Valdez Saravia 1

Nadia Valentina Valdez Saravia

Professor Jon Leach

EG101-L

December 11, 2022

Zoologist and Wildlife Biologist career analysis

Back my last year of school, I remember my philosophy teacher Omar told my class

about something that he experiments every year, especially during the graduation: “I ask to my

students: what are going to study? They answer with some name of college career, then I ask

them: are you sure that this is what you want? They usually answer me with a no or with a

doubtful yes. This happens the 90% of time”. Usually, in Omar’s experience, students that are in

their last year of school have few ideas of what they want to do in college or even they have

doubts of their majors. One of the reasons why students are not sure about their career choice

could be the less information and perspective about the careers that they choose. It is important

to remember that it is okay if you are not sure or have doubts about your major. That is the main

purpose of a career analysis. Thanks to career analysis that I read in my senior year in high

school and finding information about my options of majors, I found what I want to study:

Zoologist and Wildlife Biologist. However, as Zoologist and Wildlife Biologist is a science

major, there is little information, perspective and experiences of people that work in the area.

To start talking about Zoologist and Wildlife Biologist, a good start is what they are and

what they do. A Zoologist and Wildlife Biologist is a scientist that studies the life and behavior

of animals and their interaction with ecosystems (U.S Bureau of Labor Statistics). Usually,

Zoologist specialize in a specific animal (CareerOneStop). They study the impact humans have

on wildlife and natural habitats and the physical characteristics of animals and animal behavior.
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One of the most interesting parts of being a Zoologist and Wildlife biologist is the kind of

job one could have: if they are a person that likes to explore, they can work in outdoors, or if

they are more to work with papers or, they can work in an office or in a lab. Zoologist and

Wildlife Biologist have a lot of jobs options, they can work in laboratories, offices or outdoors

(U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics). Typical they work at places are universities, zoos, non-profits,

national parks, and natural protected area (Unity College). An interesting example of kind of jobs

of Zoologist and Wildlife Biologist is doing projects and research, but if “you are a teacher, you

teach; but every day is different!” (Martin). However, there is something important to have in

mind, sometimes Zoologist and Wildlife Biologist need to travel for months to make their

investigations, an example of this is “cetologists studying whale populations may spend months

at sea on a research ship” (U.S Bureau of Statistics).

According to U.S Bureau of Labor Statistics, the media annual wage for Zoologists and

Wildlife biologists was $64,650 in May 2021; however, there are varied factors that can affect to

the annual salary of a Zoologists and Wildlife biologists as well as state, position, place of job,

between others. According to Unity College, the place where pay more for be a Zoologists and

Wildlife biologists in the United States is the District of Columbia, with an annual mean wage of

$ 113 310 while the state of Florida is the place that pay you less with $53 100 as annual wage.

The good part of be a Zoologists and Wildlife biologists is, according to Unity college, a career

that its demand will grow as human populations grow and climate change continues.

The importance of Zoologist and Wildlife Biologist in our society is huge. Mainly

because They study the impact humans have on wildlife and natural habitats and the physical

characteristics of animals and animal behavior (Your Free Career Test). According to Dr. Martin,

teacher in Emporia State University and who has a bachelor’s in sciences in Aquatic Biology &
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Fisheries, “Zoologist and Wildlife Biologist can impact in a literacy way: teaching to appreciate

sciences (specially animals and wildlife), that is the most valuable; especially teaching the value

and the impact of animals in the world that is the best” (Martin). Zoologists are important

because we their studies in their fields, they can save animals of their extinction.

To be a Zoologist it is recommended have a bachelor but depending on your goals or you

“dream job” as teachers for example, you should considered have a master’s degree or a PhD

(Martin). It is important to thing is the kind of logy you want to study, you can study mammals,

insects, between others. Also, it is important have a good background as research or projects

(Martin). According to Unity college, people that it is interesting to become in a Zoologist and

Wildlife Biologist, can start focusing on classes that are related to sciences as Chemistry,

Biology, Physics or Math during their high school education. However, if one is interested in a

specific topic of Zoology, study abroad is always a good opportunity; specially because there is

the possibility to new learn with more detail some areas (Unity College). Usually, to have a

degree in Zoologist and Wildlife Biologist it is possible to have one in 4-years of study (Unity

College). However, a good part of study Zoologist and Wildlife Biology is that there is the

possibility of have experience working as Zoologist and Wildlife Biologist since the first

semester of university doing research in laboratories or with the professor.

