Can you provide me with information about career paths and employment prospects in the area of animal behavior and/or zoo biology?
In animal behavior specifically, the main direction is a career in academics. This means graduate school to get a PhD, leading to a job in a university or college. The career usually involves teaching combined with research. Other animal-behavior focused careers do exist (such as marine-mammal trainer, seeing-eye dog trainer, etc.) but they are few and far between. (That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t try for them, just that you should expect a thin job market demanding much persistence.) There are many other possibilities for careers with animals which don’t directly focus on animal behavior specifically. Veterinary medicine is the most obvious and popular choice. Another common choice is teaching biology either at the elementary/middle or high school level. One good choice which is often made by students here at Canisius College involves a career in the zoo world (usually as a zoo keeper). Please see the Web page that describes the Canisius College zoo biology program.
