Paola Zamora Ramos

Dream Jobs: Wildlife Biologist

National Geographic
December 8, 2022
3pages, 838 word count, 950L

This article is about Wildlife and how Sergio Silva became a Wildlife Biologist. Sergio

Silva works to protect and restore native species and habitats in Southwestern United States and

in Northwestern Mexico. Silva was born and raised in Mexico Zacatecas, he always liked nature

since he was really young. Silva received a degree in biology from University of Aguascalientes.

He studies the area to protect wildlife, Silva learned about Tarahumara’s, they are master

trackers. They can track people, and they can tell the difference between footprints. They taught

Silva about the medicinal properties of specific plants. Silva soon got his masters degree from

the University of Baja California. Silva’s favorite part of his job is spotting or finding evidence

of wildlife. He likes to look at animals that are at risk, but he specifically likes when he gets

photographs of wildlife in an area in their region. He likes to see wildlife come back to the areas

that were once damaged once the area isn’t as bad anymore.

Silva likes to be very precise about wildlife, he asks himself a lot of questions, he also

likes to teach the younger generations about wildlife and why it's so important to us. He also

talks to farmers and different groups on both sides of the border. Silva is involved in a

conservation project in the Madrean Archipelago where he protects, preserves, and restores cats

in habitat. He also monitors the presence of mammals like big cats, mountain lions, lions, tigers,

ocelots and jaguars. To search these skins of animals you have to have good tracking skills, need

to know what paw prints belong to who, how far the animal travels, what preferred den or shelter

and to know if they're active during the day or at night.