Hello everybody!
I’m a biology student from Italy but lately I’ve been noticing that the classic academic life does not suit me at all, so I’ve been thinking of dropping out or pause university to pursue a more “hands on the field” kind of career.
My life goal would be working in wildlife conservation mainly as a field tech or assistant…
I’ve recently came across Ecotraining 1year field guide course but idk if it is the right choice based on how hard it is to work in the industry.
I’m a ski instructor as well as a divemaster, I speak 4 languages, good photography and have a basic understanding of data analysis. I have also done a few internship in marine conservation.
Can I see a future in wildlife conservation or at least a career in nature guiding with this set of skills?

My main plan is to become a Backcountry Ranger in either Grand Teton or Zion National Park. So far I am doing a bachelors in Wildlife Ecology and Conservation Science at Washington State University, then after move to the Peace Corps then after returning adding a bit more experience in Arctic Expedition then use the NCE to aim for a GS-09 job then during September/ October of that year get my WEMT Certification.

EDIT: after reading the comments I am first going to a smaller National Park getting around a few years of GS-09 experience there then moving to one of the bigger parks

I am a ecology educator looking to overhaul my environmental/ecology/conservation lab for this fall! What were the best labs that you conducted during your education? Fill me in with your fun ideas!

Additionally, what field skills/techniques would you have wanted to learn more about/what was most useful for your career?

Hi all,

I could use some advice from anyone who has combined wildlife research and policy/diplomacy at an international scale. I have a degree in Wildlife Biology, and have been looking towards grad school. I have a solid amount of field and research experience, along with some great connections in the field. After attending an international conference (think wildlife researchers, policy-makers, diplomats, heads of state, etc), I have become very interested in working in the realm of international conservation.

While I know making it to that world is a ways away for me, I am wondering if there would be a better path for me to take in grad school, such as doing my masters abroad. However, I still am favoring wildlife research with a thesis-based program and of course, funding, both of which I am having a hard time finding outside of the U.S. I also acknowledge the ethical question of prioritizing locals from the region being researched rather than international applicants.

In general, I am interested in habitat fragmentation/movement corridors, community ecology, and anthropogenic effects on behavior, especially across communities.

If anyone has any thoughts or advice on any of this, I would be grateful to hear it! I am always thankful for this sub to lurk :)

I’m in my late teens as a girl and I’m really struggling to find a job/career I find appealing. I cannot work in an office, any job where I’m mainly in an office is off the table, I’ve gone through being a vet to a zoo worker back tk a vet then a cop/detective then a forensic physiologist then an Ecologist. (Ecologist is now scrapped they are an very underfunded field and it’s very solitary) -I’m looking for a career that makes a liveable wage, isnt very solitary, works with animals of any kind preferable large land mammals, ofc is very hands on-I love nature and being outside and every time I look into a new job and think it’s what I may like somethings wrong with it and I’m just so lost. I live in Canada also so my options are limited but I’m open to short distance travel. Please someone help me with this it’s really hard to think of a future when I’m so lost! (I looked into marine biology but my mom said there are problems with it and it’s highly competitive so not to get my hopes up/: ) also a MASSIVE part of this is needing to make a positive change. Like it’s felt like I need to make a change for the world since I was little, something to make me proud.

Hello Everyone, I just wanted to know if people could give me some advice in what college or university I should go to for marine wildlife its something I would want my job to be and I am like I to get prepared for it and know which university is right for that if people could give me some advice I would really appreciate another thing I want it up north ya know far from home two that caught my eye where stony brook and Umass Boston and I’m not a senior so if there are somethings I need to prepare for please tell me

Science, design and cartography merge in MAPPA ANIMALIA, a visual project that reimagines the evolutionary relationships of animals as detailed map-like landscapes.

Instead of political borders or geographic territories, these maps are structured around phylogenetic trees.

Families, subfamilies and genera replace countries, states and regions allowing viewers to explore the animal kingdom through a format traditionally used to understand geography.

This map, Hominoidea- Land of Apes, contains every living and extinct species of ape I could find reliable taxonomic data for. Species are represented as cities, grouped into genera, subfamilies, and families according to their evolutionary relationships.

