Zoology wiki. Zoology as a science
AT modern world There are about one and a half million species of various living organisms. Among them you can meet the simplest unicellular, which are visible only under a microscope, and the giants of our planet - whales, reaching thirty meters in length. The animal kingdom overshadows all other categories with its quantitative diversity.
Some species have adapted to life in the water column of our planet, others live in the underworld, or soar in the sky. Animals are a very significant part of the Earth's biosphere, bees pollinate plants, many insects work on soil formation or clean water bodies.
Zoology - the science of animals
So what is zoology? Let's start with the fact that this is a Greek word, and its literal translation sounds like "the doctrine of the animal." It refers to scientific knowledge and studies the structure of organisms, the life of animals, their diversity and how important they are for humans. It is closely interrelated with medicine, many other biological sciences, agriculture, veterinary medicine, animal welfare and human production activities.
Its subject involves the study of the basics of embryology, anatomy, ecology and phylogeny of animals, that is, mobile heterotrophic multicellular eukaryotes.
What is zoology divided into?
Studying the structure of zoology as a science will give us a clearer idea of what it does. Let's analyze the sections of zoology in more detail:
- Systematics. This section not only describes the entire diversity of species, but also constitutes a certain system of features of difference and homotypy. Systematics also reflects hierarchical categories that illustrate how animals have evolved.
- The study of the anatomical structure of an animal or separate parts his body deals with morphology. It, in turn, is divided into two subsections. The first is internal morphology, the second is external.
- Embryology. This branch of zoology is responsible for the study of embryogenesis, that is, the process of development of the embryo, which refers to any organism in the stages before hatching or birth.
- Physiology is the study of the laws governing the functioning of certain biological systems.
- Ethology. This section is devoted to the instincts of animals, including humans, that is, genetically determined behavior. This topic in zoology appeared relatively recently, and ethology was finally formed only in the 1930s. It is based primarily on evolutionary theory and field zoology.
- The relationship of organisms both within their own species and with the rest of the inhabitants of the animal kingdom and the environment is considered by ecology.
- Zoogeography. This section of animal zoology studies the issues of their distribution on Earth.
Scientific disciplines that include zoology
Zoology - entertaining science, it is also divided into a number of auxiliary disciplines that study various groups of animals:
- Zoology of invertebrates. This group includes such disciplines as protozoology, helminthology, malacology, carcinology, arachnology, nematology, entomology (the science of insects, in turn, is divided into several more sections), etc.
- Vertebrate zoology includes disciplines such as herpetology (reptiles and amphibians), ichthyology (fish and jawless), ornithology (birds), and theriology (mammals). The latter discipline, in turn, is subdivided into cynology, primatology, ketology, hippology, etc.
- Paleozoology. What it is? Zoology in this section of paleontology studies fossils, long-extinct animals. This discipline will especially appeal to those who are passionate about the theme of dinosaurs.
History of the development of zoology
Since ancient times, people have accumulated knowledge about the world around them, including about animals and their role in nature. Aristotle can safely be considered the father of zoology. In his writings, he first described 452 representatives of the animal world, outlined the features of their behavior, talked about the environment in which they lived. Enriched science with knowledge about animals and campaigns of the Romans. So, Pliny the Elder (ancient Greek scientist, 23-79 AD) in his multi-volume work described all the animals known at that time.
In the era of feudalism, society was under the yoke of religion, strict church canons. All this hindered the development of science and led to a long stagnation.
When the times of the Renaissance came, new horizons and continents began to be conquered and studied by travelers known to contemporaries - Columbus, Magellan, Marco Polo and others. Traveling to the most remote corners enriched the knowledge of Europeans about the animal world of the Earth. The extensive accumulated material required systematization and generalization, which was done by the Swiss scientist Hesper. In the 17th century, the first microscope was created and the amazing and huge world of multicellular animals opened up to the eyes of scientists.
The beginning of the 19th century was marked by discoveries in the paleontological works of Cuvier and a great leap in the development of zoology. His writings stated that all the internal organs and parts of the body are in a connecting chain of development, that is, if the function of one of the organs changes, the whole organism will also change. Talking about what zoology is, one cannot fail to mention the evolutionary ideas of Charles Darwin, which finally prevailed after the publication of his works.
Differences between plants and animals
The amazing theme of similarities between animals and plants has been confirmed by zoology tests and research. It turns out they have more in common than we can imagine. For example, a similar chemical composition of cells, and the very structure of the organism is cellular, a similar mechanism of metabolism.
The differences, of course, are predominant in quantity, the most basic of which are as follows:
- Unlike animals, plants get their food through photosynthesis.
- Plants have a vegetative structure, while animals have a somatic structure.
- Plants do not have mobility, but animals can move around in the surrounding space.
- Plant growth continues throughout life, while in animals the growth of the body is limited in time.
- Animals need to find their own food, unlike plants.
The study of unicellular
The most numerous animal group is unicellular organisms. It is believed that they are the first terrestrial living organisms. Protozoa can differ not only in size (from 0.3 microns to 20 cm), but also in shape. Most of them have microscopic body parameters. For the first time, unicellular organisms were discovered by A. Leeuwenhoek, it happened in 1673.
