In the series “Student Voices,” current students write about the reasons they chose Hampshire and how our educational model works from their perspective.
For students who are interested in the biology and brain cognition of animals, Hampshire College offers an animal behavior program through its School of Cognitive Science. Available courses cover topics such as animal behavior, animal cognition, communication, and evolution. Through the School of Natural Science, students can also learn about the anatomy, physiology, biochemistry, genetics, and ecology of animals.
As well as offering an array of animal behavior courses, the Hampshire campus is also ideal for hands-on experience with animals. There is a farm center on campus, which is the home of animals such as sheep, goats, chickens, and llamas. Forest and wetlands surround the College, and are full of natural wildlife including owls, raptors, frogs, rabbits, and coyotes.
The College also has helpful resources for animal behavior students. For example, the Cole Science Center has an extension called the Bioshelter, where students can research aquaculture and marine ecology. The Bioshelter is supported by the Five College Coastal and Marine Sciences Program, which provides research opportunities in ecology, hydroponics, aquaculture, genetics, and renewable energy. The program is associated with the Marine Biological Laboratory at Woods Hole, which offers students seminars and internships.
Although animal behavior is not my main area of study, I took an animal behavior course during my first year at Hampshire. We studied a number of scientific papers chronicling animal behavior experiments, and at the end of the semester were required to write our own research paper and give an in-class presentation. We had a lot of freedom in this final project, and could write about any animal species we wanted to. I chose to do my research on elephants, focusing specifically on their abilities of recognition. Through my studies, I discovered fascinating information about how elephants recognize each other using sound and smell, and how they might even have the ability to recognize themselves in mirrors. It was an interesting and fun project, and something I still enjoy talking about.
Hampshire’s classes, resources, and environment make it an ideal animal behavior college. And from my own experience, the animal behavior program is very informative for anyone who is interested in studying animals.
