The study material was compiled jointly by the late Prof. Johannes Odendaal and Mr. Ben Minnaar. Ben Minnaar presents the course on behalf of Ethology Academy

 The Basic Animal Behaviour Course: Birds is essentially done through correspondence with the optional attendance of a two-day seminar. Most of the students who enrol for this course work full-time and the course is therefore designed to be done part-time. Being a private company Ethology Academy is very flexible. As long as students communicate with us we are usually able to accommodate them in various ways should personal circumstances develop during the year which make it difficult for them to continue with their studies and complete the course successfully.

 Its focus is on ‘Companion’ birds, which are mostly the parrot types. It consists of four Modules:

• Introduction and approaches to the study of animal behaviour
• Problem behaviour and possible resolutions
  
  Modules One and Two contain generic information on animal behaviour.  It is applicable to most animals. Modules Three and Four are applied to a specific species.
   
• Applied Bird behaviour
• Care and welfare of Birds

How the course is presented:

To enable students of all walks of life and all areas of the country to enrol for this course, the course is presented by normal correspondence (via the South African Postal Service). This has proven to be a reliable method and very easy for the student to manage. Exceptions will be made for students with special needs to do the assignments via e-mail.

After enrolling the student receives all the study material via registered mail. Included will be a Student Letter, giving detailed information on every aspect of the Course. Also included will be eight Assignments (two on every Module) each with an addressed envelope to make submitting them as convenient as possible.

Evaluation:

The student will be expected to submit eight assignments during the period March to October.  The assignments will be marked and returned to the students. The marks obtained for the 8 assignments constitute the year mark, which will give the student entrance to write the final examination in November. The assignments are not difficult, because all the answers are in the notes. It should not take more than 2 – 3 hours to complete an assignment.

Final evaluation:

A formal examination will be scheduled for early November. It consists of a two-hour paper and the pass mark is 50%. To pass the exam requires a fair amount of studying and insight. Students are therefore advised to start well in advance with their examination preparation. Students will be able to sit for the exam at a venue in close proximity to where they live.

Seminars:

Students are also invited to attend a two-day seminar.  The bird seminar is at this stage only hosted in Pretoria (30 & 31 July) because most of the students come from the Gauteng region and Mr Minnaar likes to include a visit to his bird farm as part of the seminar.  We do,  however, host Basic Course seminars in Cape Town, Port Elizabeth and Banana Beach (on the Kwa Zulu Natal South Coast)  and bird students who can not attend the Pretoria seminar are invited to attend the first day when the lectures are on Modules 1 & 2 (the principles of the study of animal behaviour) will be presented.  Attendance of a seminar is not compulsory but highly recommended. The attendance fee is included in the enrolment fee, but students are responsible for own travel and accommodation expenditures.

Registration and Fee:

Registration takes place from 7 January –30 March. The enrolment fee for the 2010 Basic Behaviour courses is R5000, VAT inclusive. This fee includes the study material, attendance of the seminar and the examination fee.

Enrol here

Do not hesitate to get in touch should you need more information.