Zoo InternQuest is a career exploration program for high school students. For more information see the Zoo InternQuest Journals. For more photos see the Zoo InternQuest Photo Journal.

Being a Behavioral Biologist

Caroline Pitt, a behavioral biologist at the San Diego Zoo’s CRES, showed us what it is like to have her job. She and her team have been studying how animals behave, both in the wild and, in this case, in captivity. Most especially they want to learn how animals attract mates, raise their offspring, interact socially, and how they spend their time in general. They then graph this information in order to determine what it is that animals do during the day.

Ms. Pitt got her job after receiving degrees in psychology and anthropology from the University of Georgia. She is going back to school to obtain a graduate degree. A graduate degree is almost vital to advancing in the research community. She has been working for CRES for two and a half years and worked with various species including monkeys and apes before applying her skills in studying the behavior of giraffes and other ungulates at the Wild Animal Park. She told us, and I would agree, that this job takes patience, as much of her time is spent observing stationary animals, but it is still a lot of fun. Who else has the chance to study and record the habits of exotic animals for a living? Even though it is frustrating at times to not receive enough funding for research, this job is still very rewarding, that is if you can squeeze into one of the very few job openings available.

-Jake- Animal Careers Team

Listen to an iZoofari Chat with Caroline Pitt.

The Career Path to Pathology

Pathology is so much more complex than I thought it would be. Starting the day off with an introduction by Patty Gaffney, D.V.M., our day would turn out to be one of discovery and learning. Dr. Gaffney, a graduate of University of California, Davis veterinary school, is a resident in pathology where she receives advanced training in pathology and different diseases. She is a veterinary pathologist, meaning that she has a four-year bachelor’s degree and a D.V.M. degree behind her, and at least a year of a residency ahead of her.

As she introduced herself, we entered a room full of numerous instruments and hooks and operating tables. A pathology technician was examining a dead duck, its body cut open and organs spread for display. Performing a necropsy, the tech was examining the duck for clues on the possible cause(s) of death. We moved on quickly because the smell was starting to irritate our noses.

After a thorough discussion on the subject by Dr. Gaffney, I discovered not only what zoo pathology really is (an informal subspecialty of veterinary pathology, it involves the diagnosis and investigation of disease(s) in nondomestic – or not commercially raised – animals) but also how rare it is for a zoo to have such a person on staff. Currently, there are 25 zoo pathologists in the U.S. at zoos. Zoo pathologists can be found at the Zoological Society of San Diego, Smithsonian National Zoological Park, and others around the country, including Disney’s Animal Kingdom. Having an important role in animal health, pathologists perform necropsies and surgical biopsies; they conduct research on new diseases, educate others, and collaborate to share their findings. They also perform gross examinations and some people in this field have backgrounds in human medicine. In the work of a pathologist, 85 percent involves clinical work, 10 percent involves conservation and research, and the other 5 percent involves the examination of necropsy samples.

It takes a lot of school and a lot of hard work to be a zoo pathologist: first, you have to attain a degree, second, you have to be a resident at a zoo or veterinary office for two years; third, you have to pass the board certification test; four, you can go to school for another 5 to 8 years to attain a doctorate. Even though the path to becoming a pathologist is a hard one, it is very rewarding and very important to the health of all the animals in the zoo.

Tawni - Animal Careers Team

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