I want a job where I study animal behavior, what do I major in?

Question

I'd like to study wild animals, study how intelligent they really are, etc. what should I major in to do that?

Answer 1

It kind of depends what your school offers. My school doesn't offer anything more specific by way of majors than biology, chemistry, physics, etc. In that case, go with biology (and maybe minor in psychology depending exactly what you want to do with it, but most human psychology isn't really applicable to most animals). Some schools might offer something like zoology as a major, in which case go with that. The more you can focus in on animals specifically, the better. I think there are some schools that even offer an animal behavior major, in which case that would be the obvious choice, but you're much better off majoring in biology at a good school than animal behavior at a sucky one or one you just don't like. You'll presumably go on to study animal behavior at the graduate level, or at least undergo some sort of training after college, so at this point it's more important to get a solid undergraduate education than to study only the one subject that you ultimately want to pursue.

Answer 2

If you want to work for a zoo, conservation society, animal trainer, or vet assistance then yes. If you wanto make money or have more job security, no. There's definitely jobs for people who love working with animals and if that's your passion than that would be a good major to pursue that. However, I don't think there's a high demand for those jobs nor do they pay well. Of course everyone's heard of someone's friends friends cousin who trains animals for big movies and makes bank, but that's a 1:1000 job.

Answer 3

At my University they had an "Animal Science" major. The next best thing would be Zoology. Some psychology courses focus only on animals, but usually those courses are for people that want to experiment with animals.

Answer 4

Zoology
An undergraduate degree in that field wont necessarily allow you to take intensive study in animals, but you may find that a Masters or PhD would be something you might enjoy.

Answer 5

Major in biology with a minor in psychology.

Answer 6

Political science