Zoology

Zoology (Greek zoon = animal and logos = word) is the biological discipline which involves the study of animals.

History of zoology

• History of zoology (before Darwin)
• History of zoology (since Darwin)

Branches of biology relevant to zoology

The original branches of zoology established in the late 19th century such as zoo-physics, bionomics and morphography, have largely been subsumed into more broad areas of biology which include studies of mechanisms common to both plants and animals. The biology of animals is covered in several broad areas:

1. The physiology of animals is studied under various fields including anatomy and embryology
2. The common genetic and developmental mechanisms of animals and plants is studied in molecular biology, molecular genetics and developmental biology
3. The ecology of animals is covered under behavioral ecology and other fields
4. Evolutionary biology of both animals and plants is considered in the articles on evolution, population genetics, heredity, variation, Mendelism, reproduction.
5. Systematics, cladistics, phylogenetics, phylogeography, biogeography and taxonomy classify and group species via common descent and regional associations.

In addition the various taxonomically oriented-disciplines such as mammalogy, herpetology, ornithology study mechanisms that are specific to those groups.