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For an experience open to students in Drake's Comparative Animal Behavior Concentration, two students sit in a jeep to observe an elephant.

Comparative Animal Behavior Concentration

Turn your love of animals into a career in Drake’s Comparative Animal Behavior concentration.

College of Arts & Sciences | On-Campus

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What You'll Learn

Animals are just like us, communicating through sounds and movements and interacting with various environments. In Drake University’s Comparative Animal Behavior concentration, you’ll examine the how and why behind their actions to prepare for careers or advanced studies in research, conservation, education, or veterinary medicine.

In classes covering evolution, neuroscience, and conservation biology, you’ll build a foundation that equips you to observe and understand wild and captive populations. Most importantly, though, you’ll have the chance to work with animals outside the classroom in internships and other experiences that bring textbook lessons to life.

Through fieldwork, you might help a local zoo design better enrichment programs for the animals that live there or learn how great apes think by communicating with one. Or through research on campus or for one of our partners, you might see how birds learn and perceive their environment, producing publishable findings in the process.

About the Comparative Animal Behavior Concentration

  • Prepare for careers in fields that involve the behavior of captive animals and wildlife.
  • Relevant to students majoring in Psychology, Neuroscience, Biology, Environmental Science and Sustainability, and similar fields.
  • Find invaluable experiences right here on campus and through Des Moines’ Blank Park Zoo, the Ape Cognition & Conservation Initiative, and other vibrant local resources.

Program Facts

  • 27-31 credits for the concentration

Program Options

The Comparative Animal Behavior Concentration is typically taken in concert with other science programs and used as a bridge to further study or employment in the field.

Comparative Animal Behavior Concentration

The concentration requires 15 credits of core classes, plus another 12 to 17 credit hours in topical electives in areas including Molecular Determinants of Behavior, Biological Determinants of Behavior, Comparative Analysis of Behavior, and Ecological Factors.

Meet the Faculty

Understanding animal behavior requires knowledge of fields as diverse as biology, psychology, and sustainability and conservation—all areas in which program faculty bring deep and varied expertise.

Dr. Emilee Hart

Dr. Emilee Hart

Assistant Professor, Zoo and Conservation Science

Dr. Muir Eaton

Dr. Muir Eaton

Professor, Biology

Dr. Olga Lazareva

Dr. Olga Lazareva

Professor, Psychology

All Faculty Members

Outside the Classroom

The best way to learn about animal behavior is to see interactions and reactions up close. You’ll get that opportunity at Drake, where almost every student engages in research and participates in an internship before graduation.

Students taking Drake's Comparative Animal Behavior Concentration pet a sitting zebra outdoors in a grassland environment

Research

The Drake University Science Collaborative Institute (DUSCI) can connect you to dozens of research opportunities, from lab-based brain studies to fieldwork tracking native species.

A group of students and faculty from Drake's Comparative Animal Behavior Concentration assist a rhino in a grassland environment

Internships

Drake students benefit from our partnerships with the Blank Park Zoo in Des Moines and the Ape Cognition & Conservation Initiative, the world’s only research center dedicated to the bonobo and one of the few places where you can practice the English language with great apes.

A student from Drake's Comparative Animal Behavior Concentration sits in an open-top vehicle to observe a herd of giraffes in the distance

Study Abroad Seminars

Short-term travel seminars get you deep into the field without committing months to studying abroad. You might conduct primate conservation research in Uganda or see African wildlife on a J-Term class in Rwanda.

Careers & Skills

Help preserve ecosystems for current and future animal populations, uncover greater insight into animal behavior patterns, or educate audiences about species and their habitats. Careers, whether after graduation or further studies, take our students along several paths, including animal psychology, ethology, neuroscience, veterinary medicine, or conservation biology.

In addition to relevant scientific and technical skills, your liberal arts classes will expand your perspective of the world, make you a more engaged citizen, and build your capacity for creative thinking and problem-solving, among many other things.

Opportunities

  • Wildlife biology
  • Veterinary science
  • Ecology
  • Zoo and aquarium operations
  • Conservation
  • Museum studies
  • Graduate work in medicine, neuroscience, and other fields

Skills

  • Build critical thinking, communication, and interpersonal skills through the Drake Curriculum
  • Learn how to develop and execute research projects
  • Apply the principles of animal behavior research with wild and captive populations
A student from Drake's Comparative Animal Behavior Concentration and a zoo employee interact with a seal in a setting featuring man made rocks

Salary & Growth Outlook

$

Median pay for wildlife biologists and zoologists in 2024. (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics)

Related Programs

The world is a resilient place—but it could use our help more than ever. Let your passion for the planet and living things lead to one of these majors.

Zoo and Conservation Science, BS

The best way to enter the zoo and conservation science field is through direct experience caring for animals and leading public education efforts close to home and abroad.

Environmental Sustainability and Resilience, BA

Use ecologic, economic, and social principles to create policies, communities, and other systems that can address sustainability issues and withstand rapid change.

Environmental Science: Biological Conservation Track, BA or BS

Learn how human beings affect the Earth's environment in this major that incorporates extensive fieldwork in geology, biology, and environmental classes.

Take the Next Step

Animals can’t speak for themselves, but we can speak for them. Learn how in this concentration.

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Students and faculty from Drake's Comparative Animal Behavior Concentration wear wetsuits as they hold a dolphin in a pool