Physical Danger
As you can imagine, a career centered on animal populations and the environment may be a bit hazardous. Animal bites and allergic reactions may be commonplace if you're working on animal habitat conservation. If plants are more your thing, you may find yourself buying cases of poison ivy balm or building a wardrobe to complement your seasonally red, bumpy rash.
Worse yet, maybe that water sample your boss needed wound up being laced with toxic chemicals. (Hey, didn't you wade through that lovely liquid to get the sample in the first place?) These hazards are real and common for an ecologist, but that's why you spent all that time learning the finer points of science—you're going to have to use those smarts to keep yourself out of physical trouble when working in nature.