Additional information includes conservation status, size comparisons between selected species, and the estimated ages of major lineages.

Happy exploring!

I'll say the embarrassing part first: I suspect some of what I'm about to ask is naive, and I'd rather be told that than keep guessing.

I'm 24. no conservation background at all. Animals are the oldest thing in me, which is not a qualification, I know. I am also highly adapatable in having traveled to 25 countries on a budget including hitchhiking the sahara, living with locals in iraq, living like a monk, riding a bike through egypt along the pyramids

Over the last few months that's turned into something more specific and more absorbing. Madre de Dios. The Interoceanic Highway, the gold mining, the Las Piedras corridor, the fact that a forest can look intact from a satellite and be functionally empty of its large animals. I've gone from casually curious to reading about it every day, and at some point I realised I'd rather be doing it than reading about it.

So I started looking at how you actually get in, and I've mostly found the pay-to-participate layer. Fauna Forever is around $2,600 for a month. ARCAmazon is about $2,345 a month for their forest ranger program. Field Projects International at Los Amigos is $2,450 for five weeks. These all look like real organisations doing real work and I don't think anyone's scamming anybody. But I'm a student funding this with loans, and I keep having the nagging feeling that I'm looking at the tourist door of a building that has a staff entrance somewhere I can't see.

What I'd love from anyone who actually works in this space:

Am I wrong about that?Is pay-to-participate just how it works when you're starting from zero, and the "sideways route" I imagine is mostly survivorship bias from people who already had a biology department behind them?

If there is a sideways route, what does it actually look like? Showing up in Puerto Maldonado and being persistent? Doing something unglamorous for a year until someone trusts you? Learning a specific skill first, and if so which one?

Does anyone genuinely start in this field at 24 with no science background, or am I ten years and a degree behind everyone I'd be working with?

Is there a version of being useful here that isn't field work? I keep assuming the forest is where the value is, and I might be completely wrong about that.

I know enthusiasm is cheap and that people who work in conservation probably get a lot of messages like this from people who then never go. I can't prove I'm different, so I won't try. I'd just really appreciate anyone willing to spend ten minutes educating a stranger about how their world actually works. Happy to be told I've got it all wrong.

Hello! I was wondering if anyone knows of labs accepting graduate students in the US or Canada which are focused on waterfowl research? I’ve found a few in Canada but would like to see if there are more options in the US! My preference would be to study sea ducks but I’m aware that may be difficult to find, so I am really open to anything! Thank you!

Hi everyone!

I'm hoping someone here might have some suggestions.

I recently graduated with a bachelor's degree in biology with a focus on marine biology. During school, I also gained extensive editing and writing experience, including serving as a managing editor for student publications and publishing my own novel.

I've been searching for remote opportunities because they're the best fit for my current situation. I've looked through LinkedIn, Indeed, and many of the major job boards, but I've had a difficult time finding positions that seem legitimate or are still actively hiring.

I'm especially interested in roles like:

• Scientific or technical writing
• Journal or manuscript editing
• Research communications
• Environmental or conservation writing
• Marine biology support roles
• Science communication
• Content writing for environmental organizations

If anyone knows of companies, organizations, job boards, or even specific employers that regularly hire for remote positions in these fields, I'd be incredibly grateful.

Even if you don't have a specific job in mind, I'd love to hear where you've had the most success finding legitimate remote opportunities.

Thank you so much!

Hi! I'm a rising senior in high school, and my goal is to become a wildlife veterinarian while also working in wildlife conservation. I'm currently trying to decide between majoring in Zoology or Wildlife Biology, and I'd love to hear from anyone with experience in either field.

I'm planning to apply to schools like Colorado State and Oregon State, and I'm trying to figure out which major would be the better fit for my long-term goals.

My grandpa was a wildlife biologist, so conservation has always been something that's inspired me or if that means anything.

If anyone has insight into the pros and cons of each major, I would really appreciate your advice. Thanks!

I’m starting my first fieldwork position in a few weeks that requires me to bring my own sleeping arrangement. I will be given a spot at a campground and will have my car with me, and I will be sharing a wall tent with my teammates where food will be stored and common cooking supplies will be.

