Any tips for anyone who wants to be a herpetologist?
Okay so it turns out I get rather a lot of asks on this particular question, and rather than answer them all individually, I thought it would be sensible to compile numerous ones I have received in the last year or so into a single long post on the basics:
What you need to know if you want to be a herpetologist
Before I get into it, let me explain my credentials for those who are interested. @amandaderrick92 asked specifically where I did my degree: I did my Bachelor’s degree in Zoology (Hons.) at the University of Edinburgh, Scotland, and then my Master’s degree in Ecology, Evolution and Systematics at the Ludwig-Maximilian University of Munich (LMU), Germany. I am now studying for a PhD at the LMU, in partnership with the Zoologische Staatssammlung München and Technische Universität Braunschweig. So I guess I am more or less qualified to talk about this, though I would point out at this early phase in my career that I am by no means the expert standard example person—I encourage you to ask other herpetologists about their background as well. Twitter is fucking full of them, and most will be only too eager to share how they got into it and how you can, too.
Herpetologist is an umbrella term
First off, I want to make it clear that to be a herpetologist, per se, says little of the professional day-to-day career of a person. Herpetologists may be involved in a wide variety of fields, from pure academia (Herpetology sensu stricto), to applied research, to bioengineering, to veterinary work, to zoo-keeping, to animal breeding, to ranger work, to pest control, to conservation work… the list goes on. In this post I will refer mostly to herpetology sensu stricto, that is, the study of reptiles and amphibians, which is largely an academic pursuit. One of the anonymous askers above mentioned a desire to avoid veterinary work—this is almost a guarantee unless you decide to undergo the arduous training to become a vet. Yet, I want to make it clear also that it is possible to be a herpetologist and not necessarily be an academic, as I know that the prospect of academia can be frightening to downright off-putting to some.
How necessary is an MSc or PhD?
This brings us nicely to the issue of whether graduate level education is necessary to be a herpetologist. The answer is mixed, because, as I have just explained, herpetology, in the broad sense, is so varied and diverse. You can consider yourself a herpetologist even if you just do it in your spare time (I know a policeman who describes new species of snakes for fun). But for Herpetology sensu stricto as given above, generally I would say that at the very least an MSc will be required. The reason for this you will find below, but to summarise it, it is because your education by the end of your BSc is unlikely to have had much to do with herpetology, but rather will be general zoology. Focus on herpetological studies will have to come later.
It is important at this point already to note that the term herpetologist is in fact an umbrella term even in the strict sense. Many herpetologists study epidemiology, conservation science, invasive species biology, behavioural ecology, taxonomy, evolutionary biology and speciation, biomechanics, histology, etc. It is a science without an explicit angle of study, similar to ornithology and other organismal -ologies. So if there is a specific thing you are interested in about reptiles and amphibians, you are really most likely going to wind up pursuing that, and not herpetology per se, in your academic pursuits. But more on that below.
I’m in highschool and think I want to be a herpetologist when I’m older… what can I do to make that happen?
I think about this kind of question remarkably often. Well, actually, I think of things that I could have done better in my own childhood that would have made my life easier today. Here are a few pearls of wisdom I have gleaned from this introspection:
• Buy and read a textbook on the topic of herpetology. This is something I never did (I have never owned a herpetology textbook, let alone tried to read one), and I regret it at least once a week. There are huge chunks of knowledge missing from what a herpetologist is expected to know simply because I never took the time when I was younger to sit down and read the book. Sure, I skimmed herpetological books all the time, but I never really internalised them. I cannot identify larval stages of tadpoles. I don’t know the first thing about the actual metabolism of reptiles. I only learned this year how a frog’s vocal apparatus actually makes sounds. Learning all this stuff too late in your career is possible, but a pain in the ass, so try to get it out of the way as soon as possible.
• If you like frogs, buy Duellman & Trueb 1986 Biology of Amphibians. It is unmatched.
