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Wildlife Conservationist

Protects endangered species and their habitats — from anti-poaching to habitat restoration.

Did you know?

Giant pandas were moved from 'endangered' to 'vulnerable' in 2016, and in 2021 China agreed, with over 1,800 living in the wild.

How subjects help

• Biology: Track an endangered animal's feeding and breeding to learn what it needs to survive.
• Environmental Science: Restore wetlands or forests so a threatened species has room to live again.
• Geography: Map where animals roam to plan safe corridors between protected areas.
• Communication: Work with local villagers to find ways people and wildlife can share the land.

A famous name

Jane Goodall: Studied wild chimpanzees in Tanzania from 1960 and spent her life campaigning to protect them.

Try it yourself: Do a garden bird count

1. Settle somewhere you can see outside and sit quietly. Write down the start time.
2. Only count birds that land, not ones flying over. For each kind of bird, write the biggest number you see at the same moment.
3. If you saw four sparrows together, then later two, record 4, not 6, so you do not count the same birds twice.
4. After 15 minutes, list your totals. Which bird was most common? Try again at a different time of day and compare. (The real survey asks for a whole hour.)

Ornithologists combine counts from hundreds of thousands of volunteers to track which bird species are rising or falling across the country, year after year.

Adapted from RSPB: Big Garden Birdwatch FAQs.

Also try: Watch a bean wake up.

Known for it in

Kenya, Australia, Costa Rica, UK, USA

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