3 Jun 2011

But our recruitment chiefs are deadly serious and will pay £6.05 an hour to the right candidates who ‘must not be scared of big, sharp teeth’.

The advert, placed on the our career pages as well as in job centres, says the successful applicants must know their ‘stegosaurus from their diplodocus.’

Alasdair McNee, Corporate Director, said: “This is the first time any company or institution has advertised for a Dinosaur Keeper and so it’s fair to say it’s a job that has been 65 million years in the making.

“It’s certainly not an ordinary role but it’s a serious, specialist position and we’re prepared to search far and wide to find the right people.

“It’s a unique, once-in-a-lifetime opportunity and we’re looking for a special few.

“We have thirteen robotic dinosaurs arriving very soon and so we need to make sure they’re welcomed in by caring, skilled professionals”.

Of course, the position is not all glamour, action and adventure. Applicants must also be ‘happy shovelling two-tonne piles of T-rex dung, if required’.

The jobs have come up as we await a shipment of animatronic dinosaurs from America, which will feature in our summer exposition ‘Dinosaurs at Large!

To apply to become Chester Zoo’s dinosaur Keeper, visit our career pages, or any UK job centre. The closing date for applicants is Monday 6th June.

Dinosaurs at Large! is at the zoo between July 1 and October 8.