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Zoologist/Wildlife Biologist

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AVG. SALARY

$58,750

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EDUCATION

Bachelor's degree

What To Learn

High School

What high school courses should you take if you're interested in this career? Get your answers from the Agriculture, Food and Natural Resources cluster Natural Resource Systems pathway.

Education Level

Education training and experience are required at different levels for success in different occupations.

Bachelor's degree

Zoologists and wildlife biologists typically need a bachelor’s degree for entry-level positions; a master’s degree is often needed for higher level investigative or scientific work. A Ph.D. is necessary to lead independent research and for most university research positions.

Insider Info

Additional Information

If you want to be a zoologist but you think heavy schooling is for the birds, you may want to choose another career. Zoologists generally have master's or PhD degrees in biology or zoology. This is because the work is primarily research.

As well, zoologists are often expected to spend time in post-doctoral positions getting plenty of laboratory experience before obtaining full-time jobs, say experts.

"You need at least a [BS] to be called a zoologist," says zoologist James Ballantyne. "This minimum requirement would allow you to get technical jobs that would involve minimal supervisory responsibilities and little control over what you do.

"[A master's degree] would allow you to take more responsibility for the work, but a PhD is needed for most top jobs where you would be involved in decision making, designing experiments or studies. In other words, the more degrees you have, the more control and responsibilities you would have."

Required university courses generally include chemistry or physics, math and biology. Specialty courses like ecology, genetics and animal behavior are often thrown into the mix.

If you're still in high school, take lots of math and biology to set a good foundation for future courses.

Contact

  • Email Support

  • 1-800-GO-TO-XAP (1-800-468-6927)
    From outside the U.S., please call +1 (424) 750-3900

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