BSc (Hons) Animal & Conservation Biology

Gain hands-on experience and prepare for a career in wildlife conservation by exploring how animals adapt to their environment and interact with each other. Animal & Conservation Biology introduces the diversity of animals, their form and function. You'll study how animals have evolved and adapted to different environments in terms of their ecology, behaviour and physiology.

You'll learn how this knowledge can be put to use to guide conservation and understand the impacts of pollution and climate change on animals. Edinburgh and the surrounding countryside is rich in biodiversity and you'll visit local sites of scientific interest gaining valuable fieldwork experience, as well as going on residential trips, including to the Algarve. In second year, students do have the option of undertaking 'Volunteering and Employability'.

This can include an element of work placement. You'll leave equipped with a range of skills for a career in animal conservation or management, including species identification, field surveying techniques and collection and analysis of biological data, or you could continue on to postgraduate study. Our Animal & Conservation Biology programme has 100% student satisfaction (NSS, 2025).