What does a marine animal trainer do?
Marine animal trainer responsibilities
Here are examples of responsibilities from real marine animal trainer resumes:
- Acquire knowledge in animal husbandry, natural history, and animal conditioning principles through reading materials and participating in training sessions.
- Assure proper annotation of administrative MWD utilization and training records used for legal reviews.
Marine animal trainer skills and personality traits
We calculated that 18% of Marine Animal Trainers are proficient in Husbandry, Animal Handling, and Combat. They’re also known for soft skills such as Customer-service skills, Detail oriented, and Physical stamina.
We break down the percentage of Marine Animal Trainers that have these skills listed on their resume here:
- Husbandry, 18%
Acquired knowledge in animal husbandry, natural history, and animal conditioning principles through reading materials and participating in training sessions.
- Animal Handling, 12%
Cleaned, disinfected and maintained animal handling areas and veterinary services areas.
- Combat, 8%
Learned basic fundamentals of Marine Training and subsequent combat training and maneuvers.
- Training Methods, 7%
Introduced new riders to equestrian activities utilizing positive reinforcement training methods including Parelli Natural Horsemanship and Liberty.
- Exotic Animals, 6%
Attended to, cared for and trained domestic and exotic animals in a show setting at Busch Gardens Tampa.
- Diet Preparation, 6%
Administered daily medications, diet preparations, animal baths, assisted with medical procedures.
Common skills that a marine animal trainer uses to do their job include "husbandry," "animal handling," and "combat." You can find details on the most important marine animal trainer responsibilities below.
Customer-service skills. One of the key soft skills for a marine animal trainer to have is customer-service skills. You can see how this relates to what marine animal trainers do because "animal care and service workers should understand pet owners’ needs so they can provide excellent customer service." Additionally, a marine animal trainer resume shows how marine animal trainers use customer-service skills: "conduct entertaining and educational presentations prior to guest sessions. "
Detail oriented. Another essential skill to perform marine animal trainer duties is detail oriented. Marine animal trainers responsibilities require that "animal care and service workers are often responsible for maintaining records and monitoring changes in animals’ behavior." Marine animal trainers also use detail oriented in their role according to a real resume snippet: "selected to provide k9 support to 2004 republican nation convention, performed on additional vip security details. "
Physical stamina. This is an important skill for marine animal trainers to perform their duties. For an example of how marine animal trainer responsibilities depend on this skill, consider that "animal care and service workers must be able to kneel, crawl, and lift heavy supplies, such as bags of food." This excerpt from a resume also shows how vital it is to everyday roles and responsibilities of a marine animal trainer: "observe animals' physical conditions in order to detect illness, diet needs, any conditions requiring medical care. ".
Problem-solving skills. marine animal trainer responsibilities often require "problem-solving skills." The duties that rely on this skill are shown by the fact that "animal trainers must be able to assess whether animals are responding to teaching methods and to identify which methods are successful." This resume example shows what marine animal trainers do with problem-solving skills on a typical day: "identified dog behaviors and provided resolutions for increasing the dog's confidence. "
Reliability. Another crucial skill for a marine animal trainer to carry out their responsibilities is "reliability." A big part of what marine animal trainers relies on this skill, since "animal care and service workers need to care for animals on schedule and in a timely manner." How this skill relates to marine animal trainer duties can be seen in an example from a marine animal trainer resume snippet: "see spot stay provided superb customer service, reliability and flexibility. "
The three companies that hire the most marine animal trainers are:
- Ahmad, Zavitsanos, Anaipakos, Alavi & Mensing P.c. Or Aza1 marine animal trainers jobs
- Obsidian Solutions Group1 marine animal trainers jobs
- San Diego Humane Society1 marine animal trainers jobs
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Compare different marine animal trainers
Marine animal trainer vs. Equestrian
A guide dog instructor trains dogs, which are used as guides by people with disabilities. A guide dog helps a great deal for people who cannot do certain tasks on their own. It helps people with disabilities gain independence and also allows them to be mobile. A guide dog can help with assisting people through traffic and also help assess dangerous situations. Your duty may also involve training people who are vision-impaired on how to use and take care of their guide dogs.
While similarities exist, there are also some differences between marine animal trainers and equestrian. For instance, marine animal trainer responsibilities require skills such as "behavioral problems," "husbandry," "combat," and "r." Whereas a equestrian is skilled in "tack," "cpr," "lesson program," and "horse care." This is part of what separates the two careers.
On average, equestrians reach similar levels of education than marine animal trainers. Equestrians are 1.0% less likely to earn a Master's Degree and 0.2% less likely to graduate with a Doctoral Degree.Marine animal trainer vs. Guide dog instructor
In addition to the difference in salary, there are some other key differences worth noting. For example, marine animal trainer responsibilities are more likely to require skills like "behavioral problems," "husbandry," "animal handling," and "combat." Meanwhile, a guide dog instructor has duties that require skills in areas such as "kids," "client safety," "adventure," and "cpr." These differences highlight just how different the day-to-day in each role looks.
In general, guide dog instructors achieve similar levels of education than marine animal trainers. They're 2.8% more likely to obtain a Master's Degree while being 0.2% more likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.What technology do you think will become more important and prevalent for marine animal trainers in the next 3-5 years?
Michael Hunt
President, International Marine Animal Trainers’ Association
Marine animal trainer vs. Dog obedience instructor
The required skills of the two careers differ considerably. For example, marine animal trainers are more likely to have skills like "behavioral problems," "husbandry," "animal handling," and "combat." But a dog obedience instructor is more likely to have skills like "behavior issues," "pet," "class teaching," and "training sessions."
When it comes to education, dog obedience instructors tend to earn similar degree levels compared to marine animal trainers. In fact, they're 5.0% less likely to earn a Master's Degree, and 0.4% less likely to graduate with a Doctoral Degree.Marine animal trainer vs. Pet handler
Types of marine animal trainer
Updated January 8, 2025
