Name: Paige Seitz Job Title: Livestock Guarding Dog Program Manager Organization: Cheetah Conservation Fund, Namibia, Africa Education/Degree: B.S. in Biology, specializing in Zoology Namibia is made up of farmland and as the human population grows, climate changes occur, and habitats change, the world not only changes for the people in it, but also for the animals that … [Read more...]
Club Support: Career Exploration
Whether you know exactly what you want to do or have not yet decided, 4-H encourages you to explore a variety of careers, create a resume, and learn about resources in a field of interest. These resources can be organizations or associations related to your interests. For example, if you're interested in a career as a Veterinarian, you might want to check out the AVMA (American … [Read more...]
Learning how to do research in the field: A Pilot Study in Guyana for Coral Snake Mimicry
Or how research really goes in the field! Everyone talks about research being done in the field. It can sound glamorous, especially when the results are exactly what you hope for or even expect. But the reality is just the opposite. More often than not, it is what you don’t find or what doesn’t work that helps you learn and adjust your experiment. Anthony Sena, a first … [Read more...]
Club Support: Three Online Courses on Food Safety and Microbiology
If you are looking for ways to supplement your 4-H club or other youth program in the area of Animal Science, Animal U by the Iowa State University has a wealth of interactive and educational resources. The web trainings here are educational yet highly accessible to youth audiences. Production livestock projects may benefit from asking youth to complete the Food Safety and … [Read more...]
So You Want to Work in a Zoo?
This past July, 4-H Program Associates Amelia Valente and Brittany Rigg held a S.T.E.P (Short Term Exploratory Program) called Career Detectives. The mission of this program was to expose youth to zoo careers they might be interested in pursuing. Participants virtually connected with several professionals in the field, including Zoo Keepers, Behavioral Specialists, Water … [Read more...]
What can snakes on Madagascar teach us about evolution?
Arianna Kuhn, PhD Candidate, City University of New York, American Museum of Natural History As a PhD candidate at the City University of New York, my current work aims to understand the evolutionary events that cause new species to form, but my career in herpetology actually began with geckos from Africa! As an undergraduate at Villanova University, I knew that I … [Read more...]
The Search for Urban Snakes in NJ
Written by Tianqi Huang, a PhD student majoring in Ecology and Evolution at Rutgers University - New Brunswick , currently working on urban snake ecology. Tianqi is co-advised by Dr. Peter Morin and Dr. Sara Ruane. Nowadays, a large proportion of world’s population lives in urban areas, but we know that cities are not only home to … [Read more...]
What it’s like being a Park Ranger
Name: Erin Morton Job Title: Park Service Associate Organization: Maryland Park Service Education/Degree: Bachelors of Science, Major; Wildlife Conservation and Management 1. Are you a 4-H Alumni? Unfortunately I was not in 4-H, but I always wanted to be! 2. What does a typical work day look like for you? (hours, activities, work … [Read more...]
Poachers and habitat loss are endangering these N.J. snakes. This professor works to keep the reptiles safe.
Originally posted Sep 29, 2019 at NJ.com. Re-posted with permission from author, Avalon Zoppo, NJ Advance Media. Deep in the Pine Barrens, poachers can wander for hours at a time. Their eyes scan the forest floor for dull orange, camouflaged corn snakes, a state-endangered reptile long threatened by a combination of encroaching development and collectors who sell … [Read more...]
Rutgers Herpetologist Shares 2019 Travels!
Dr. Sara Ruane, Rutgers Herpetologist and Evolutionary Biologist, shares her awesome 2019 travels with us. Louisiana In April, I went to Louisiana to collect genetic samples from snakes with my former PhD advisor, Frank, a curator at the American Museum of Natural History, and his postdoc, Skip. This collecting was for some projects that we are working on together and to … [Read more...]