Zoology is the scientific study of animals: their classification, anatomy, physiology, behavior, evolution and distribution. Aristotle is traditionally credited as its founder. In Historia Animalium, composed in the fourth century BCE, he undertook the first systematic attempt to classify all known animal life, grouping creatures by shared traits such as the presence of blood and by habitat, a work the anatomist Richard Owen later said zoological science sprang from as if from full maturity. The field's modern scientific footing was laid by Carl Linnaeus, whose Systema Naturae, in its definitive tenth edition of 1758, introduced binomial nomenclature for animals; 1 January 1758 is fixed by international convention as the starting point of zoological nomenclature itself. Comparative anatomy and vertebrate paleontology were established as rigorous sub-disciplines in the early nineteenth century by Georges Cuvier, who used comparative anatomy of fossil and living bones to establish extinction as a scientific fact. Zoology's ancient descriptive tradition and its later systematic, professionalized form are usually treated as two distinct stages rather than one founding moment.
Facts
Central QuestionSourced to the subject's own accountHow are the roughly two million described animal species related to one another by common descent, and what shared body plans and developmental processes unite groups that look, on the surface, entirely unalike? 1 ScopeSourced to the subject's own accountZoology is the branch of biology concerned with the animal kingdom, covering the structure, physiology, classification, behavior and distribution of animals both living and extinct. 1 SignificanceSourced to the subject's own accountAristotle's History of Animals, written in the fourth century BC, systematically classified several hundred animal species by observed characteristics and reproductive method, work that earned him lasting recognition as the father of zoology. 1 Disputed
Founded YearNo single founding date is agreed. Aristotle is called the father of zoology for Historia Animalium in the fourth century BCE, the first systematic animal classification; Linnaeus's 1758 tenth edition of Systema Naturae is recorded here because it is fixed by the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature as the actual starting point of zoological nomenclature; and Georges Cuvier's early nineteenth century work founded comparative anatomy and vertebrate paleontology as rigorous sub-disciplines. Connections
Associated With
The Natural History Museum, London, opened 1881, holds roughly eighty million specimens across zoology and related fields.
The Society for Integrative and Comparative Biology, formed 1902 as the American Society of Zoologists, is a principal professional society for the field.
Founded By
Source Zoology (Wikipedia)
Source Article 3, Starting Point (International Code of Zoological Nomenclature)
Source Georges Cuvier, Scientist of the Day (Linda Hall Library)
Has Scientist
Source August Krogh, Wikipedia
Source Charles Wyville Thomson (Wikipedia)
Source Christian Gottfried Ehrenberg, Wikipedia
Source D. M. S. Watson, Wikipedia
Source Edward Drinker Cope (Wikipedia)
Source George Busk - Wikipedia
Source Georges Cuvier (Wikipedia)
Source James Dwight Dana - Wikipedia
Source Jane Goodall (Wikipedia)
Source Jean-Baptiste Lamarck (Wikipedia)
Source Karl von Frisch (Wikipedia)
Source Konrad Lorenz (Wikipedia)
Source Konstantin Mereschkowski (Wikipedia)
Source Shen Kuo (Wikipedia)
Sources
1. Zoology (Wikipedia)
WikipediaLead section
Zoology is the scientific study of animals. Its studies include the structure, embryology, classification, habits, and distribution of all animals, both living and extinct, and how they interact with their ecosystems.
- Founded By: Aristotle
In Group: Biology and Natural History, Lead
is the scientific study of animals
View the Source 2. Article 3, Starting Point (International Code of Zoological Nomenclature)
International Commission on Zoological NomenclatureArticle 3, Starting Point section
The date 1 January 1758 is arbitrarily fixed in this Code as the date of the starting point of zoological nomenclature.
- Founded By: Carl Linnaeus
View the Source Zoology (Britannica)
Aristotle's Biology (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy)
James G. Lennox, Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, 2006Lead sectionQuote, Lead section
Constituting roughly 25% of the extant corpus, his zoological writings provide a theoretical defense of the proper method for biological investigation; and they provide a record of the first systematic and comprehensive study of animals.
