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The Complete Guide to Becoming An Animal Scientist
What animal scientists really do all day, what they earn at every level, and exactly how to decide if this is the right career for you.
by Alumigogo Books
Chapter 1: What Does a Animal Scientist Actually Do?
Welcome to the real world of animal science, away from the brochures and the job fair posters. This is the chapter that tells you what you will actually be doing on a Tuesday morning in October, not what the college catalog says you'll be doing. If you are trying to decide if this is the career for you, you need to know the job inside and out. So let's take off the rose-colored glasses and put on a pair of rubber boots, because that's often the first thing you'll put on each day.
The Core of the Job is Data, Not Cuddles
The first thing you need to understand is that an animal scientist is fundamentally a scientist. And science is about measuring, observing, and testing. It’s about figuring out why, and then quantifying the "why" so it can be repeated or changed. You are not primarily a caretaker, a farmer, or a veterinarian. You are someone who uses the scientific method to solve problems about animals. Those problems are almost always related to production efficiency and animal health.
In practice, this means the heart of your day is data collection. You will design experiments, collect samples, run analyses, and spend hours on a computer crunching numbers. A typical experiment might involve feeding three different groups of pigs different diets to see which one produces the most lean muscle with the least feed. Or you might be monitoring a herd of