Zoology

- Study of animals
- Zoon - animal
- Logos - to study
- Broad and complex subject matter
- Calls upon many other scientific disciplines
- Viewed as a series of efforts only to analyze and classify animals
- Study of animal life alone
- Ranging from structure of organism to subcellular life
- Aristotle devised ways to classify animals based on their similarities

Branches of zoology
Anatomy
- Science of the structure and organization of living things
- Means to cut open (can only be studied after its dissection
- Internal structure
Entomology = study of insects
Ornithology = birds
Reptitology = reptiles
Morphology
- Study of the form and structure of the organisms and their specific structural features
- External feature of the animals
Animal nutriology
- Study of animal diet (nutritional requirement)
- Animals require different kinds of diet
Biochemistry
- Study of the chemical processes that occur in living organisms
- Conversion of food to macromolecules and micromolecules, micromolecules to the
production of atp (energy)
Biophysics
- A science that applies the theories and methods of physics to questions of biology
- How each system works
- How diff parts of the cell moves as wells as its function
Developmental biology (embryology)
- Deals with the processes by which organisms grow and develop
- Starting from fertilization to the development of diff organ system to form an individual
Ecology
- The scientific study of the distribution and abundance of living organisms
- How the distribution and abundance are affected by interactions bet the organisms and
their environment
- Relationship between organisms and their physical environment

Ethology
 - Study of animal behavior (in regards with their natural environment)
Ex. how to approach an animal during treatment
- Important in animal production
Evolution
- Study of change in the heritable traits of a population over successive generations
(determined by shifts in the allele frequencies of genes)
Genetics
- Study of genes and their relation to heredity and the variation of offspring
Molecular biology
- Deals with the interactions between the various systems of a cell
- Interrelationship of DNA, RNA, and Protein Synthesis
- How these interaction are regulated
- Scientists use MB to determine the function of a single gene and to find out what will
happen if the gene is faulty
- To determine if the gene is switched on/off
On = phenotype
Off = no manifestation
Paleontology
- Study of the history and development of all life on Earth (based on fossil record)
Parasitology
- Study of relationship between parasites and their hosts
- Symbiotic relations between 2 organisms in which 1 organisms is benefited (parasite)
and the other one is harmed (host)
Pathology
- Study of pathogens and relationship to their host
- How pathogens would cause a particular disease on their host
- Study of diseases (anything abnormal due to a particular pathogen)
*bacterial
*fungal
*viral
Physiology
- Study of the mechanical, physical, and biochemical function of living organisms
- Study of bodily processes that occur in animals that allow them to maintain homeostasis
Homeostasis = ability of the body to maintain relatively constant equilibrium
(balance) even in the changing environment
Reproductive biology
- Study of the function of the sex organs and gametes
Animals in heat = ready to accept the male
Gestation = pregnancy
Parturition = giving birth

Taxonomy and Systematics

Taxonomy - Classification of organisms
 - Diiferent organisms are scientifically Systematics
named and group in different - Diversity of life and the relationship
taxonomy levels between living things throughout
Kingdom evolutionary history
Phylum - Ascertain the sharing of the common
Class ancestry of the diff organisms
Order
Family
Genus
Species
Zoogeography (zoography)
- Study animals and their habitat
- Study of the geographic distribution of animal species and the attributes of these
geographical regions
- Concerned with the geographical ranges of specific population of an animal, the effects
of the ecosystems

HOW DO WE STUDY ANIMALS?

- Zoology is shaped by the sicentifc method
- Series of steps that scientist take in order to acquire, test and characterize the
natural world
- Process by which zoologist study animals
● starts with an observation

*experiment MUST be REPEATABLE (otherwise, it can’t be validated)

HOW DO WE NAME AND CLASSIFY ANIMALS?
- Should be based on their obligatory taxonomy
- Usually on a particular animal it is classified based on its common characteristics
Ex. Canis familiaris = DOG
Genus specie
 *scientific name of an animal consists of a genus and species
(usually written in latin)

Origin of life
● Hypotheses about the origin of life
○ 3 possible explanations for the origin of life
■ Special creation
- All the different life forms that occur today have been created by
god
- This idea is found in ancient scripture in almost all religions
- Have not undergone any significant change ever since
- No evolution happened
- Purely a religious concept (no scientific basis)
■ Extraterrestrial origin
- Some of the meteors that struck the earth may contain some
primitive cells (building blocks of life)
- Miller Urey experiment
○ Known as primordial soup concept
○ Scientist have shown how the building blocks of life have
been created by only a few inorganic ingredients in the lab
setting
■ Spontaneous origin (generation)
- Also knowns as The theory of Abiogenesis
- May have been originated by non living organism
- Living organisms could arise suddenly from any kind of non living
matter
- Aristotle believed that dead leaves falling from a tree into a pond
would transform into fishes, while leaves falling on a soil would
transform intro dwarves and insects
- He also believed that some insects formed from morning dew or
rotten manure
- Van Helmont, he spontaneous generated rags to mice (it consists
of a dirty cloth soaked in water with a handful of wheat)
- He stated that human sweat would act as an active principle, then
in 21 days it would generate mice

- Francesco Redi (did not believe in spontaneous genration)

- He believed that maggots developed from eggs laid by flies

- He confirmed his results by conducting an experiment

- John tuberville needham (1745)

- Boiled chicken broth and sealed it; microorganisms grew
- Claimed victory for spontaneous generation

- Lazzaro spallanzani (1780)

- Tried to disprove needham
- Placed the chicken broth in a sealed flask, then created a
vacuum; no microorganism grew

- Louis pasteur (1859)

- Designed an experiment that was a variation of needham
and spallanzani

- Microorganisms couldn’t be dissolved into the liquid due to

the bent of the neck of the flask
- they would only tend to settle on one point of the neck due
to gravity
- Thus the liquid remains sterile for a long time
- However if the flask is tipped, microorganisms can now
reach the liquid
- The liquid became cloudy quickly due to the
microorganisms
- Pasteur proved that some microorganisms are air-borne