Animal Behavior Program

Bachelor of Arts
Bachelor of Science
Master of Science

Primate eating vegetables

At Bucknell, you’ll get up close and personal with the creatures you study, empowering you to make the next great breakthrough.

In our animal behavior major, which combines biology and psychology, you can pursue your own research alongside our teacher-scholar faculty and even accompany your professor on a field study of migratory birds in Alaska or endangered chimpanzees in East Africa.

It Starts Here

On campus, you can interact with four different species of monkey, as well as amphibians, bats, bees and more. Your experience studying these animals under the close guidance of our faculty — we only enroll eight to 10 majors per year — will prepare you for a career in the research, veterinary, medical, zoo, museum and education fields.

Recent graduates have found jobs and internships in zoo design, aquarium administration, research, grant-making and nature photography.

Degree Programs

Bucknell offers two undergraduate degree options for students majoring in animal behavior: a bachelor of arts program that includes 13 required courses and a bachelor of science program that requires 19 courses. Both are interdisciplinary majors that include subject matter in biology, chemistry, mathematics, physics and psychology. The programs differ chiefly in the number of advanced science courses and laboratories. The University also offers a master of science in animal behavior.

See detailed major requirements

Find your path to animal behavior at Bucknell

Monkeys sitting on a bench

Introducing Your Research Partner

Bucknell is home to one of the most diverse collections of research primates at any collegiate animal behavior program in the U.S. You'll also find bee colonies, amphibians and other research species. Our students interact with these animals under the close supervision of faculty, who observe the animals' behavior to study ecology, social behavior, plant and animal interaction, behavioral endocrinology, animal learning, genetics and more.

Contact Details

Animal Behavior Program