DASC20011: Companion Animal Biology

Written assignment (50%), end of semester exam (50%)

This subject has been one of the most enjoyable and relevant subjects I have taken to date. While there is a biological focus, there also seemed to be plenty of people taking this as breadth so it’s not too ‘sciency’ and covers more topics is less depth. Topics covered include general healthcare of companion animals, feeding, behaviour, genetics and ethics. You also look at how to care for more exotic pets like reptiles and fish. I thought all the topics were really interesting and anyone with pets should get a lot of usable info out of them.

The assessment was really fair. It involved an initial assignment on a specific topic (animal product/healthcare plan/other topics I can’t remember) that was worth 30%. The remaining 20% comes from a summary of your assignment (almost a poster format) and then peer assessment of these summaries. The peer assessment is really well done- all the summaries are uploaded (anonymously) and you’re given 5 summaries to rank from best to worst including your own. You’re then marked on how accurate you are with these rankings. You’re given stacks of time to do all these and they’re weeks apart so they’re not too stressful, and because you can choose your own topic it should also be interesting and fairly easy to do well in. The exam was also very fair and pretty similar to past exams, so there weren’t really any surprises.

There are also legit puppies and ponies towards the end of the course, and I would recommend taking the subject for this alone. A lovely bunch of owners bring their dogs into the System Gardens and Sonia runs a workshop in dog training (mostly scent training) which is heaps of fun!! And we also go on an excursion to assess the weight of some horses, which was really nice as well.
Overall, if you have any interest in animals this is a great subject to take. If you’re interested in animal science (and are subsequently taking other DASC/animal units) then I found there was a fair bit of overlap, but definitely not enough to feel like it wasn’t worth doing. If you’re looking for an interesting and reasonably relaxed breadth then I would definitely consider this subject.

Yes

Ian Bland, Peter Cakebread, Sally Haynes, Sonja Needs

Yes (via library)

5/5

None

x2 2 hour lectures per week

Semester 1 2016

81