• Learn to identify your local herpetofauna. Chances are, some exist. Go find them. And do so with a buddy. Herping is always best done with companionship, especially if you live in an area where dangerous snakes are common (read: most of the world except Europe, New Zealand, and Madagascar).
• Join your local herpetological society. In the United States, the umbrella society are the Society for the Study of Amphibians and Reptiles (SSAR), the Herpetologists League, and the American Society of Ichthyologists and Herpetologists. In the UK it is various branches of the Amphibian and Reptile Group (ARGs). In Germany and Switzerland it is the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Herpetologie und Terrarienkunde (DGHT). These societies are always full of enthusiastic people, many of whom are fully fledged herpetologists, and showing your own interest will most likely be greeted with encouragement.
• Get into the right area of study. Choosing what to study in college is intimidating, especially when you don’t quite know if you want to choose between something about which you are passionate, versus something that will keep bread on the table. It’s romantic to think that everyone can eventually find a way to make money doing the thing they love, but unfortunately, it is not always true. Choose your undergraduate education in a way that you find will suit you and keep you happy in the long run. But now I’ve said my part on that, let me get into the nitty-gritty of what you actually need to study to become a herpetologist:
Where and what to study to become a herpetologist
Globally, there are numerous institutes where you can study to become a herpetologist, even if they do not explicitly say so on their curriculum websites. To accommodate the relatively broad global readership of this tumblr, I will try to keep this as general as possible:
The most important thing to think about is the ‘subject’ of study. To make headway into herpetology, you should direct your studies toward organismal or evolutionary biology. Possible ‘subjects’ as advertised by universities might be ‘Biology,’ ‘Evolutionary Biology,’ ‘Zoology,’ ‘Environmental Sciences,’ and very very rarely ‘Herpetology’. Most programmes will not allow you to specialise explicitly on herpetology until your Master’s degree, and even then not really explicitly. However, you should know that you can and should tailor your Bachelor’s experience to your own interests, regardless of its official title. Though my degree in Edinburgh was in ‘Zoology,’ I was able to focus mostly on reptiles and amphibians and evolutionary biology!
Despite the broad readership cited above, I wanted to draw your attention in particular to just a few universities worldwide that are renowned for their zoological undergraduate programmes, or herpetological research (note that this list only includes institutes that offer tuition in English, hence the rather narrow geographical sampling):
• The University of Edinburgh—I have to list my alma mater here for pride reasons, but I do so also because I think that my zoological education was incredibly rounded as a result of doing my Bachelor’s degree in Edinburgh. They have two appropriate courses, in Zoology and in Evolutionary Biology, and you can choose between them at the end of your second year.
• Kansas University, Lawrence, Kansas USA—Kansas has a famed herpetological history, and currently is home to some great minds in herpetology, including John Wiens and Linda Trueb.
• Villanova University, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania USA—I highlight this university solely because of Aaron Bauer’s lab, which focusses on geckos. They do some really great research. This group is particularly good for Master’s work.
• Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts USA—Home of the Losos lab, probably the most famous group working on evolutionary questions with herpetological systems in the world.
• Bangor University, Bangor, Wales—This is one of the only institutes in the world that offers a bachelor’s degree in Herpetology (or ‘Zoology with Herpetology’). I have heard good things about the programme, and know a few graduates of it, but would not consider this a guarantee that it is better than other universities that only offer Zoology courses.
• University of Syndey, Sydney, New South Wales Australia—Home to the Shine lab, Syndey is apparently quite a good place to start off as a herpetologist. Plus, the reptiles in particular of Australia are really incredibly diverse and a great system for evolutionary and ecological studies.
• University of Manchester, Manchester, England—In terms of research and education, Manchester is a great university, ranked among the top in the UK. For herpetological interest, there is connection to The Manchester Museum, where a group works on frogs, focussed mostly on conservation biology.
