Reptile & Amphibian Forums

what do herpetologist's in todays world study

A variety of things, people from many different areas of study work with reptiles, everything from molecular biologists, physiologists, systematists, paleontologists, comparative anatomists, animal behaviorists, all of them find in reptiles excellent subjects of study.

You can study their phylogeny, their physiology, their DNA, their behavior, you can work on conservation programs to protect them, you can work in collections, cataloguing, filling out distribution maps. Man, there are so many things. It's just totally fascinating.

thanks im glad there are plenty of things to study. my parents were quizing me on my potential studies in herpetology arachnology.

If you mean by in today's world that everything has been done already your mistaken. There are new breakthrough often. Just watch O'shea is dicovering a new species like every year. Amphibians have not been studied much at all. I reckon theres plenty still to discover about them.

Amphibians are perhaps the most widely researched class within the animal kingdom, with the exception of cetaceans.
Simply because Mark O’Shea isn’t featuring them on his program, is not an indication research is not currently being conducted.
You can find some form of ongoing research, involving amphibians, currently being conducted within virtually every college and university in the world, with a biological sciences program. The reason for this is the alarming rate of extirpation occurring among a variety of amphibian species on a global scale.
For more information to this regard, have a peek at the following links:

http://www.mpm.edu/collect/vertzo/herp/Daptf/daptf.html

or

http://www.frogweb.gov/

There are quite a few positions opening up to the individual wishing to obtain a degree in the biological sciences, with an emphasis in herpetology, though there really is no “herpetology” degree.
Some of the positions pay quite well, but require a great deal of education and experience. If you are looking to undertake a career in herpetology, you can expect to “pay your dues” prior to making what most would consider a comfortable living.

Best of luck to you,

Jeff Snodgres

Jeff Snodgres
University of Arkansas
snodgresjeffreys@uams.edu
501.526.4856