James Ballantyne has always been interested in animals. "From my earliest
childhood, I watched birds, fished and identified plants. What I'm doing
now is just an extension of that."
And just what does Ballantyne do? He has a PhD, and besides teaching college-level
biology courses, he's working on several projects in his lab. "We're
looking at the membranes and metabolism of sharks and skates, looking at how
Arctic fish and invertebrates adapt to very low temperatures, and looking
at some aspects of the ways hormones affect fish metabolism."
Ballantyne is a busy man, and he enjoys his career. "I like the fieldwork,
and I like analyzing the data, figuring out what it means and then thinking
up the next experiment to do."
Like most jobs, however, it has a downside. "The worst part of the job
is dealing with the paperwork involved in doing research. We have to fill
out endless forms to get permission to do experiments on animals, and we have
to write lots of grant applications to get money to do the work."
For anyone considering a career in zoology, Ballantyne offers this advice.
"Study hard and get good marks to get into a university, and get good marks
in the university so you can get into the laboratory of your choice for your
graduate degrees."
When Kerry Kilburn of Old Dominion University did her doctoral work, she
studied two species of kangaroo rats living in the desert near Albuquerque,
New Mexico. Though she didn't find the definitive answer she wanted,
the project was a success.
"As is so often the case in science, the answer wasn't conclusive
one way or another. But in the course of the study, I'd noticed some
interesting patterns in skeletal anatomy that no one had really commented
on before. [I] was able to relate those patterns to digging behavior in a
new way. So I wound up finding something new, even if it wasn't what
I started out looking for."
And that's just fine with her.
"The really cool thing is that this is how science very often works. You
start out by asking a question. You may not answer that one, but if you keep
your eyes open, you'll stumble on five more that are just as interesting,
one of which you might just be able to answer!"
Though animals have always fascinated Kilburn, she never planned on being
a zoologist. However, her first real field trip changed her mind.
"The teacher showed us how to set traps for small mammals. The next day,
we found a torpid pocket mouse -- the cold had made him go into a sort of
'mini-hibernation.' The teacher handed me the mouse and told me
to hold it until it warmed up enough to let it go.
"I was hooked. I decided I wanted to do this sort of thing forever. So
I went to graduate school, where I very quickly discovered a major passion
for teaching. And that's what I've been doing ever since -- learning,
teaching and doing fieldwork whenever I can."
Kilburn offers advice. "Do it because you love it, not because
you expect to get rich at it. And start early. Find out what kinds of volunteer
positions are available in your local area and take advantage of them. And
don't neglect math, especially statistics, and be sure to develop your
written and oral communication skills."
"I really loved animals and I didn't think I was mentally tough enough
to be a veterinarian," says Sandra Millen, a senior instructor in college-level
marine biology.
The best thing about her career, she says, is being in charge of her own
research and discovering new things. "I also enjoy teaching, especially to
students who haven't thought much about the animals before. It's
good to see them get excited about something they expected to be rather boring.
The worst thing I do is marking 300 exams in a week!"
Millen has been lucky to be involved in projects that have taken her scuba
diving from Alaska to the Strait of Magellan. "My career has allowed me to
stretch myself beyond where I dreamed as a teenager. I think girls often lack
the confidence and the encouragement to reach high enough. One of the main
things I have learned is to stay flexible and go for it."