I cannot stress enough that you do not need a degree to become a naturalist / discover new species… you just need to care about living things and have a passion for them. Going to college just gets you closer to good resources (museum collections and career biologists) but you do not NEED a degree to access either of those things.
It can be useful to get one if you can! But you do not NEED one and there is no time limit for getting one.
FYI to all my followers: I am not a “real” entomologist
I went to college and have a masters degree… in engineering.
I have never taken any course in animal biology, taxonomy, let alone entomology.
Everything I know about nature and wildlife, I learned by myself because I was interested in these topics. I went out on guided hikes the state parks put on with experts, and I made connections with people who had gone to college and studied wildlife biology.
I raised moth and butterfly eggs I found in my yard, sometimes hatching parasites instead. I reached out to people online through bugguide forums and via iNaturalist, and got to submit parasitic wasps that hadn’t yet been documented in Io moth eggs, to the entomologist at Texas A&M University who was revising the genus they were in—before I could have told you the difference between an assassin bug and a leaf-footed bug. I raised stick insects I found in my yard, and ended up shipping some to a real entomologist who had never photographed the species, and needed one for a field guide he is writing.
You will be amazed what resources you have available to you if you just ask. Lamenting your lack of access to museum specimens in the back storage areas? Contact the curator for your area of interest at your local museum, explain you are an amateur x-ologist, and you are interested in studying y species. Is there a time you could arrange to view the collections? THEY WILL SAY YES!!!! You’re a high school student, worried they won’t take you seriously? EVEN BETTER, THEY WILL LOVE YOU!!! Aim for a university collection if there is one nearby.
College is great if that’s your thing, but it won’t make you a naturalist. You will make you a naturalist.
June 27, 2019
GOD YES THIS *slams fist on table*
I have a degree in animation and I’ve worked for ten years as natural history curator in various natural history museums, with entomology being my focus. You definitely don’t need a science degree as long as you’re willing to learn.
Also, as a natural history curator I can confirm that we WILL say yes if you want to study the collections. That’s what museums are there for!
I will add!
I have a friend who got his PhD in physics who was the entomology curator at a natural history museum for several years, and currently works as a research scientist in an entomology research lab at a university. He studies the various ways insects manipulate light with nano-structured features on their bodies (hey, physics!) to understand how they might be able to see their environment.
Whatever skills you already have are useful for whatever naturalist-centric lifestyle you want to lead! I’ve got the adhd hyperfixation curse and a penchant for staying online for 36+ hours straight. Of course I surged to the top of the iNaturalist leaderboards (and doing my bug IDs on there is how I learned everything I know!).
What skills do you have? How can you use them to be a naturalist? Who can you network with to put those skills to work in a way that’s meaningful for you? The naturalist community is full of people with a common mission. Any newcomer is welcomed with open arms and we love helping newbies.
June 28, 2019
A news article about people like me (and you?!):
Link to article: Species Sleuths: Amateur Naturalists Spark a New Wave of Discovery
June 28, 2019
This is important to me.
This is wonderful
