Zoology
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Zoology (/zoʊˈɒlədʒi/, zoh-OL-luh-jee) or animal biology, is the branch ofbiology that relates to the animal kingdom, including the structure, embryology,evolution, classification, habits, and distribution of all animals, both living andextinct, and how they interact with their ecosystems. The term is derived fromAncient Greek ζῷον, zōon, i.e. "animal" and λόγος, logos, i.e. "knowledge, study".[1]
Contents
[show]History[edit]
Main article: History of zoology (through 1859)
Ancient history to Darwin[edit]
The history of zoology traces the study of the animal kingdom from ancient tomodern times. Although the concept of zoology as a single coherent field arose much later, the zoological sciences emerged from natural history reaching back to the works of Aristotle and Galen in the ancient Greco-Roman world. This ancient work was further developed in the Middle Ages by Muslim physiciansand scholars such as Albertus Magnus.[2][3][4] During the Renaissance and early modern period, zoological thought was revolutionized in Europe by a renewed interest in empiricism and the discovery of many novel organisms. Prominent in this movement were Vesalius and William Harvey, who used experimentation and careful observation in physiology, and naturalists such asCarl Linnaeus and Buffon who began to classify the diversity of life and thefossil record, as well as the development and behavior of organisms.Microscopy revealed the previously unknown world of microorganisms, laying the groundwork for cell theory.[5] The growing importance of natural theology, partly a response to the rise of mechanical philosophy, encouraged the growth of natural history (although it entrenched the argument from design).
Over the 18th and 19th centuries, zoology became an increasingly professional scientific discipline. Explorer-naturalists such as Alexander von Humboldt investigated the interaction between organisms and their environment, and the ways this relationship depends on geography, laying the foundations for biogeography, ecology and ethology. Naturalists began to reject essentialism and consider the importance of extinction and the mutability of species. Cell theory provided a new perspective on the fundamental basis of life.[6][7]
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