Top 12 Animal Keeper Skills to Put on Your Resume
In animal care, the work breathes. Days swing from quiet observation to hands-on hustle, and your resume should mirror that range. A sharp mix of practical, technical, and people-centered skills signals you’re not just keeping animals—you’re stewarding welfare, safety, learning, and data with care. Below, the core twelve. Build them, show them, and let them carry your story forward.
Animal Keeper Skills
- Animal Nutrition
- Veterinary Assistance
- Behavioral Observation
- Enrichment Design
- Record Keeping
- ZIMS (Zoological Information Management System)
- Animal Training
- Public Education
- Biosecurity Protocols
- Habitat Maintenance
- Emergency Response
- Conservation Research
1. Animal Nutrition
Animal nutrition covers the specific dietary needs of each species—and each individual—so they thrive. It’s menu planning, sourcing, preparation, and delivery tuned to age, health, activity, and natural history.
Why It's Important
Nutrition underpins everything: growth, immunity, behavior, reproduction, recovery. Right nutrients, right balance, right timing. Health follows.
How to Improve Animal Nutrition Skills
Practical moves that add up:
Know the requirements: Use species-specific guidelines and consult a veterinarian or nutritionist to tailor rations to life stage and medical needs.
Prioritize quality: Choose reputable feeds and whole-food items with consistent nutrient profiles; verify sourcing and storage practices.
Balance the diet: Energy, protein, essential fatty acids, vitamins, minerals—assure completeness, not just calories. Cross-check with established references (e.g., FAO and peer-reviewed guidance).
Monitor and adjust: Track weight, body condition, intake, fecal quality, and behavior. Tweak gradually and document changes.
Water first: Clean, available, appropriately tempered water at all times. Replace and sanitize regularly.
Guard against overfeeding: Portion with intent. Obesity creeps; prevention is kinder than correction.
Keep learning: Stay current with new research, facility protocols, and seasonal or life-stage shifts.
How to Display Animal Nutrition Skills on Your Resume
2. Veterinary Assistance
Supporting veterinary care means safe handling, medication administration, pre- and post-procedure prep, sterile technique, observations, and clear reporting—always under clinical direction.
Why It's Important
It keeps animals healthy, reduces disease spread, and ensures timely interventions. Less stress, better outcomes, safer teams.
How to Improve Veterinary Assistance Skills
Build your foundation: Enroll in continuing education and clinic shadowing; refresh on pharmacology basics, dosing, and restraint.
Sharpen communication: Relay observations precisely, use standard terminology, and close the loop with vets and peers.
Use smart tools: Adopt record and reminder systems for treatments, follow-ups, and vaccine schedules.
Network and learn: Connect with professionals through associations and peer groups for case insights and protocols.
Lean into prevention: Proactive parasite control, vaccination adherence, and routine wellness checks save time and pain later.
How to Display Veterinary Assistance Skills on Your Resume
3. Behavioral Observation
It’s structured watching. Noting postures, vocalizations, interactions, appetites, and patterns with purpose—then turning notes into care decisions.
Why It's Important
Behavior changes whisper before illness shouts. Good observation catches stress, pain, and environmental mismatches early, and guides enrichment and training.
How to Improve Behavioral Observation Skills
Study species norms: Ground yourself in natural history and typical repertoires; use ethograms to standardize what you track.
Be systematic: Fixed time blocks, consistent scan or focal sampling, and clear definitions cut through bias.
Use technology: Cameras and time-lapse help you see what you miss; integrate notes with platforms like ZIMS for Care and Welfare.
Reflect and review: Compare across days, keep baselines, and flag deviations quickly.
Lean on experts: Collaborate with behaviorists; calibrate your assessments with team reviews.
How to Display Behavioral Observation Skills on Your Resume
4. Enrichment Design
Designing enrichment means crafting opportunities—sensory, cognitive, physical, social—that pull out natural behaviors and keep minds and bodies active.
Why It's Important
Good enrichment reduces stress and stereotypies, supports fitness, and invites choice and control. Animals engage more. They cope better.
How to Improve Enrichment Design Skills
Personalize: Start from species needs and individual preferences. One size fits no one.
Rotate and remix: Novelty matters. Swap scents, puzzles, substrates, and layouts before boredom sets in.
