• Question: is it possible to study biology if you intensely dislike dissecting animals or parts of animals? what would you suggest? can you do further work into biology if you can't dissect anything or look at anyone dissecting anything?

    Asked by sluglife to Carrie, Cedric, Ellen, Ines, Rupert on 8 Mar 2017.
    • Photo: Carrie Ijichi

      Carrie Ijichi answered on 8 Mar 2017:

      I’ve had a bit of an usual path into science – I didn’t do science at school or for my undergraduate degree so I’ve never dissected anything and I think I’m a good scientist. Consider going down the psychology route and then moving from that into animal behaviour and welfare. That’s a fairly normal route to take and it has less of a biology focus so should avoid dissection.

      I would say, think about why you’re avoiding it? If you’re squemish you can get over that with help. If it’s for ethical reasons (for example being vegetarian) then that’s different. Good luck – don’t let it hold you back!

    • Photo: Ellen Williams

      Ellen Williams answered on 9 Mar 2017:

      Yes absolutely! Look carefully at what the courses entail before you make any choices – you could always contact the course tutors as well to check. I actually went straight into Animal behaviour, but we did have a common ‘biological’ first year. I don’t recall any dissections but we probably did them. What exactly in biology do you want to study? If it is animal based than as Carrie says the Animal Behaviour and Welfare route is a good idea. Try and avoid ‘zoology’ or ‘animal science’ because they are often quite dissection heavy. Not sure as zoo biology is so much like that? There are lots of options, I am sure you will find something you like and that suits you!

    • Photo: Ines Goncalves

      Ines Goncalves answered on 9 Mar 2017:

      As Carrie and Ellen said, you can of course though you may want to ask yourself whether animal biology really is your thing. Perhaps you’d be better suited to study plant biology? Whatever your reasons for disliking dissections, please keep in mind that students don’t do them for fun. We run dissections because students learn better when they do things themselves and see things (like organs, or muscles or bones) first hand. Like any other practical, field trip or excursion, they provide memories and knowledge that last longer than just reading a book or listening to a lecture. I was never a fan of dissections myself, but I learnt a lot from the ones I did.

    • Photo: Rupert Marshall

      Rupert Marshall answered on 10 Mar 2017:

      I didn’t study biology at school. I studied psychology at university and moved sideways into animal behaviour after that. So yes, you can study animal behaviour without doing biology. But having some knowledge of biology is important – I had to do lots of my own reading to catch up.
      If you are thinking about studying biology it is best to ask your school or university what they think. Some might say it is possible but you will just lose the marks for assessments you don’t do. Others might say it takes up a bi part of their course and so you can’t study their course if you don’t agree to work with dead animals. It is always worth asking – about anything. And never say never: you might find you actually like it if you try. Sometimes it is the only way vets can find out how to help animals, by comparing the insides of healthy and sick ones when they have died.

    • Photo: Cedric Tan

      Cedric Tan answered on 14 Mar 2017:

      Yes of course! I don’t dissect the animals I study, in fact, I’d like them to be in their natural environment, performing their natural behaviour like feeding and sex. Some people get squirmish when seeing dissections, I would say that you could study animal behaviour and wildlife if you didn’t that dissections either.

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