• Forum/Server Upgrade If you are reading this you have made it to the upgraded forum. Posts made on the old forum after 26th October 2023 have not been transfered. Everything else should be here. If you find any issues please let us know.

Any ideas for my coursework ?

I am doing a degree in Animal Behaviour and Welfare and i have been set a mini dissatation of 5000 words. I have to choose a topic and study the behaviour of an animal. I really want to do it on rabbits as i have 9 myself.

I did think of doing feeding times and studying them eating from a bowl and in a food ball to see if it increased the amount of time spent eating. As this would help pet owners to keep their rabbits active and help to prevent stereotypic behaviour e.g pacing.

please let me know if anyone has any ideas thanks x x
:D
 
hi

oooh do bonding for a real challenge - we'll hang on your every word as we're all obsessed with it :lol:
 
Ooooh yes bonding! Or alternatively, instead of focussing in just on how feeding makes buns more active, a study on the difference in behaviour between bunnies which are kept alone in a hutch, and those who are kept in enriched environments, whether it be as a housebunny, or outdoors with a large enclosure/shed/companion etc might be interesting?
 
hi

hmmm - studying behaviour of bunnies in a restricted environment would mean subjecting bunnies to that environment for the purposes of research - not very nice :(
 
I was thinking more of visiting bunnies who are known to already live like that (I'm sure we can all list people we know who own single buns in hutches), with the aim that at the end, the results of the study could be presented to them so they may perhaps improve their bunny's quality of life :D
 
I am doing it at Myerscough College we go to Preston Uni for half a day a week as well. I am enjoying it its very interseing i have just started my second year and its getting harder now i have lots of coursework. Its woth doing as it gives you a better job prospect in the animal industry.

Do you want to work with animals?

:D :D :D :D :D :D :D
 
I do currently work with animals, have done since I left college, I've worked in kennels, qualified as a zoo keeper and even spent time in South Africa on a game reserve, but I feel now I actually need to get what I know in some sort of order and do a qualification to have it all down on paper, I'd love to go back to South Africa, and maybe, long term have my own canine behaviour business.
I agree with you tho, it certainly gives more opportunities!

xx
 
I think it would be a good idea to do it on bonding. This would mean ur less restricted (there are lots of different aspects of that subject) and it may be easier to make the 5000 words.

You could try and introduce different bunnies and say how they behaved each time, why this may be, how long it took to get them to like each other, etc. And maybe even do it in different situations. EG: Female and female, Male and Male, Female and male. Or even puting one in the others hutch and then try puting the other in the 1st one hutch. And putting both in a totally different hutch that they both haven't been in before (therefore not being territorial) But this is coming from a 14 year old so I probably don't know what Im talkin bout.
 
What do you think of my idea?

sounds good but i think that it might get a bit too complicated. :D :D

I think that i am going to do feeding methods and how they effect the ammount of time spent feeding . I am going to monitor the time my rabbits spend feeding from a bowl. And then how long they spend feeding when food is scatter fed or placed in a treat ball.

This will hopefully give rabbit owners some ideas of how feeding effects the behaviour of rabbits and make people think about how much time a rabbit spends eating in the wild. And that feeding from a bowl increases stereotypic behaviour such as pacing due to boredom. :D :D :D
 
working with animals

to Buttonmoon

You have done loads with animals your lucky :D Africa must have been amazing!!!! I am currently voulenteering at Blackpoo zoo i have done for the past 2 years. I want to be a zoo keeper when i finnish uni i think the experience of working with all kinds of animals is great and interesting. I have worked on all sections at the zoo and enjoyed them all. I would love to go whale watching that would be really cool to be bale to see them close up and in the wild. :D :D
 
Back
Top