Wildlife Ecology Major

Get involved. Find your people.

Explore a few of the wildlife ecology-related student organizations on campus: 

• The UW–Madison student chapter of The Wildlife Society is for students interested in the outdoors with an emphasis on wildlife. The club hosts outdoor activities and organizes several volunteer opportunities, including spring and summer frog surveys, summer fawn searches, and roadside clean-up.
• The UW–Madison student chapter of The Audubon Society provides students interested in birds and bird conservation opportunities to go on field outings and participate in local conservation projects.

Become a part of our wildlife ecology legacy

Join a legacy and study wildlife ecology in the first wildlife management-focused program in the United States. Ecologist, conservation legend, and UW–Madison professor Aldo Leopold founded the program in 1933 and created the department now known as the Department of Forest and Wildlife Ecology.

Study abroad and gain global perspective

Track lion pride movements in Tanzania, study wildlife conservation genetics in the Netherlands, examine the impacts of tourism on wildlife in the Bocas del Toro archipelago in Panama, and so much more.

Gain knowledge of other wildlife ecosystems, build skills through hands-on field research, and learn how global issues such as climate change impact wildlife in ecosystems around the world with one of UW–Madison’s many semester, summer, and short-term study abroad programs! You can map your study abroad experience as a wildlife ecology major.

Get outdoors in northern Wisconsin for hands-on learning

Explore research and habitat management techniques with the Wildlife Ecology Summer Field Camp at Kemp Natural Resources Station. This two-week field class in northern Wisconsin includes individual and group field work, tours, demonstrations, and lectures.

Engage in campus research

Join one of the many campus research labs studying wildlife ecology, forest biology and management, wildlife disease, landscape ecology, or wildlife toxicology. Learn how to measure habitats, identify species, deploy wildlife cameras, assess human-wildlife interactions, and more.

Become a certified wildlife biologist

Work your way to becoming a certified Associate Wildlife Biologist through The Wildlife Society. Many wildlife ecology courses meet the requirements for this certification.