Which major is good zoology,wildlife management, or biology?

Question

i want to work with wild animals..or work as a zookeeper but i do not want to work as a zookeeper for rest of my life...i want to work with wild animals and some sea animals too..the problem is i can't swim..i heard that in order to work with sea animals you have to have swimming license...oh well i am just trying to figure out what major i should take to pursue my dreams..working with wild animals, protecting them, train them, play with them, and love them. i want to study their body parts, their minds, their natural extincts and etc.. so can someone help me? should i do zoology wildlife or biology? the problem is biology is everywhere in the college course but zoology and wildlife is very rare..please help me thanks.

Answer 1

Don't worry about swimming. You will probably have to learn to swim during your first year of college, whether you want to or not.

Biology is probably too general for you and has been taken over by the molecular biologists, who could probably put you to sleep before the lecture was half over. Zoology is the next most specialized but might be the best for you, giving you the training to work at more jobs that you would find of interest.

Answer 2

It depends very much on what you want to do, though if you want to work specifically with animals, zoology would probably be a good starting place.

I found some of your information contradicts itself, you want to go into research and not be a zookeeper for the rest of your life but you want to 'train and play with them', that would be very much the career of an animal trainer, research is very much hands off, no interference, observing their natural behaviour, not manipulating it as you would do if you were to train them. To follow a career as an animal trainer, psychology is the way you want to go, not zoology or wildlife biology.

I would definitely choose something less general than straightforward biology, if you are only intersted in animals you will not be happy in a pure biology course as it will cover a lot more cell biology and molecular biology. Zoology and wildlife management may be a rarer course but I would recommend them over straight biology. Of course you can always go on to do a Masters and specialise further then.

I would say wildlife management may be more in the direction of management, not so much studying the animals themselves as managing habitats etc, so if you want to study behaviour, zoology followed by an MSc. in animal behaviour will probably be the best course of action for you.

I don't know about a 'swimming license', I am a marine biologist, and it is said to be an advantage if you can swim and are scuba certified but there will also be jobs that require neither, if you are going to be collecting plankton samples on a boat wearing a life vest, there is little cause to jump into the water. TV makes most zoology jobs seem a lot more 'hands on' then they actually are, getting into the water with animals is not always necessary, in some cases even prohibited!