Definition
noun
The branch of biology that deals with animals and animal life, including the study of the structure, physiology, development, and classification of animals
Supplement
Zoology is the branch of biology that deals with animals and animal life, including the study of the structure, physiology, development, and classification of animals. An individual that specializes in the field of zoology is called a zoologist. Aristotle is regarded as the father of zoology.
It has various sub-disciplines:
- animal anatomy (concerned with the anatomical features of animals)
- animal physiology (deals with the physiological processes in animals)
- animal histology (concerned with the study of animal tissues)
- animal embryology (focused mainly on studying animal embryos)
- taxonomy (including identification and classification of animals, and therefore encompasses fields such as mammalogy, herpetology, ornithology, entomology, ichthyology, invertebrate zoology, etc.)
- zoogeography (concerned mainly with the study of animals and their habitats)
- comparative anatomy (deals with the similarities and differences in the anatomy of different species)
- ethology (concerned with the study of animal behavior
A closely related field is veterinary medicine. In particular, it is a branch of medicine that deals with the diseases and treatment of non-human animals.
Word origin: Greek zôion (“animal”) + lógos (“knowledge”)
Synonym(s):
- animal biology
- zoological science
See also:
Related form(s):
- zoological (adjective)
- zoologist
