Animal Behavior, Ecology, and Conservation
Reasons to study animal behavior, ecology and conservation at Canisius University are as numerous and diverse as the members of the animal kingdom. Among the most common: letting your passion for animals lead you to both a community of like-minded students and mentors, as well as a fulfilling career where you can make a difference in the issues that affect animal welfare and wildlife conservation.
Since the program’s founding in 2009, ABEC at Canisius has the distinction of being the first in the country to formally incorporate moral and ethical considerations around the treatment of animals and wildlife into the curriculum. That spirit of purpose-driven leadership and innovation guides the structure and content of your course of study as well as your interactions with your peers and professors. Our faculty include nationally recognized and research-active scholars who will guide you through your learning, from the classroom to the field and beyond.
ABEC at Canisius provides you with a strong basis of knowledge achieved through small classroom experiences that emphasize active, hands-on learning as soon as your first year. Upper-level courses take your learning further with labs and field experiences, such as training foster kittens to have fulfilling relationships in their forever homes in our campus Animal Learning Lab, working with partner zoos, aquariums and sanctuaries, and immersing yourself in wilderness ecosystems to study endangered wildlife. The abundance of experiential opportunities that you’ll find as an ABEC student will ground your learning and prepare you to succeed in your career.
Sample experiential opportunities:
- Take a road trip to study zoo exhibit design over fall break – then come back and design your own.
- Study movement patterns of turtles to help reduce road collisions.
- Create a customized behavior plan to help a dog owner achieve their training goals.
- Intern on a whale watching boat as a naturalist and educate people about ocean conservation
- Show off your green thumb in our campus community and native plant gardens.
Distinctions
Study in a program nationally recognized for its unique focus on animal behavior aligned with animal welfare and conservation education. The college was among the first academic institutions to formally tie the study of animals to ethical considerations and currently offers the largest program of its kind in the nation
