The native fauna of Malaysia, well known for its uniqueness and diversity, is an important component of the nation’s natural heritage. Knowledge of their composition, distribution and population dynamics as well as in-depth understanding of their habitats and ecology are important prerequisites for developing sustainable management and effective conservation strategies.

Animal Resource Science and Management programme focuses on various important fields of research and knowledge application within zoology. During the first year, fundamental courses such as biodiversity, ecology, statistics, general genetics and biochemistry will be introduced. Second year students will be exposed to specialised courses including animal systematics, animal physiology, animal nutrition, evolution and entomology. Crucial to this, students will be trained in the field to conduct data collection and sampling methods involving various animal classes (e.g. mammals, birds, amphibians, reptiles, insects, fish and other invertebrates). In addition to completing Final Year Project (FYP), environmental laws and management courses including animal pest, captive animal and park and wildlife management were designed to prepare future graduates to solve human-wildlife conflicts and formulate conservation strategies involving threatened and protected animals.

To fulfill the market needs and contribute to the social and national development, graduates from this programme will have the opportunity to work in government agencies (e.g. Department of Wildlife & National Park, Sarawak Forest Department, Sarawak Forestry Corporation, etc.), private agencies (e.g. animal farm, zoo, etc.), and non- government agencies (e.g. World Wide Fund for Nature Malaysia (WWF), Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS), etc.).

At present, the programme has 11 academicians and 6 support staffs. The programme also manages 7 research laboratories, 2 teaching laboratories and a museum.