A shelter dog paces the same six feet of concrete for hours, and nobody on staff can agree whether that’s fear, boredom, or something the dog learned before it arrived. Someone eventually has to look closer instead of guessing, and figure out what’s actually going on. Maybe you’ve been that person before, without ever having a name for what you were doing: reading an animal’s behavior like it was information, not just a mood.
That instinct has a real professional home. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, employment in this broader occupational category is projected to grow 4% through 2035, with a median annual wage of $76,780 as of May 2025, evidence that this is a credentialed, employable science rather than a hobby people romanticize into a job title. What’s less commonly laid out is which roles are open at which stage of your education, and what it actually takes to move between them.
Unity’s B.S. in Animal Health and Behavior is built around exactly that gap: the biology, psychology, and welfare science this field runs on, taught by people who’ve done the work themselves. Explore the program, then read on for exactly where it can take you.
What Does an Animal Behavior Scientist Do?
Animal behavior science combines biology, psychology, and welfare science to explain why animals act the way they do, in the wild and in captivity, and to use that explanation to improve how they’re cared for. That might mean designing an enrichment program because a captive animal has started showing stress behaviors. Enrichment means changing an animal’s environment or routine to encourage the natural behaviors it would otherwise have no outlet for in captivity. Other days, the work looks like evaluating whether a training method is working or just suppressing a symptom, or investigating how a changing habitat is reshaping a population’s natural patterns.
The field also carries real legal weight. An animal welfare investigator uses this science to determine whether neglect has actually occurred. A zoo exhibit designer uses it to build spaces that support a species’ natural behaviors rather than ones that just look good to visitors.
Careers You Can Pursue With This Degree
The job title changes considerably depending on where you work and how far your education goes, more than most people expect walking in. The table below moves roughly in that order, starting with the roles a bachelor’s degree alone can open and ending with the ones that require years of additional training on top of it.
| Career | What They Do | Degree Level Typically Required |
|---|---|---|
| Wildlife Rehabilitator | Assesses and treats injured or displaced wild animals before release, often under a veterinarian’s guidance | Bachelor’s |
| Zoo or Aquarium Behavioral Specialist | Designs enrichment programs, supports breeding initiatives, and monitors welfare for animals in professional care | Bachelor’s |
| Animal Welfare Investigator | Assesses whether neglect or abuse has occurred, often for a government agency or welfare organization | Bachelor’s, sometimes paired with agency-specific training |
| Animal Trainer | Trains domestic or zoo animals for specific behaviors, from basic obedience to enrichment-based tasks | Bachelor’s helpful; hands-on experience matters just as much |
| Zoo Curator | Oversees an animal population or department, managing both welfare and staff | Bachelor’s plus experience; often a master’s for larger institutions |
| Humane Society Director | Oversees shelter or humane society operations, staff, fundraising, and community outreach | Bachelor’s degree plus several years of nonprofit management experience |
| Veterinary Behaviorist | Diagnoses and treats behavioral conditions, including prescribing medication | DVM plus board certification |
Building Toward This Career
Two things move you through that table faster than anything else: hands-on experience and the right credential for the role you want.
Experience comes first, usually well before a job title does. Volunteering at a shelter, interning at a zoo, or working part-time at a veterinary clinic gives you the direct animal contact that almost every role above expects, regardless of what your degree says. Credentials come next, and they scale with ambition. A bachelor’s degree opens the wildlife rehabilitation, welfare investigation, and entry-level zoo roles.
Professional organizations matter more in this field than in most. The Animal Behavior Society, which offers the Certified Applied Animal Behaviorist (CAAB) credential, and the American Veterinary Society of Animal Behavior both offer directories, certification pathways, and conference networking that regularly turn into job leads, especially once you’re a few years into the field.
What Does This Career Pay?
According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the closest tracked occupational category, zoologists and wildlife biologists, reported a median annual wage of $76,780 as of May 2025, with 4% projected growth through 2035. That figure moves quite a bit depending on where you actually work.
| Setting | Typical Pay Relative to the $76,780 Median |
|---|---|
| Nonprofit and rehabilitation organizations | Often below median, reflecting the mission-driven nature of the work |
| Zoos and aquariums | Tends to track close to the median |
| Veterinary behavior practices and academic research positions | Considerably above median, reflecting the additional training required |
Inside Unity’s B.S. in Animal Health and Behavior
Unity’s B.S. in Animal Health and Behavior builds the foundation for every path above through coursework in animal training and care, comparative physiology, husbandry and genetics, and the evolution and social behavior of animals, delivered in a remote format built around the schedule you already have.
Our instructors aren’t working from theory alone. The instructors teaching coursework on animal training, behavior, and welfare bring real field experience, including years spent as curators developing animal welfare standards at facilities like the Georgia Aquarium before moving into behavior consulting. Unity also ranks in the top 1% of universities nationally on the Social Mobility Index, and the average distance education student is 29, most of them building this degree around a job, not instead of one.
If you’re weighing this path against a broader wildlife career, our breakdown of how to become a zoologist covers the wider field this degree also feeds into. If hands-on training work interests you more than behavioral science and welfare policy specifically, how to become an animal trainer covers that closely related, more applied path.
Whatever setting you land in first, the foundation is the same: understanding why animals behave the way they do, and knowing what to do with that understanding. Explore Unity’s B.S. in Animal Health and Behavior to see how that foundation gets built.
Frequently Asked Questions
A few questions come up often enough outside the sections above that they’re worth answering directly.
How Long Does It Take To Become an Animal Behaviorist?
A bachelor’s degree takes about four years and is enough to enter field, rehabilitation, or entry-level zoo roles. Reaching the CAAB or veterinary behaviorist tier typically adds another four to eight years of graduate or veterinary study on top of that, plus supervised practice.
Do You Need Prior Experience With Animals Before Starting The Degree?
No. Plenty of students start a program like Unity’s B.S. in Animal Health and Behavior without any professional animal experience and build it during their coursework through internships, volunteer placements, and hands-on labs. What matters more going in is genuine interest, not a resume that already has animal jobs on it.
Can You Specialize In a Particular Type of Animal Within This Field?
Yes, and most people eventually do. Some behaviorists focus almost entirely on companion animals like dogs and cats, others on a single zoo species or population, and others on wildlife more broadly. That specialization usually develops through the internships and job settings you choose after graduating rather than through separate coursework.
What Skills Matter Most Beyond The Science Itself?
Strong observational skills and patience are close to non-negotiable, since behavior change happens slowly and often requires sitting with ambiguity before a clear answer emerges. Clear written communication matters more than people expect too, since much of the job involves documenting behavior for reports, welfare reviews, or legal cases.
Is This Mostly Lab And Desk Work, or Is It Hands-On?
It depends heavily on the role, but most positions blend both. Field and zoo-based roles lean hands-on, with direct animal contact and observation. Research and welfare investigation roles involve more writing, data analysis, and case documentation than people expect walking in.