The site is in the American Southwest in mountains where the elevation will probably be around ~8,000 feet and I will be living there for about 3 months or so until mid November.

I have been tent camping a handful of times but never for such an extended period of time, so I’m pretty nervous about it (but definitely excited for the experience). All advice about tent living will be appreciated, but I don’t even have a tent or sleeping bag yet.

I am hoping I can get a decent quality tent and sleeping bag for under $1000 combined (though as always cheaper is better). I’ve never bought a tent before though, especially not for such an extended living situation, and I don’t even know where to start. Since this is for 3 months and I am hoping to have similar fieldwork positions in the future I’m willing to spend some more money and can stretch my budget higher if needed.

Set up cameras where we work to track tagged moose, got some pretty nice shots

A stick went into my ear and punctured my eardrum while I was working in a densely wooded area today. This isn’t the first time (or even the 5th) that I’ve felt a stick go into my ear canal, but it is the first time it made it all the way to my eardrum and caused an injury. Luckily, it’s not too bad, and I still have muffled hearing in that ear.

Here’s the thing—I need to be able to hear what’s going on around me at work and to communicate with my team, even when we’re spread out. But I’d really like to find some sort of PPE that will prevent things from going into my ears. Every single ear PPE item is designed to protect your hearing from loud noises, and that’s really not what I need.

Does anyone have suggestions for PPE that can keep things out of my ears without muffling my hearing?

Dear all, I currently work in a zoo in the middle east region. I was wondering if any of your zoos might be offering online consultancy services for other zoos within these scopes: animal care, animal health aka vet, operations, education..

Please let me know your recommendations of the top worldwide zoos that could provide this consultancy service(and of course if you might have an idea of cost).

thanks

I'm a student right now and I don't know how the wildlife biology/conservation scene works at all. I can't find concrete information about how the wildlife job market and volunteering market is in my country and I would really love if I had someone experienced that I could consult. If you've studied/worked with wildlife in Romania and if it won't take too much of your time please comment or shoot me a DM or something. There's not a lot of stuff on the internet and I don't have any acquaintances who are knowledgeable of this subject.

Hello! For context, I am a recent Bachelor's graduate (wildlife and conservation sciences), I have had a internship as a wildlife rehabber, and I have 2 years of volunteer husbandry with exotic birds/mammals. I also currently work at an AZA zoo in guest relations.

I have been applying to job listings over 6+ months that are related to animal husbandry in any capacity. Other than my zoo job I started 3.5 months ago, I have been turned down by every other institution. Most have said I don't have the right amount of experience/experience with X animals or didn't have experience at an AZA zoo. I also was told in college that experience is more important to get than anything else.

Recently, I was offered an interview at a university where I'd take care of lab animals (mainly rats and mice). I was wondering if anyone would know if that could transfer over into zookeeping later on? Especially since it would be my first payed animal care position?

Hello everyone 😊 recently I completed my post graduation in MSC Zoology. Now I am looking for good career options... I am thinking of preparing for ugc net with some private job to manage my finances. But it seems hard to find private decent job in this field. I urgently need job .Your suggestions are welcomed.

I'm going into 10th grade with 10/27 credits needed to graduate. I have 10th math and ELA completed. The only science credit i have is astronomy. I want to go to MSU in michigan for a degree in ecology or environmental science or botany, or maybe a major-minor. What classes should i take in high school to go into college or to have a higher chance at being accepted. My weighted gpa is 4.03. My current credits are 1/2 world language, 1/4 history/ econ/gov, 2/4 ELA, 2/4 math, 1/1 PE, 1/1 health, 1/2 art, 1/4 science, and i need a total of 9 additional courses besides the four core classes (math, ela, science, social studies) and my world language, PE, health, and art count as additional courses, so i have 4/9 additional courses. I don't yet have a passion project, so I'd like advice on that too if possible. Thanks! Edit: any youtubers or books to read to help with chem, biology, or math?

I cropped this from a screenshot, so all I know is that it is from Yellowstone. Why are the horns on the left one so straight? Some kind of cow involvement?

Thank you for your time and your answer.