Historical

Background of
Zoology
PREHISTORIC TIMES
Egyptians
Greeks
Romans
DARK AGES
RENAISSANCE PERIOD

Prehistoric times
CURIOSITY
food, clothing and those that
menaced them
became a part of religion,
medicine and art
Ex. Paintings of animals on
caves
The English Patient
Legend of the Last Arc

Prehistoric times
Other used animals in pottery and
sculpture
A.EGYPTIANS:
- used parts of animals for medical
treatments
- first to domesticate animals
- collected information about
breeding,
growth and nutrition of animals
e.g.
sheep

Prehistoric times
B. GREEKS:
- made the 1st real contribution to Biology
- first to speculate on the origin of the
universe
ANAXIMANDER
XENOPHANES
ARISTOTLE wrote History of
Animalism which provided information on
structure and habits of animals native to
Greece, Macedonia and Asia Minor

Prehistoric times
- he showed how animals
could be grouped according to structure,
habitats and habits
- studied the development of
chick embryo
- evolutionary development
from lower from to higher forms
GALEN Greek physician
who developed a coherent system of
physiology

Prehistoric times
C. ROMANS:
PLINY THE ELDER compiled an
encyclopaedia Natural History (37
Books) covering wild and
domesticated animals

Dark Ages
downward trend in scientific inquiry
the church discourage
natural/original inquiry
it was only Aristotles writings that
was accepted
- In the near East, men read old
Greek writings (Greek Biology) and
was translated to Arabic and Latin in
European universities.

Renaissance period
survival of learning was a very slow process
IMPORTANT MENDURING THIS PERIOD:
ALBERTUS MAGNUS
-wrote treatise on animals
-described animals from foreign lands
-travellers who described other animals
were MARCO POLO, VASCO DE GAMA,
COLUMBUS and MAGELLAN MEDINA
-practised anatomy and dissection in
Bologna, Italy
LEONARDO DA VINCI
- a famous painter and a human
anatomist

Modern period
many natural history books on
animals were published