Zoology BSc (Hons)

Our course will open up a world of professional careers relating to the biology of animals. You’ll have good general training as a scientist, so you could choose to work in the field, in the laboratory, or both – and anywhere in the world.

After graduating, you might work for a zoo, a government agency, an environmental consultancy, a wildlife conservation organisation, or an education or research establishment. Graduates of this course have gone to work for leading zoos, the RSPB, local wildlife trusts, the BBC Natural History Unit, and fieldwork and research teams in exciting places from Costa Rica to Africa.

We’ll encourage you to do voluntary or paid work at every opportunity will build your practical experience and help to attract employers. For example, you could support your local wildlife trust.

As a graduate of this course, you’ll be able to apply for membership of the Zoological Society of London, the Royal Society of Biology, and other professional organisations.

Graduation doesn’t need to be the end of your time with us. If you’d like to continue your studies we offer a wide range of full-time and part-time postgraduate courses including MSc Animal Behaviour: Applications for Conservation and MSc Applied Wildlife Conservation.

Field work is an important part of zoology. It’s a practical subject and we’ll give you plenty of opportunities to learn and practise both in the lab and the field. In your second year you’ll take a week-long field trip to north Devon to experience both marine and terrestrial zoology, the costs of which are included in your course fees. On our optional field trips you might experience rutting red deer on the island of Rum; marine biology in Scotland; world-class zoos in the Netherlands; wildlife and ecology in Africa; and diving and marine biology in the Red Sea. You’ll need to pay for these trips.

Cambridge is becoming a world centre for wildlife conservation, with Fauna and Flora International, Birdlife International and the World Conservation Monitoring Centre based here. You’ll have opportunities to attend lectures and visit specialist museums and libraries in the city. If you’re interested in captive animal behaviour, you can access the facilities at the College of West Anglia, Cambridge.

Our course is recognised by the Royal Society of Biology's degree-recognition scheme.