Hello, ABI students! My name is Nicole Richardson, I am a 5th year Animal Biology major. In my time as a UC Davis undergraduate student, I have been able to capitalize on some amazing opportunities working with wildlife! I was lucky enough to intern at an exotic feline breeding facility and work with 60 exotic cats of 19 different breeds ranging from Malaysian Tigers to Pallas Cats (look them up, they are hilarious and adorable). As an ABI major, and with the help of Dr. Kimsey, I was able to design and perform my own research on visitor effects on multiple species of felids in a zoo setting.

I have also been able to participate in the Putah Creek Nestbox Highway internship which developed into an opportunity where I get to collaborate with experienced scientists and assist them in writing a community ecology paper on local birds’ response to habitat restoration. I am very excited and grateful this major has given me the knowledge and resources to pursue what I am most passionate about in a productive way. I hope to publish these papers in peer review journals soon and use this accomplishment and experience to perform more research in zoos, with the goal of ensuring the best animal welfare practices are in place.

Although I am not sure exactly what I want to do after graduation yet, I hope to continue researching conservation and working in the zoo setting. In the future I want to use my degree to find ways to make scientific communication fun and accessible for a wide range of people. I hope to be able to use what I have learned at UC Davis to share my passion for conservation and inspire others to learn more about it as well.