(Für Deutschsprachige Studenten/-innen, würde ich Humboldt Universität Berlin, Ludwig-Maximilian Universität München, Technische Universität Braunschweig und Universität Trier empfehlen, obwohl viele anderen bestimmt auch super sind!)
So what do I need to get into a relevant course at a university/college?
To quash the questions before they come: prerequisites for the study of the above-mentioned courses in these institutes will almost certainly be advanced high-school level qualifications in biology and chemistry, and I can imagine that many would demand a tolerable mathematics grade as well. English language courses in high-school will not hurt in the least, especially as most work in academia is centred around writing and reading extensively in English.
Tips for non-speaking and non-vet work
As I have mentioned above, avoiding veterinary work is easy as long as you opt not to do it, but avoiding public speaking is actually fairly difficult. You see, although 99.9% of herpetological research is conducted in labs or in the field or whatever, occasionally it will be expected that you attend conferences, and there you will eventually be asked to give a talk, even if you do not volunteer yourself. Far more concerning I imagine is the fact that most academic careers require some degree of teaching. This is indeed something that is difficult to avoid if you do wish to stay in academia, but can be easily avoided with other herpetological career paths.
Also, it should be noted by the American readers that the teaching obligation of graduate students outside the US is considerably lower than in the US, so it becomes practically optional until you are looking for a position as a post-doc or even professor somewhere! Case in point: I am trying my hardest to find an opportunity to teach, but so far it looks like it will still be months before such an opportunity presents itself.
General tips for someone who wants to be a herpetologist
• Networking is your friend. If you can, meet local people who have similar interests. Go to conferences and meet people from across the world who are interested in similar questions or animals to you, and start big conversations with them. Nowadays, it is possible to work on the most incredible collaborative projects, and it is smart to take advantage of those opportunities!
• Shocking though it may seem, there is no minimum age limit on conference attendance! If you find that there is a herpetological conference happening near you, sign up to go! I have been at conferences where there were 14 year-old students present, and they asked some great questions of the speakers! But beware at that age that there may be a lot of topics that the education system is not designed to teach you until college, so a lot may be difficult to comprehend!
• Read as much literature as you can handle. Textbooks are great for basic knowledge, but when you get to a problem or animal you want to understand better, turn to the primary literature! Reading papers is not especially hard once you grasp the jargon, but getting hold of them can be. Join ResearchGate to get access to a lot of literature, and what you cannot get access to, you may find other ways to access…
• Learn to handle reptiles and amphibians. Do so with non-dangerous things, and with care and respect for the animals, ideally with the supervision of a more experienced person. This is really crucial for later work, and I always am exasperated by young students who clearly have never held a snake before but can identify dozens of them.
• Try to keep abreast of at least the major changes in taxonomy and understanding of the origins of reptiles and amphibians.
• Wrap your mind around the fact that birds are reptiles, crocodiles are more closely related to them than they are to squamates, and tuataras are not lizards, but snakes are.
• Learn the word squamate, and try to use it and other technical terms in favour of more layman, less accurate terms.
• Try to get a general impression for the families or at least orders of reptiles and amphibians. Don’t get into the embarrassing situation that you have never heard of gymnophiones or various obscure lizard groups. While depth of knowledge on one or two groups is almost inevitable, do not forget to try to glean holistic insights.
• Realise how often some evolutionary transitions happen, and what that might mean. Frogs repeatedly converging on the same niches. Lizards losing their limbs literally hundreds of times, from cordylids to geckos to anguids to skinks. Geckos re-evolving their adhesive toe pads repeatedly.
• Try to read primary literature as it comes out, but know that at the early stages of your education, an understanding of what has come before is arguably more important than an understanding of what is going on now. Hence, read your textbooks!
And that is all of my advice for now. I am sure there are things I have forgotten, and I would be happy to expand this in the future—please let me know if there are any specific areas in which I can offer further help in urging you toward your herpetological career. And good luck!
