Introduction
Have you ever wondered how animals evolved from the beginning of time? Or why one flock of birds differs from another? You probably looked online and found out this information through Zoologist's findings about them. Zoologist put a lot of time and effort into their work; from the schooling they have to go through to the research they must put into learning about their animals. If you wish to become a Zoologist you must be willing to put the time and effort into watching and recording animals, researching the animals, and sitting for hours wondering how and why a group of animals became the way they are. Zoologists are dedicated to the work that they do because they get to learn about how animals that are extinct became that way and how some birds fly with a flock, and others live in pair of two. The schooling and research that Zoologists put into their work may take awhile, but in the end they know that it is a rewarding process that all of them must go through to become what they are.
Findings
A Zoologist is a scientist that studies animals in their natural habitats or in laboratories where they can monitor the animals. "The term comes from two Greek words: "zoon," which means "animal," and "logos," which means "the word about"" (Simpson 2002, 1). Zoologists, or “animal scientists or animal biologists”, study the history and evolution of animal species, the habits of animals, and the way the animals associate with their environments. Although one group of Zoologist may focus on one species of animals, the branch of Zoology varies its whole study from extinct and live animals. They research the area that they are working in; they also study and examine the complex and simple species, such as a Zoologist studying a cat's overall structure to its smallest brain cell. Also, a zoologist can focus on one insect to a whole flock of birds (Anonymous A 2011, 1; Anonymous A 2011, 2). Since the animal kingdom is the biggest and varied kingdom, zoology is a broad branch, which “includes anatomy, physiology, embryology, genetics, and ecology of animals”(Simpson 2002, 2). “Specialization by types of animals, and specialization by processes or functions of animals” (Fox 2007, 1) are the two types of categories of Zoology. A few types of scientists within Zoology are entomologists, ornithologists, mammalogists, herpetologists, and primatologists (Fox 2007, 1; Prendergast 2002, 1).
Zoologists must have a bachelor's degree in biology, zoology, ecology, or one in a similar expertise. There are some zoologists that have a master of arts or master of science. Some university or college professors have a doctor of philosophy. Sometimes if a zoologist wishes to work somewhere, such as the government, they may have to take an exam to see if they are qualified to work there. Any high school students who wish to become a zoologist should take math classes to calculus and explore natural environments around their area, and learn about the animals, insects, and plants that live in the area (Dusheck 2002, 2).
Three universities that I found that offer the education that is needed to become a Zoologist are Auburn University, University of Florida, and Southern Illinois University. The first school that I found that offers the schooling that is needed to be come a Zoologist is Auburn University. The total cost for non-resident of Alabama undergraduates is $39, 548, which includes tuition and fees, room and board, books and supplies, personal, and transportation; and for graduates its $39, 530 which includes the same as the undergraduates (Anonymous 2011 C, 1). The second school offers the schooling is the University of Florida. The costs for undergraduates non-residents of Florida, who wish to be on and off campus, is around $42, 066 which includes tuition and fees, books and supplies, computer and cell phone, housing, food, transportation, clothing maintenance, and personal/ health insurance; and for graduate non-residents its around $37, 224 which includes the same items as the undergraduates (Anonymous 2011 E, 1). The Southern Illinois University is the third school that I found that provides the schooling needed to become a Zoologist. For non-residents of Illinois the tuition and fees varies for credit hours from 1-15 hours, the total cost for 1 credit hour is $1,500. 95 and the 15 hours credit is $14,766.44 (Anonymous 2011 D, 1). The average salary of Zoologist in 2009 was $60,673 per year, and in hourly earnings is $29.17. The people who are just starting out earn about $35,000 per year and the Zoologists who have been in the field the longest earn about $93,000 a year (Anonymous 2011 B, 1).
"Employment of biological scientists in general is projected to grow about as fast as average for all occupations through 2014" (Anonymous 2011 A, 4). Zoologists will be in, and have been in demand of because the field is so small. The federal and state government send more funds towards perserving environments and saving and protecting animal species, since the public is more for that. Zoologist are important because they can help find cures for diseases and help improve food supplies, so openings for experts in finding these cures are highly possible. Though the demand for teachers of Zoology will be very high, it will be very difficult to get the job (Anonymous 2011 A, 4).
An innovation that was discovered by Richard Emes and others was the comparsion between the mouse and human genomes. They studied and wrote about how human and mouse genomes are very similar (Emes 2003, 1) They stated that humans and mouse both diverged about 65-110 million years ago, and have very similar protein coding genes. So they asked themselves, "So what genetic differences underlie their distinctive morphologies and physiologies?" (Emes 2003, 2). They also said "One possibility is that these differences derive from changes in non-coding (23) and/or coding sequences that would have left unaltered the gene counts in the human and mouse genomes. Another is that they have arisen from gene deletions (24) and/or duplications specific to either of the lineages" (Emes 2003, 2). When comparing the mouse and human genome they found that "eighty percent of genes have one-to-one corresponding counterparts in the other's genome and, in genomic alignments, 40% of nucleotides are identical" (Emes 2003, 3). They also saw that there were four sequences of ancestory for mice and humans which are "(i) they are clustered in compact genomic regions; (ii) they are accompanied in these clusters by homologous pseudogenes; (iii) they show greater non-synonymous nucleotide substitution rates than most other genes; and (iv) they preferentially perform roles in life-or-death conflicts" (Emes 2003, 3). Some of the evolving genes are rapid reproduction, divergence, and immunty competition (Emes 2003, 3). The conclusion that they drew was that "In mammalian evolution, positive selection has driven the adaptation of genomes through the interplay of gene birth, gene death and sequence change" (Emes 2003, 4)
Another innovation is by Lockwood and his team, they wanted to analyze what the role of the adaptation of heat might play in a "warm-adapted invasive species" (Lockwood 2010, 1). They took control of two same catorgories, or congeners, of blue mussels, Mytilus trossulus and Mytilus galloprovincialis, these two congeners are closely related, because they diverged about 3.5 million years ago. These two species evolved in an environment with higher temperatures than other blue mussels because of an expansion of a polar ice cap. Results showed was that heterologous hybridization "to the microarray rendered 8874 probes that represented 4488 genes whose spots reliably hybridized in all samples, and thus performed well for both species" (Lockwood 2010, 2)
Conclusion
In the line of Zoology, you have to put time and effort into everything you do either it's the schooling you have to go through before you can get the job, or the research you must find before you can start studing the animal. Zoologist can choose what they wish to study from an ornithologist to mammalogist they are both catorgized in the Zoology branch of biology. They also have many schools they can attend to get what they need to become a Zoologist. Their job pays enough for life, and the benefits of discovering something new is very rewarding in the science world.
In the line of Zoology, I think one plus is the fact that you get to study the wildlife. By studing the wildlife, I would benefit by knowing what is dangerous, and what is harmless. Also, you get to learn about animals that most people have never even heard of, you get learn about everything about the animal from it's history to how it evolved into what it is. Another plus is that you get to work with people who are interested in what you're interested in, so no one is out of place. Although there are many up sides to being a zoologist, there are some down sides. The pay for being one is not like being a doctor or a lawyer, it's enough for a small family but not a big one. Also, if you do not know enough about the species you're studing you could get hurt. But at the end of the day, Zoologists get to explore the unknown, and that is a reason why I would want to be a Zoologist.