Feed like nature: Scatter, hide, and challenge. Foraging beats a bowl.
Support social needs: Structure compatible groupings or safe visual/auditory access where appropriate; manage introductions carefully.
Evaluate: Track engagement time, behavior changes, and durability. If it doesn’t work, iterate.
Stay current: Tap communities like the Shape of Enrichment and guidelines from the Association of Zoos and Aquariums for fresh ideas.
How to Display Enrichment Design Skills on Your Resume
5. Record Keeping
Records are the memory of the collection: diet logs, weights, medical treatments, reproductive history, enrichment trials, and behavioral notes—all organized and accessible.
Why It's Important
Consistent records enable trend spotting, informed decisions, regulatory compliance, and seamless handoffs across teams and years.
How to Improve Record Keeping Skills
Go digital: Adopt purpose-built systems or structured spreadsheets that standardize data entry and reduce errors.
Template everything: Use uniform forms for daily rounds, treatments, incidents, and enrichment evaluations.
Log on a schedule: Enter data in real time or at fixed intervals; late data is lost data.
Train the team: Align on terminology, units, and required fields; audit regularly.
Back up: Redundant, automated backups—on-site and cloud—protect your history.
Review: Monthly checks for gaps, anomalies, and compliance keep quality high.
How to Display Record Keeping Skills on Your Resume
6. ZIMS (Zoological Information Management System)
ZIMS, developed by Species360, is the global platform for animal and collection data—medical records, transfers, lineage, welfare notes, and more—shared across institutions to improve care and conservation.
Why It's Important
A single, structured source of truth reduces guesswork, improves collaboration, and raises the standard of care across facilities.
How to Improve ZIMS (Zoological Information Management System) Skills
Train up: Take Species360 trainings and refreshers to learn new features and workflow shortcuts.
Guard data quality: Use controlled vocabulary and facility standards; build quick-reference guides for common entries.
Use ZIMS for Medical: Centralize treatments, diagnostics, and lab results so clinicians and keepers see one coherent picture.
Customize reports: Create dashboards and scheduled reports for trends, compliance, and planning.
Engage the community: Compare practices, ask questions, and share feedback through Species360 user forums.
How to Display ZIMS (Zoological Information Management System) Skills on Your Resume
7. Animal Training
Training shapes behavior through clear cues and reinforcement. It’s not tricks; it’s cooperative care—hand injections, voluntary weigh-ins, crate training, and calm stationing.
Why It's Important
Less restraint, less stress. Better safety. Smoother medical procedures. Stronger bonds and more reliable daily care.
How to Improve Animal Training Skills
Know your species: Natural history guides timing, motivators, and session design.
Reinforce well: Positive reinforcement and shaping build trust and consistency; jackpot thoughtfully.
Be consistent: Same cue, same criteria, same consequence. Clarity accelerates learning.
Break it down: Slice complex behaviors into small, achievable steps; raise criteria slowly.
Track sessions: Short notes on criteria, latency, and errors steer your next plan.
Seek mentorship: Learn from seasoned trainers and programs (e.g., San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance Academy, IAABC) to refine technique.
How to Display Animal Training Skills on Your Resume
8. Public Education
Public education is storytelling with purpose: translating animal care, behavior, and conservation into experiences that spark curiosity and change minds.
Why It's Important
Informed visitors become allies—supporters of welfare, biodiversity, and responsible coexistence. Education amplifies impact beyond the enclosure.
How to Improve Public Education Skills
Design for your audience: Tailor talks and demos to age, interest, and accessibility needs; keep takeaways crisp and actionable.
Show the why: Tie behaviors to natural history and conservation outcomes; connect care practices to animal welfare.
Use live demos wisely: Short, well-practiced husbandry behaviors demonstrate trust and technique without stressing animals.
Layer interpretation: Combine signage, keeper chats, tactile objects, and visuals to reach different learning styles.
Go digital: Offer virtual tours, Q&A sessions, and short videos for those who can’t visit in person.
Measure and refine: Collect quick feedback, track engagement, and adjust content based on what resonates.
How to Display Public Education Skills on Your Resume
9. Biosecurity Protocols
Biosecurity sets the boundaries—cleaning, quarantine, access control, PPE, vector management—to keep pathogens out and contained.
