<p>I have been researching different avenues as far as working with elephants. From what I can put together most researchers have a degree in either biology, zoology or psychology. I am not sure which one of these would be best suited for me.</p>
<p>I want to work with specifically elephants. I want to help research them, protect them, advocate for them and over all just have the hands on, personal interaction with them. </p>
<p>I am just not sure what educational path I should be taking on. Any help is greatly appreciated!</p>
<p>It’s great that you have an idea what you want to do, but you don’t want to get too specific in your education, as there often aren’t jobs in that specific area, despite your passion. So you’ll want to remain a little flexible pursuit of your goal. and don’t discount the fact that you just might discover something else along the way.</p>
<p>Other areas you might want to consider would include ecology and conservation biology. Just start out in the basic biology field, take a number of courses, and your proper path will emerge. And plan on probably needing to pursue graduate level degrees. Also take a look at programs that would also offer some sort of study abroad or summer field work programs in Africa.</p>
<p>I would say that biology or zoology (with some classes in animal behavior) are probably better majors than psychology for a person who wants to work with elephants. In my experience, most psychology undergraduate classes focus primarily on human behavior; the few that focus on animal behavior will focus primarily on primates and perhaps rats, mice, and maybe (<em>maybe</em>) dogs. That’s because historically, those are the models that psychologists have conduct research on. In my limited experience, most animal behaviorists I am familiar with have degrees in biology with maybe some coursework in biology, unless they study primate behavior (there are lots of primate behaviorists in psychology).</p>
<p>There are always exceptions, of course - I know a psychologist who studies songbird learning.</p>
<p>I agree with MrMom, though, that you want to stay flexible and open to wherever your interests may take you. There are several schools (mostly large universities) with majors in wildlife conservation and ecology; you can look at those.</p>
<p>Can I add on Veterinary Grad School? Not only might it be possible to do an elective/ internship in Africa but you could work either with conservation groups abroad or zoos and other places in the US. Again, you don’t need to get tied down with a specific major- just the pre-reqs. </p>
<p>And look into the job specs for zoo keepers. They need elephant handlers/specialists. You’d probably have to go in starting with another kind of animal. I don’t know what, if any, specific study or experience they need but it might be another avenue to keep on the back burner.</p>