this post was submitted on 02 Jan 2026
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So, yes actually. Check out earthwatch.org, they offer trips where you participate in ecological research and/or conservation efforts. For example, here is a 2-week trip focused around counting animal populations in the Mongolian steppe:
https://earthwatch.org/expeditions/wildlife-mongolian-steppe
These trips are somewhat pricy (this one is US$4250), but typically include room and board for the entire period and all local travel. Also:
Here is one studying sea turtles in Costa Rica:
https://earthwatch.org/expeditions/costa-rican-sea-turtles
You do have to make your own arrangements for traveling to wherever the research location is.
Earthwatch Institute has been around since 1971 and has a pretty good reputation, so I believe the trips are reasonably safe.
Thank you this is exactly what i was looking for. Cataloguing critters I found on a marine reserve in the Bahamas last week was so interesting but doing it all without any experts to learn from was lonely.
What kinds of critters? 👀
Mostly I was checking out the fish and invertebrates coming up into the shallow waters and rock pools. Filed my first ever inaturalist observations!
Congratulations on iNaturalist! We use images from iNaturalist on Wikipedia all the time, so we're intensely grateful for the work y'all do. Did you see any crustaceans by chance?
It was so hard to get a good look at them but some of the rock pools had some kind of shrimp in them. I could just barely make them out, and definitely couldn’t get any pictures. Love seeing invertebrates!
Oh hell yeah. I don't do too much research into shrimps, but if you ever fall way too far down that rabbit hole, the guy to go to is Sammy De Grave at the University of Oxford. He works on WoRMS (the World Register of Marine Species) and absolutely loves caridean shrimp. Really nice guy.
Holy shit thank you for this.
I'd consider popping over to Mongolia and helping with grunt work, but $4000? Do they have a cheaper package where you bring your own motorbike, food, tent, gear, etc?
That's just called "going camping" and it probably costs more than 4 grand to get all that shit to Mongolia.
Depends on where you are, Ill probably be in NE China again by summer, so a sleeper train to the border would cost ~50USD depending on city, then there's daily buses to ulaanbaatar.
Then buy a used motorbike and sell it when you're finished.