Why It's Important
It protects animals, staff, and visitors, and it stabilizes operations. The cost of an outbreak dwarfs the price of prevention.
How to Improve Biosecurity Protocols Skills
Educate and drill: Train every role on hygiene, movement rules, and incident reporting; refresh regularly.
Control access: Limit entry to essential personnel; manage visitor flow and hand hygiene points.
PPE done right: Fit, use, and dispose of gloves, masks, and coveralls correctly; post clear don/doff steps.
Clean with intent: Use the right disinfectant for the pathogen risk; respect contact times; document schedules.
Monitor health: Daily checks, quick isolation, and prompt reporting keep small problems small.
Quarantine smartly: Separate new and returning animals with appropriate durations and testing.
Fight vectors: Robust pest control for rodents, insects, and wildlife incursions reduces transmission pathways.
Vaccinate and plan care: Maintain species-appropriate vaccination and treatment protocols.
Manage waste safely: Dispose of carcasses, sharps, and biohazards per policy and regulation.
Document everything: Logs for visitors, staff training, incidents, and corrective actions support traceability and audits.
Note: Reference current standards such as guidance from CDC, USDA APHIS, and the World Organisation for Animal Health (WOAH) Terrestrial Animal Health Code where applicable.
How to Display Biosecurity Protocols Skills on Your Resume
10. Habitat Maintenance
Safe, species-appropriate habitats require vigilant cleaning, repair, environmental control, and design that mirrors natural behaviors.
Why It's Important
Healthy environments prevent disease, reduce stress, and promote exploration, fitness, and normal social dynamics.
How to Improve Habitat Maintenance Skills
Clean on cadence: Remove waste and soiled materials methodically; sanitize contact surfaces while preserving positive scents where appropriate.
Tune the environment: Track temperature, humidity, lighting cycles, ventilation, and water quality; adjust to species norms.
Feed thoughtfully: Align diet delivery with habitat features—elevated feeds, scatter feeding, browse—to encourage natural use of space.
Enrich the space: Rotate structures, substrates, and manipulanda; offer varied verticality and hiding options.
Inspect and repair: Check barriers, locks, perches, and substrates; fix issues before they escalate.
Keep learning: Leverage resources from the Association of Zoos and Aquariums, the AZA Nutrition Advisory Group (NAG), and training from the San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance Academy.
How to Display Habitat Maintenance Skills on Your Resume
11. Emergency Response
Preparedness in action: immediate, coordinated steps to protect animals and people during incidents—from injuries and escapes to fires, storms, and disease events.
Why It's Important
Seconds matter. Plans save lives, reduce harm, and stabilize chaos when the unexpected arrives.
How to Improve Emergency Response Skills
Train and drill: Run scenario-based exercises regularly; align with frameworks from FEMA and professional veterinary bodies.
Write the plan: Clear roles, contact trees, species-specific considerations, and contingencies for power, water, and communications.
Equip smartly: Stock species-appropriate kits—first aid, transport gear, PPE, emergency rations, and medications—and check them monthly.
Communicate cleanly: Establish radio protocols, backups, and plain-language alerts; document after-action reviews.
Evacuate or shelter: Practice both. Use pre-labeled crates, routes, and staging areas; coordinate with local agencies and partners.
How to Display Emergency Response Skills on Your Resume
12. Conservation Research
Applying science to protect species and habitats—through data collection, managed breeding, reintroduction support, and collaborations that bridge field and facility.
Why It's Important
Research informs what works. It preserves genetic diversity, guides husbandry, and turns local efforts into global gains for biodiversity.
How to Improve Conservation Research Skills
Join projects: Partner with scientists and conservation teams; contribute meaningful husbandry and behavioral data.
Build skills: Keep up with methods—survey design, statistics, genetics basics, welfare science—through courses and workshops.
Activate citizen science: Engage the public in data collection where appropriate to scale observations.
Think globally: Collaborate through networks such as AZA and WAZA to share protocols and results.
Use modern tools: Employ platforms for observation logging, photo ID, and acoustic or camera-trap analysis.
Publish and present: Share findings in journals, conferences, and institutional reports to help others replicate success.
How to Display Conservation Research Skills on Your Resume