Georges Cuvier, Scientist of the Day (Linda Hall Library)
Linda Hall Library of Science, Engineering and TechnologyFounded By: Georges CuvierView the Source Ornithology (Wikipedia)
Entomology (Wikipedia)
Herpetology (Wikipedia)
D. M. S. Watson, Wikipedia
Has Scientist: David Meredith Seares Watson, LeadQuote, Has Scientist: David Meredith Seares Watson, Lead
Jodrell Professor of Zoology and Comparative Anatomy
Jean-Baptiste Lamarck (Wikipedia)
Has Scientist: Jean-Baptiste Lamarck, Infobox, fieldsQuote, Has Scientist: Jean-Baptiste Lamarck, Infobox, fields
Infobox fields: Biology Natural history Zoology
Edward Drinker Cope (Wikipedia)
WikipediaHas Scientist: Edward Drinker Cope, Infobox, fieldsQuote, Has Scientist: Edward Drinker Cope, Infobox, fields
Infobox fields: Paleontology, zoology, herpetology
Jane Goodall (Wikipedia)
WikipediaHas Scientist: Jane Goodall, Infobox, fieldsQuote, Has Scientist: Jane Goodall, Infobox, fields
Infobox fields: Ethology
Konstantin Mereschkowski (Wikipedia)
WikipediaHas Scientist: Konstantin Mereschkowski, Infobox, fieldsQuote, Has Scientist: Konstantin Mereschkowski, Infobox, fields
Infobox fields: Lichens; Diatoms; Hydrozoa
Charles Wyville Thomson (Wikipedia)
Has Scientist: Charles Wyville Thomson, Lead sentenceQuote, Has Scientist: Charles Wyville Thomson, Lead sentence
Sir Charles Wyville Thomson (5 March 1830-10 March 1882) was a Scottish natural historian and marine zoologist.
Konrad Lorenz (Wikipedia)
WikipediaHas Scientist: Konrad Lorenz, Lead sentenceQuote, Has Scientist: Konrad Lorenz, Lead sentence
Konrad Zacharias Lorenz (; 7 November 1903 27 February 1989) was an Austrian zoologist, ethologist, and ornithologist.
Christian Gottfried Ehrenberg, Wikipedia
Has Scientist: Christian Gottfried Ehrenberg, Lead sentenceQuote, Has Scientist: Christian Gottfried Ehrenberg, Lead sentence
Christian Gottfried Ehrenberg (19 April 1795-27 June 1876) was a German naturalist, zoologist, botanist, comparative anatomist, geologist, and microscopist.
James Dwight Dana - Wikipedia
Has Scientist: James Dwight Dana, Lead sentenceQuote, Has Scientist: James Dwight Dana, Lead sentence
James Dwight Dana FRS FRSE (February 12, 1813, April 14, 1895) was an American geologist, mineralogist, volcanologist, and zoologist.
George Busk - Wikipedia
Has Scientist: George Busk, Lead sentenceQuote, Has Scientist: George Busk, Lead sentence
George Busk FRS FRAI (12 August 1807-10 August 1886) was a British naval surgeon, zoologist and palaeontologist.
Karl von Frisch (Wikipedia)
WikipediaHas Scientist: Karl von Frisch, Lead sentenceQuote, Has Scientist: Karl von Frisch, Lead sentence
Karl Ritter von Frisch (20 November 1886-12 June 1982) was a German-Austrian ethologist who received the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1973, along with Nikolaas Tinbergen and Konrad Lorenz.
Georges Cuvier (Wikipedia)
Has Scientist: Georges Cuvier, LeadQuote, Has Scientist: Georges Cuvier, Lead
was a French naturalist and zoologist
August Krogh, Wikipedia
Has Scientist: August Krogh, Lead, sentence 1Quote, Has Scientist: August Krogh, Lead, sentence 1
Schack August Steenberg Krogh (15 November 1874-13 September 1949) was a Danish professor at the department of zoophysiology at the University of Copenhagen from 1916 to 1945.
Shen Kuo (Wikipedia)
WikipediaHas Scientist: Shen Kuo, Infobox: fieldQuote, Has Scientist: Shen Kuo, Infobox: field
Agronomy, Astronomy, Archaeology, Anatomy, Antiquarianism, Mathematics, Pharmacology, Medical science, Entomology, Mineralogy, Music, Geomorphology, Sedimentology, Optical engineering, Soil science, Encyclopedism, Geomagnetics, Optics, Hydraulics, Hydraulic engineering, Mechanical engineering, Metallurgy, Metaphysics, Meteorology, Climatology, Cartography, Botany, Zoology, Economics, Finance, Military strategy, Ethnography, Divination, Art criticism, Philosophy, Poetry, Politics, Public Administration
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