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Zoo InternQuest is a seven-week career exploration program for San Diego County high school juniors and seniors. Students have the unique opportunity to meet professionals working for the San Diego Zoo, Safari Park, and Institute for Conservation Research, learn about their jobs, and then blog about their experience online. Follow their adventures here on the Zoo’s website!
This week, when I heard the words “behavioral ecologists”, I was immediately intrigues and excited. Behavior, in humans and animals, fascinates me. It links us to each other, and helps us understand actions on an individual and societal basis. So naturally, given my passion for interaction and basically everything social, I was ecstatic to meet with Behavioral Ecologists Jen Tobey and Matt Anderson.
First, we met Matt Anderson. Dr. Anderson is the Director of Behavioral Ecology at the Institute for Conservation Research. His typical day of work consists of many meetings with other departments of the Institute including Genetics and Reproductive Physiology. In order to better understand their research to generate funding, Dr. Anderson and his team also collaborate with a large array of people from different backgrounds such as keepers, curators and veterinarians.
Despite being surrounded by people day in and day out, Dr. Anderson started his path to behavioral ecology in the field surrounded by animals. Born and raised in England, Dr. Anderson’s interest in biology started in high school. He went on to to study at the University of Liverpool in northern England, and received his bachelor’s degree in zoology. As his fascination for animal behavior began to grow, Dr. Anderson attended the Oxford Brookes University recieving his Master’s degree in Environmental Impact Assessment and Management and his PhD in Biological Anthropology. His first post doc after receiving his Doctorate was at Cambridge University. Later he moved to the United States to begin his second post doc at the San Diego Zoo, which eventually led him to his career today.
After meeting and talking with Dr. Anderson, we met the bubbly and outgoing Jen Tobey. Ms. Tobey immediately shared her story of becoming a behavioral ecologist by stating, “from the age of seven, I always wanted to be a vet”, which is a pretty popular statement from people in the conservation world. She went on to study biology and psychology at Franklin and Marshall College. Ms. Tobey later received her master’s degree in psychology from California State University San Marcos with a concentration in Comparative Psychology.
Ms. Tobey has been working for San Diego Zoo Global for 20 years. For five of those years, she worked as a primate and marsupial keeper. After her brief stint as a keeper, Ms. Tobey moved on to work at the Institute studying and working with koalas. During her time at the Institute, Ms. Tobey has been working on a conservation project where she studies koala’s social behaviors.
Ms. Tobey’s career revolves around day-to-day traveling between the Safari Park, Institute for Conservation Research and San Diego Zoo. At the Zoo, Ms. Tobey has around 20-30 volunteers that observe the koalas and collect data on a daily basis. In addition to her research, Ms. Tobey spends a lot of her time training keepers on behavioral ecology. In her office at the Institute, Ms. Tobey writes papers, analyzes data and creates presentations based on the information collected from her volunteers and the hormone data from urine and fecal samples. Ms. Tobey’s current project consists of studying the interaction between mother and infant koalas along with juvenile interactions.
Dr. Anderson and Ms. Tobey definitely have important and riveting jobs when it comes to understanding animals and conservation. Their jobs require consistent observation, deep analysis and a passion for animal behavior and communication. Although their jobs can be tedious at times, their work has helped shape the world of animal behavior in a positive, eye opening way.
Kailey, Career Team
Week Two, Winter Session 2017
This week, when I heard the words “behavioral ecologists”, I was immediately intrigues and excited. Behavior, in humans and animals, fascinates me. It links us to each other, and helps us understand actions on an individual and societal basis. So naturally, given my passion for interaction and basically everything social, I was ecstatic to meet with Behavioral Ecologists Jen Tobey and Matt Anderson.
First, we met Matt Anderson. Dr. Anderson is the Director of Behavioral Ecology at the Institute for Conservation Research. His typical day of work consists of many meetings with other departments of the Institute including Genetics and Reproductive Physiology. In order to better understand their research to generate funding, Dr. Anderson and his team also collaborate with a large array of people from different backgrounds such as keepers, curators and veterinarians.
Despite being surrounded by people day in and day out, Dr. Anderson started his path to behavioral ecology in the field surrounded by animals. Born and raised in England, Dr. Anderson’s interest in biology started in high school. He went on to to study at the University of Liverpool in northern England, and received his bachelor’s degree in zoology. As his fascination for animal behavior began to grow, Dr. Anderson attended the Oxford Brookes University recieving his Master’s degree in Environmental Impact Assessment and Management and his PhD in Biological Anthropology. His first post doc after receiving his Doctorate was at Cambridge University. Later he moved to the United States to begin his second post doc at the San Diego Zoo, which eventually led him to his career today.
After meeting and talking with Dr. Anderson, we met the bubbly and outgoing Jen Tobey. Ms. Tobey immediately shared her story of becoming a behavioral ecologist by stating, “from the age of seven, I always wanted to be a vet”, which is a pretty popular statement from people in the conservation world. She went on to study biology and psychology at Franklin and Marshall College. Ms. Tobey later received her master’s degree in psychology from California State University San Marcos with a concentration in Comparative Psychology.
Ms. Tobey has been working for San Diego Zoo Global for 20 years. For five of those years, she worked as a primate and marsupial keeper. After her brief stint as a keeper, Ms. Tobey moved on to work at the Institute studying and working with koalas. During her time at the Institute, Ms. Tobey has been working on a conservation project where she studies koala’s social behaviors.
Ms. Tobey’s career revolves around day-to-day traveling between the Safari Park, Institute for Conservation Research and San Diego Zoo. At the Zoo, Ms. Tobey has around 20-30 volunteers that observe the koalas and collect data on a daily basis. In addition to her research, Ms. Tobey spends a lot of her time training keepers on behavioral ecology. In her office at the Institute, Ms. Tobey writes papers, analyzes data and creates presentations based on the information collected from her volunteers and the hormone data from urine and fecal samples. Ms. Tobey’s current project consists of studying the interaction between mother and infant koalas along with juvenile interactions.
Dr. Anderson and Ms. Tobey definitely have important and riveting jobs when it comes to understanding animals and conservation. Their jobs require consistent observation, deep analysis and a passion for animal behavior and communication. Although their jobs can be tedious at times, their work has helped shape the world of animal behavior in a positive, eye opening way.
Kailey, Career Team
Week Two, Winter Session 2017
