Photo Courtesy N.C. Zoo
Dr. Stephen Miller, Head Curator, North Carolina Zoological Park
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Let's say that you really, really like animals. There are lots of different ways to spend more time with them. You could get an after-school job at the local stables helping with the horses, at a veterinarian's office as a dog walker or groomer or you could volunteer with an animal rescue group. But what if you want to go a step further and plan your career around working with animals? If you want to work with small animals and family pets, you could be a veterinarian with a local practice. But what if you want to work with many different kinds of animals – big ones like giraffes, elephants, polar bears and ostriches? For that, working at a zoo would be ideal. Working at a zoo can be exciting and fulfilling. You already know that zoos provide opportunities for education and enjoyment. However, did you know that's not all they do?
Hundreds of animal species are nearing extinction. Some of these animals are the ones most loved by children and adults alike: elephants, hippos, rhinos, panda bears. In fact, without positive action, many of the largest animals on the planet could die out, or become so precious that they can no longer be shown to the public. For these animals, zoos are acting something like a modern-day Noah's ark. Zoos around the world are working to breed these animals so that they survive the 21st century.
If you love animals, and would like to help the process of saving animals facing extinction, then you might consider becoming a zoo curator. A curator plays a very important role at any zoo. To learn more about being a curator, we visited Dr. Stephen Miller, who is the head curator at the North Carolina Zoological Park in Asheboro, NC. Talking with Dr. Miller, you realize that Zoo curators often follow very interesting paths to get to their jobs, and their jobs are fascinating.
What does a curator do?
One big part of the curator's job is to bring new animals to a zoo. This is normally called “acquiring” the animals. Another part is running the zoo's captive breeding programs.
Where do the zoo's animals come from? Don't you just go out in the wild and capture the animals you need?
It used to be, long ago, that curators would go out into the wild and capture animals. But that hardly ever happens any more. It is too stressful for the animals and disruptive to the other animals around them. There's a bigger chance of injury. Animals in the wild can have diseases that you would not want to bring back to a zoo.
So where do the animals come from today?
Today, most zoos get their animals from the captive breeding programs of other zoos. Zoos around the country and around the world have created habitats for animals, and they help these animals breed. The animals have babies, and as these babies grow up, they are sent to other zoos. The zoo's curator is in charge of working with other zoos to acquire new animals from their captive breeding programs.
Can't the curator just go to a Web site and order an animal? This doesn't sound very hard.
Actually, acquiring an animal is not that easy. First, the curator has to make sure that his or her zoo can handle the new animal. The zoo needs to have a good habitat for the animal, the right people to take care of it, somewhere to house it, vets to take care of it and so on. For example, many zoos are now getting rid of their elephants because they simply do not have enough space to give an elephant a livable habitat. The curator has to decide which animals the zoo will have, and then work to get everything needed so that the animals can be comfortable and healthy.
What else is involved?
Because the network of zoos is acting as a gigantic ark for many endangered animals, the curator has to think about genetic diversity. If a small number of animals breed too often, you can get genetic problems. So curators spend a lot of time thinking about which animals should be breeding to prevent these problems. They will sometimes move animals just so the right two animals can breed.
How is a new animal selected?
The curator will visit a new animal to learn about how it acts and to discover any special needs it might have. Then the curator works with all of the organizations that regulate animals and makes sure everyone is happy about the acquisition.
How does the animal get to the zoo?
With certain animals, this can be interesting. Imagine you're a curator and you want to move an elephant or a giraffe to a new zoo. You don't just hop in your car and go pick it up. The curator works with specialized trucking companies to arrange transport. With a giraffe, for example, you need a truck that can let the giraffe stand up, which means that part of the trailer needs to be very tall. But when the truck comes to a low bridge, it needs to be able to crank down, so the giraffe bends down to get under the bridge. Finally, the curator must make sure that there are stops all along the way where vets can check on and feed the animal.
What else does a curator do?
On the other side of the coin, a curator helps a zoo to manage its own captive breeding programs. Zoos specialize in a set of animals that they hope to breed. Then the curators work to create successful breeding programs. Some animals, like pandas and elephants, can be very hard to breed. Other animals are such successful breeders that zoos actually have to keep them from doing so. When a zoo is successful with its breeding program, curators make their animals available to other zoos.
Photo Courtesy N.C. Zoo
Dr. Stephen Miller performing surgery
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How did Dr. Miller become a zoo curator?
Dr. Miller started by going to college and getting a degree as a marine biologist. He volunteered at the Audubon zoo in New Orleans and learned how much he enjoyed working with animals. So he went back to school and got a doctorate degree in veterinary medicine and went to work for the Audubon Institute Aquarium of the Americas. Dr. Miller's specialty is aquatic animals. He is one of only 22 full-time aquatic vets in the United States.
After starting a number of important programs and doing scientific research at the Audubon Institute Aquarium of the Americas, he decided to come to Asheboro, NC as a veterinarian. Then he was asked to become the head curator for the zoo.
How long did it take Dr. Miller to become a zoo curator?
If you add all the schooling up, you can see that it took several years. First, Dr. Miller graduated from high school. Then he went to college to get a four-year bachelor's degree. After that, he spent four years in vet school. Then he had two years of graduate work followed by a year being an intern. Then he had a three-year residency, and then he had to pass the board exams.
What does the day-to-day life of a zoo's head curator look like?
As the head curator at the Asheboro zoo, Dr. Miller manages 90 people working in his department. He leads the group, figures out the budget and works with the curators in his department – each of whom specializes in different types of animals. Dr. Miller approves all animal acquisitions for the zoo and will go with the curators to look at the animals before they are acquired.
What kind of animals does the Asheboro zoo breed?
One of Dr. Miller's most interesting projects is his goal of creating a captive breeding program for elephants. Elephants are especially hard to breed because they need a lot of space and they like to live in large groups. The Asheboro zoo is investing in a 50-acre exhibit called that Watani Grasslands Reserve. The elephants will get seven acres all to themselves in the exhibit. Eventually there will be a herd of ten elephants. All told, this project will cost more than $10 million. Dr. Miller has been deeply involved in the creation of the elephant's new habitat, and in the acquisition of the new elephants. It's all part of the job of being the head curator.
Getting Started
Want to read more about zoos and working with animals? Check out these books at your local library or bookstore:
- Zoo and Aquarium History: Ancient Animal Collections to Zoological Gardens by Vernon N. Kisling
- Dr. Fisher's Life on the Ark by Lester E. Fisher
- Zoo Animals: A Smithsonian Guide by M. H. Robinson, D. Challinor and H. Webber
- Wild Lives: A History of People & Animals of the Bronx Zoo by Kathleen W. Zoehfeld
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