The main naturalist and great scientist, of course, is Charles Darwin. This honor was given to him for a reason. It was he who determined the driving forces of the evolution of the plant and animal world. It is known even to schoolchildren that they are variability, hereditary factors and natural selection.
By variability, Darwin meant the absence of the same traits in the offspring of the same pair. His research revealed a difference in both plant organisms and animals, in contrast to the great-grandfathers who lived in ancient times. For example, all breeds of dogs, according to the educational version, are descended from wolves.
Variability is the cardinal differences among representatives of a species, and not necessarily mammals, but also other diverse living organisms. It can be hereditary and non-hereditary, directed and non-directed, group or individual, quantitative or qualitative.
Heredity in zoology
The study of the zoology of invertebrates and vertebrates led to the conclusion that certain characters can be passed down from generation to generation, and sometimes even "jump". It is for this reason that we can observe the transfer of a mole on the neck from father to daughter. But if certain signs of body change were accepted during life, then the next generation will not receive them. That is, acquired heredity does not exist. If a dog's tail was cut off, which was originally long, then her puppies will grow a tail of normal length. But the breed with initially short tails is a mutation that has occurred, selected for further reproduction by artificial forces, that is, by man.
Natural selection
If a person provides food and care for domesticated animals, then wild species forced to fight for their survival. In the wild, not only endurance, but also cunning plays a big role.
For example, in winter, many people need to monitor the preservation of heat in order not to freeze to death. To do this, you have to eat up the fat layer, since food during this period is quite scarce. Someone will notice the first weak hare and eat it, while someone will die of hunger. The strongest survives. This statement is familiar to us from the school bench, and it perfectly reflects the essence of natural selection. As a result of this powerful and basic evolutionary process, the number of individuals with the maximum adaptability to living conditions increases in the population, and the number of those that have unfavorable characteristics decreases.
Development of adaptations
It is clear that only those who could adapt their body to the changed environmental conditions as much as possible will survive.
Many individuals die in infancy, so in the wild, having large offspring is very important for the survival of a particular species. According to the experiments of Charles Darwin, it can be understood that those organisms that have received certain adaptations (adaptations), even if insignificant, remain alive. They can develop at the level of a single cell, or a group of cells, organs, or as a morphological or functional whole.
Examples of amazing adaptations in the animal kingdom great amount. What are the Alaskan frogs that literally freeze into ice for the winter, they fall into a "cryosleep". This condition became possible due to the special structure of the liver.
Artificial selection is the main selection method
What is zoology, we think, is clear. As mentioned above, this science is closely related to many biological disciplines, including evolution and selection.
Artificial selection in zoology is primarily due to the need to breed new breeds of domesticated animals: cats, dogs, birds, and so on. How does this happen? When in any offspring the breeder finds an interesting and distinctive new feature, he immediately blocks it from breeding with "wrong" individuals and thus continues to develop a unique mutation. For example, by choosing dogs with only short legs, a person created such a breed as a dachshund. If people need cows with a large milk yield, then those who always have more milk are taken away and only their reproduction is carried out. That is, only those differences that are beneficial to people remain. In natural selection, all changes are primarily beneficial to the animals themselves.
Zoology as a science. Branches of zoology.
Zoology - animal science, is part of the science of living beings, biology.
Subject zoology is the study of the animal world in relation to the structure and functions of the body of animals, their development, distribution on earth, their mutual relations in structure and origin, and relations to the surrounding world. In view of the absence of a sharp boundary between plants and animals, the field of zoology comes into contact with the field of botany and to a certain extent mixes with it in the doctrine of the lower representatives of both groups.
The branch of zoology devoted to the study of the structure of animals has the common name morphology.
The study of the structure of an animal or a known group of animals, independently of others, is the subject descriptive anatomy; if the structure of animals is studied by comparing various forms, then this branch of zoology is called comparative anatomy; the general task of the latter is to elucidate the laws of the structure of animals.
The finest structure of animals, studied with a microscope, is the subject of a special branch of morphology - histology, but since there is no sharp, definite boundary between the study of the structure of animals without auxiliary optical means and the study with the help of optical instruments (simple and compound microscopes), the field of histology is not delimited in a certain way from the field of anatomy.
Departures of the body of animals constitute the subject physiology; physiology may be directed to the elucidation of the activity of a certain particular organism, while others are considered only so far as is necessary for understanding the phenomena occurring in the animal studied, or physiology, then called comparative, studies all animals from the point of view of their functions, striving to clarify general laws of the studied phenomena.
A special department of animal physiology is the doctrine of their mental life - zoopsychology.
The relationship of animals to the environment is the subject animal biology in the narrow sense of the word (in a broader sense, biology is the totality of sciences about living beings); here, too, we can deal either with the biology of a given animal or with the general biology of animals, if we study the general laws of the relationships between animals and the surrounding world, both organic and inorganic. This includes the study of the influence on animals of various external conditions: temperature, light, composition environment, her physical properties, pressure, movement or immobility of the environment, etc., as well as relationships with other organisms that are their enemies, prey, means of protection, source of food, etc.
