zoology

Definition;

Zoology is the branch of biology concerned with the study animals and animal kingdom. It is also known as animal biology. The study of zoology includes the interaction of animal kingdom in their ecosystems such as classification, habits, structure, embryology, distribution, evolution, and extinct species.

Types of zoology;

Here are the core types of Zoology: Morphology. Genomics. Ecology

Morphology;

morphology, in biology, the study of the size, shape, and structure of animals, plants, and microorganisms and of the relationships of their constituent parts. The term refers to the general aspects of biological form and arrangement of the parts of a plant or an animal.

Genomics;

Genomics is an interdisciplinary field of biology focusing on the structure, function, evolution, mapping, and editing of genomes. A genome is an organism’s complete set of DNA, including all of its genes as well as its hierarchical, three-dimensional structural configuration.

Ecology;

Ecology is the study of the relationships between living organisms, including humans, and their physical environment; it seeks to understand the vital connections between plants and animals and the world around them.

History of zoology;

Prehistoric man’s survival as a hunter defined his relation to other animals, which were a source of food and danger. As man’s cultural heritage developed, animals were variously incorporated into man’s folklore and philosophical awareness as fellow living creatures. Domestic of animals forced man to take a systematic and measured view of animal life, especially after urbanization necessitated a constant and large supply of animal products.

Study of animal life by the ancient Greeks became more rational, if not yet scientific, in the modern sense, after the cause of disease—until then thought to be demons—was postulated by Hippocrates to result from a lack of harmonious functioning of body parts. The systematic study of animals was encouraged by Aristotle’s extensive descriptions of living things, his work reflecting the greek concept of order in nature and attributing to nature an idealized rigidity

Anatomy and physiology;

Descriptions of external form and internal organization are among the earliest records available regarding the systematic study of animals. Aristotle was an indefatigable collector and dissector of animals. He found differing degrees of structural complexity, which he described with regard to ways of living, habits, and body parts. Although Aristotle had no formal system of classification, it is apparent that he viewed animals as arranged from the simplest to the most complex in an ascending series. Since man was even more complex than animals and, moreover, possessed a rational faculty, he therefore occupied the highest position and a special category. This hierarchical perception of the animate world proved to be useful in every century to the present, except that in the modern view there is no such “scale of nature,” and there is change in time by evolution from the simple to the complex.

After the time of Aristotle, Mediterranean science was centered at Alexandria, where the study of anatomy, particularly the central nervous system, flourished and, in fact, first became recognized as a discipline. Galen studied anatomy at Alexandria in the 2nd century and later dissected many animals. Much later, the contributions of the renaissance anatomist Andreas visaleaus, though made in the of medicine, as were those of Galen, stimulated to a great extent the rise of comparative anatomy. During the latter part of the 15th century and throughout the 16th century, there was a strong tradition in anatomy; important similarities were observed in the anatomy of different animals, and many illustrated books were published to record these observations.

Physiology;

The practical consequences of physiology have always been an unavoidable human concern, in both medicine and animal husbandry. Inevitably, from Hippocrates to the present, practical knowledge of human bodily function has accumulated along with that of domestic animals and plants. This knowledge has been expanded, especially since the early 1800s, by experimental work on animals in general, a study known as comparative physiology. The experimental dimension had wide applications following Harvey’s demonstration of the circulation of blood. From then on, medical physiology developed rapidly; notable texts appeared, such as Albrech von Haller’s eight-volume work Elementa Physiologiae Corporis Humani (Elements of Human Physiology), which had a medical emphasis. Toward the end of the 18th century the influence of chemistry on physiology became pronounced through Antoine Lausiers brilliant analysis of respiration as a form of combustion. This French chemist not only determined that oxygen was consumed by living systems but also opened the way to further inquiry into the energetics of living systems. His studies further strengthened the mechanistic view, which holds that the same natural laws govern both the inanimate and the animate realms.