To be a Zoologist and Wildlife Biologist is important read books about sciences. Some

examples that Dr. Martin have of books are about the impact of Zoologist and Wildlife Biologist,

that one can see it the topics of their books, as David Shiffman with his book “Why sharks

matter”, Robin Wall Kimmerer with her book “Braiding Sweetgrass” or David Quammen with

his book “The Tangled Tree”. However, Dr. Matin have a good option to start, her best
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recommendation is “Foundations of Ecology”; “this is a book about collations of research of

biology since 1800. This a good book to learn about research and experiments.” (Martin).

Also, it is important to remember that to be a Zoologist and Wildlife Biologist there are

important skills to have. A good example is that “it is important to know explain complex topics

in simple words” (Martin). On the other hand, it is important to be patient for research and

observer with results. Depending on the job, it is possible need to have social skills as speak in

public. However, the best skills to have been “learn, manage time and be curious” (Martin).

In the actuality, there are a lot of important people that is into zoology and wildlife.

People that, with their work, inspire to others to follow the world of science, even to inspires

them to have a profession related to science. In the case of Dr. Martin, her inspiration to be

biologist was Sylvia Earle, “a marine biologist that have a documentary that I watched with 8

years, and it is about being a marine biologist” (Martin). Other examples of people that inspire

are the Kratt Brother (Chriss and Martin) with their shows “Zoboomafoo” and “Wild Kratts”

where they teach about different kind of animal and teach about the importance of take care of

our world (IMDb). Another example is Steve Irwin, also known as the Crocodile Hunter, Irwin

in his documentary series he teaches about crocodiles and some reptiles with “the message of

conservation” (Australia Zoo). A part of people that it is influent teaching about zoology and

wildlife, there are some productions that can also be helpful as “Planet Earth”, a series of

documentaries by the BBC about the biodiversity of the Earth; “an amazing variety of the natural

world in this epic documentary series, filmed over four years across 64 different countries”

(BBC).

Being a Zoologist and Wildlife Biologist could be a passionate, fun, and interesting

profession. It is a profession where one need to learn, be patient, and most important be curious.
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It is a job that have great opportunities with different kind of jobs as work outdoor or work in a

office, but always depending on the interests and the academy level. They have an important

impact on our society studying, doing research and projects about animals. You can find a lot of

good examples of people making an impact in others studying animals and wildlife, as a result of

their work is the inspiration and learning of people. Being a zoologist could be fun, because the

kind of work it is always different every day. If you are some that love travel, discover and learn,

being a Zoologist and Wildlife Biologist is a good option!

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Work Cited

Australia Zoo. “Steve Irwin” Australia Zoo. https://www.australiazoo.com.au/about-us/the-

irwins/steve/ Accessed 11 December 2022.

BBC. “Planet Earth” BBC one. https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b006mywy Accessed 11

December 2022.

CareerOneStop. “Zoologists and Wildlife Biologists” U.S. Department of Labor, Employment

and Training Administration, 2022. https://www.careeronestop.org/site-search.aspx?

keyword=zoologist. Accessed 6 December 2022.

CareerOneStop. “Zoologists and Wildlife Biologists Career Video” U.S. Department of Labor,

Employment and Training Administration, 2022.

https://www.careeronestop.org/videos/careeronestop-videos.aspx?videocode=19102300.

Accessed 6 December 2022.

IMDb. “Martin Kratt” IMDb https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0470031/?ref_=tt_ov_wr Accessed

11 December 2022

IMDb. “Chriss Kratt” IMDb https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0470029/?ref_=tt_ov_wr Accessed

11 December 2022

Martin, Erica. Associate Professor of Biological Sciences in Emporia State University. Personal

Interview. 6 December 2022.

Unity College. “How to Become a Zoologist” Unity College, America’s Environmental College,

2020. https://unity.edu/careers/zoologist/ Accessed 6 December 2022.

U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. “Occupational Outlook Handbook, Zoologists and Wildlife

Biologists” U.S. Department of Labor Statistics, 2022. https://www.bls.gov/ooh/life-

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physical-and-social-science/zoologists-and-wildlife-biologists.htm. Accessed 6

December 2022.

Your Free Career Test. “What does a Zoologist do?” YourFreeCareerTest, 2020.

https://www.yourfreecareertest.com/zoologist/ . Accessed 6 December 2022.