BIONB 1100

Natural History of the Magic Kingdom: Understanding Animal Behavior through Animated Films

Course Description

Course information provided by the Courses of Study 2024-2025.

Animals are frequently used to tell children's stories, especially in animated cinema. For the most part depictions of animals in classic films such as Lion King, Finding Nemo, or The Land Before Time are clearly not intended to depict an accurate natural history of their subjects. However, the ways in which movies get things wrong by having animals portray human roles opens an opportunity to explore the diversity of animal behavior. This course focuses on understanding the evolution, ecology, and natural history of diverse animals portrayed in films. It will cover a range of topics that apply generally to animated animal movies (e.g., Do animals use language?) as well as issues raised by specific movies (Does it make any sense for Scar to kill Mufasa in Lion King?). During this course students will engage with data and analyses used in the field of animal behavior, appreciate the diversity of experiences among animals, and consider our own biology and behavior in the light of the natural world.

When Offered Spring.

Distribution Category (BIO-AS) (BIO-AG, OPHLS-AG)

Comments Course is suitable for non-life science students.

• Participants will be able to describe broad evolutionary and ecological principles shaping animal behavioral diversity.
• Participants will be able to distinguish between mechanistic and functional approaches to the study of life sciences.
• Participants will learn to distinguish peer-reviewed scientific literature from popular scientific accounts.
• Participants will examine the role of human social constructs in shaping popular and scientific views of animal behavior.
• Participants will create a novel story using animals as main characters and evaluate the choices that alter or maintain aspects of their life history and or behavior.

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