Introduction

Zoology opens up a wide range of career paths beyond simply working in a lab. Within the subject, physiologists study how an animal's body functions, taxonomists focus on naming and classifying species, and embryologists study the early developmental stages of animal life. A career in zoology isn't limited to research either — it can mean working for television channels like National Geographic, Animal Planet or Discovery Channel, which are constantly on the lookout for zoologists for documentaries and field research, or being employed by zoos, wildlife services, botanical gardens, conservation organisations, national parks, nature reserves, universities, laboratories, aquariums, animal clinics, fisheries, museums, pharmaceutical companies and veterinary hospitals, among many other places — and it can also mean real travel, since fieldwork often takes a zoologist well beyond a desk.

For a student who wants to become an entrepreneur rather than take up a job, zoology also opens the door to culturing farm animals, which have carried real economic value ever since humans first began domesticating them in prehistoric times. Any animal-based industry's success ultimately comes down to how well the next generation of farm animals is bred, managed and developed.