dogs and cats in human society and how different attitudes and management styles impact on their welfare. Week 4: Practical Animal Welfare: Production Animal Welfare ● Production animal welfare is a hot topic. In this session you will gain an appreciation of the relevance of farm animal welfare and the issues that impact on production animal species. We shall also look at the way that scientists have contributed to our understanding of the importance of these impacts from an animal's point of view. We will explore societal concerns, the scientific understanding of animal welfare within a variety of production methods and how we gain insight to the animal's viewpoint. Week 5: Practical Animal Welfare: Captive Wild Animal Welfare ● During the fifth week we will summarise key welfare issues relating to the management of captive wild animals in zoos. Primarily conservationfocussed, the zoo community is becoming increasingly aware of the welfare concerns arising from the management of captive wild animals and is developing strategies to address these issues. We will look at the conflicts between welfare and conservation, the methods for assessing welfare within a zoo environment and the challenges associated with this. Dana B. Taylor
https://www.coursera.org/course/animal
2/3
Animal Behaviour and Welfare
Grading & Logistics To achieve a Statement of Accomplishment (or Verified Certificate if doing Signature Track) you need to obtain a grade of 60% overall. The grade is calculated as an average of scores achieved across all the Weekly Quizzes Weekly quizzes (Weighting: Each Week 20%) Each quiz will contain between 10 and 15 questions, and you will have until the 22nd August at 23:59 to finish all of them (all times are given in UK time, which is UTC + 1:00 please convert to your local time using the world clock). All quizzes are submitted through the course website and will be graded electronically by the course software. ●
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For quizzes you will allowed three attempts each. You will be able to see the hints and explanations immediately after you submit. If you get a question wrong, we will not display the correct answer, but you will see an explanation about why your answer is wrong. Quizzes must be submitted before the final exam due date (Friday 22nd August, 23:59 UTC) to receive credit. However, we strongly urge you to do them each week as you move along with the lectures.
Results Weekly Quizzes: ● Quiz 1: 22/22 ● Quiz 2: 26/26 ● Quiz 3: 14/14 ● Quiz 4: 12/12 ● Quiz 5: 20/20
Grade: 100% Pass
Dana B. Taylor
https://www.coursera.org/course/animal
3/3
