Do you love animals and aspire to engage with coursework, laboratory and field research relating to diverse animal species, habitats and ecosystems? Then zoology is the right major for you. The zoology major — the only one in the state of Oregon— is housed in the nationally ranked Department of Integrative Biology in the School of Life Sciences. As a zoology major, you will study a broad range of core courses providing a solid foundation in biological sciences as well as elective courses in the diversity, organismal biology, ecology and evolution of animals to match your specific interests in animal biology. Zoology students are actively engaged in laboratory and field research, working alongside faculty in a variety of projects, including amphibian declines in the Cascade Mountains, the disease ecology of African ungulates and discoveries of new beetle species in Oregon. The zoology program will prepare you well for jobs in a variety of fields, such as animal care and husbandry, curatorial and museum management, laboratory animal research, field biology and conservation, and environmental management and policy, as well as graduate programs related to the biology of animals.
Zoology Major
Explore the diversity, ecology and organismal biology of animals
Zoology Major
Explore the diversity, ecology and organismal biology of animals
Meet a zoology major
Explore zoology
Careers of our recent zoology graduates
Veterinary Radiation Therapy Technician at Portland Veterinary Oncology Center
Program Assistant at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center
Assistant Professor of Molecular and Cell Biology, UC-Berkeley
Veterinarian at Pleasant Hill Animal Hospital
Veterinary/Health Research Technician at OHSU
Wildlife Biologist at Catalina Island Conservancy
PhD Candidate and Interim Lab Manager at Nordic Sea Winery
Zookeeper at Utah’s Hogle Zoo
Operations Coordinator at Cascades Raptor Center
Registered Nurse at Kaiser Sunnyside Medical Center
Laboratory Technician at Portland VA Research Foundation
Sample courses
Marine and Estuarine Invertebrate Zoology
Monster Biology
Vertebrate Biology
Animal Behavior
Meet our students and alumni
A graduating senior in zoology at Oregon State University, Devonte Casey has been deeply inspired by the synergy between his academic pursuits and his identity as a Native American.
A Strawberry Princess who gets excited about roadkill. A valedictorian who doesn’t test well. A photographer who focuses on the unlovely. This is the stuff College of Science presidential scholars are made of.
Zoology graduate Molly Cordell ('16) trained and cared for African hooved animals for four years; now working toward career in wildlife conservation.
For Lily Miksell, the Alexei Lubchenco Menge Undergraduate Research Fellowship presented an exciting opportunity to pursue her interests in ecology and conservation.
Meet alumna Kaelie Spencer, 2016 Zoology major and aquarist at Birch Aquarium at Scripps Institution of Oceanography.