Occupation
Zookeeper
Zookeepers care for animals in zoos, aquariums, and wildlife parks, managing diets, enclosures, enrichment, and training programmes for species with very different needs. Alongside husbandry, keepers record behaviour, support veterinary procedures, and talk to the public about conservation. Entry is competitive and often begins with volunteer or seasonal work.
Also known as: Animal keeper · Aquarist · Wildlife park keeper · Zoological keeper
Occupation content
Part of Agriculture, animals and environment
What the work involves
- Prepare species-specific diets and deliver feeds on the daily schedule.
- Clean and maintain enclosures, pools, and off-exhibit holding areas and check barriers and locks.
- Design and rotate enrichment and run positive-reinforcement training for husbandry behaviours.
- Observe and record behaviour, feeding, breeding, and health indicators in the animal records system.
- Assist keepers and veterinary staff with examinations, treatments, and transfers.
- Deliver keeper talks and answer visitor questions about the animals and conservation work.
How people commonly enter
- A college diploma or bachelor's degree in animal management, zoology, biology, or animal science.
- Volunteer, placement, or seasonal keeper-assistant work leading into a permanent keeper post.
- A short course or certificate in animal management combined with hands-on husbandry experience.
- Transfer from another animal-care role such as shelter, farm, or veterinary work.
Typical training: Certificate or college diploma
Licensing: Certification common, not usually required
Typical work context
Outdoors · Physically active · Public facing · Shift work · Team based
Related interests
Realistic (hands-on) · Social (helping) · Investigative (analytical)
Related aptitude preparation
These are preparation links only. They do not measure eligibility for this occupation and no score here qualifies or disqualifies anyone.
Skills to practise
- Safety judgment
- Attention and concentration
- Situational judgment
- Planning and scheduling exercises
- Written communication
Practice suites
Related learning
Family-level learning links for Agriculture, animals and environment.
Official sources
Labour-market facts such as pay and employment projections are not reproduced here. Open an official source below for figures, with its own geography and reference period.
- US BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook — Animal Care and Service Workers · United States
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- Canada Job Bank — Career planning and occupation search (Zookeeper) · Canada
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- UK National Careers Service — Explore careers (Zookeeper) · United Kingdom
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Labour-market context (not part of exploration match)
This is broad family-level context for Agriculture, animals and environment in Canada, not a figure for Zookeeper. It does not affect matching scores and is not an eligibility determination.
This is a broad Agriculture, animals and environment family. Explore the official profile for the chosen occupation; entry education and training can differ within the family.
Canada Job Bank Career Planning · Canada · Current official profile; consult source for its release period
Agriculture, animals and environment: education pathways
Some roles in Agriculture, animals and environment may be regulated. Confirm whether the specific role requires registration, certification, or a jurisdiction-specific licence.
Canada Job Bank Career Planning · Canada · Current official profile; consult source for its release period
Agriculture, animals and environment: licensing
Find jobs
These are live, user-controlled searches on each source's own site for “ Zookeeper”. Novus Learn does not fetch, store, or rank these results, and job availability never changes your exploration match score.
- Search Canada Job Bank · Canada
- Search USAJOBS · United States federal
- Search EURES · European Union / EEA
- Search Indeed · International (choose location on Indeed)