Not limited to the study of an animal in its adult, developed state, zoology considers how an animal develops before it reaches its final adult state; this branch of zoology is called developmental history, or ontogeny, or embryology. The structure of embryology includes both the study of the phenomena occurring inside the egg, the actual embryonic development, and those changes that occur in the animal later - postembryonic development.
The mutual relations between animals can be considered from the point of view of their origin; the branch of zoology that seeks to find out how the animal kingdom developed, by what changes and under the influence of what factors new forms of animal life were developed, and in what genetic (by origin) relationships different groups of animals stand among themselves, is called animal phylogeny. Its task is to establish the genealogy of the animal kingdom.
An essential role in relation to comparative anatomy and to the phylogeny of animals is played by the study of fossil remains of animals that lived in previous geological eras - animal paleontology or zoopaleontology.
An important branch of zoology is represented in modern times the doctrine of the distribution of animals on earth - animal geography or zoogeography. Based on the facts of the distribution of animals and with the help of paleontology, geology and general biology Animal zoogeography seeks to elucidate the causes and laws of the modern distribution of animals. From the point of view of modern views on the origin of the animal kingdom, the distribution of animals is as much the result of a series of antecedent conditions as is the very structure of animals; at the same time, zoogeography is a valuable criterion for testing the provisions of theories of the origin of animals.
All the listed branches of zoology are closely connected with each other, pursuing their own special goals.
All zoology is divided into general and special.
The subject of the first is the study of data and laws relating to the whole animal world; the subject of the second is the detailed study of individual groups on the basis of the general views of zoology.
The departments of special zoology bear special names for the groups to which they are devoted: the science of mammals - mammalogy, about birds - ornithology, about reptiles - herpetology, about amphibians - batrachology, fish - ichthyology, shellfish - malacology, insects - entomology, spiders - arachnology, worms - helminthology, sponges - spongiology; other similar names are less common.
From theoretical zoology, which aims purely scientific study animals should be distinguished applied zoology. Based on the data of theoretical zoology, applied zoology studies animals solely from the point of view of human economic interests, from the point of view of their benefit or harm (direct or indirect), methods of protection, reproduction, or vice versa, their extermination. Two branches of applied zoology have become very important - applied entomology (the science of insects) and applied ichthyology (the science of fish).
Education
What is zoology? What does the science of zoology study?
January 16, 2015The modern organic world with all its diverse biomass can be divided into five kingdoms of wildlife:
- animals;
- plants;
- mushrooms;
- bacteria;
- viruses.
Each of them is studied by a whole complex of sciences. We will consider what sciences are engaged in the study of representatives of the animal kingdom, how these disciplines are called, since when they arose and what results have been achieved to date.
science zoology
The main science that has devoted itself to the study of the diversity and lifestyle of animals is zoology. It is she who is the foundation on which the knowledge about our smaller brothers is kept.
What is zoology? It's unlikely to be answered in one sentence. After all, this is not just one dry science built on theory, it is a whole complex of sections and subsciences that collect materials about everything related to the animal world.
Therefore, this question can be answered something like this: zoology is the science of that part of the biomass of our planet that belongs to animals. Thus, the object of study of zoology are all animals - from the simplest unicellular to multicellular mammals. The subject of this science is the study of the external and internal structure, physiological processes, distribution in nature, lifestyle and behavior, interaction with each other and with the outside world.
Goals and objectives of science
To more fully understand what zoology is, its goals and objectives as a science will help. The goals are as follows:
- to study the features of functioning, structure, embryonic and historical development all representatives of animals;
- consider ways of adapting to environmental conditions and trace the features of ethology;
- determine their role in the system organic world;
- to reveal the role of man in the protection and protection of the animal world.
In connection with the goal, the tasks of zoology are the following points:
- The study of the external and internal structure, as well as physiological features all representatives of animals.
- Comparison of their needs and their habitats.
- Establishing the significance and role of individual groups in nature and human economic activity.
- Conducting an analysis of the taxonomy of the animal world, identifying the most vulnerable groups, ensuring their protection and protection.
Having considered the goals, objectives, object and subject of zoology, we can say with confidence that zoology studies exactly animal world in all its manifestations.
Classification of zoological sections
Over two million animal species are known. Each has its own unique features, and when interacting with each other, they generally represent a unique system. The study of such a system requires a lot of time and effort. This is the work of a huge number of people. Therefore, all science is a special branch of zoology.
Classification of zoological sections by tasks
There is also a classification of zoological sections according to tasks for science. It represents the following categories:
- systematics - a section that deals with the classification and determination of a place in the system of the organic world for each representative of animals;
- zoogeography - a science that studies their distribution and settlement throughout the territory of our planet;
- morphology - a science that studies the features of the external and internal structure;
- phylogenetics - studies the foundations of the origin and historical development of the animal world;
- genetics - considers the patterns of heredity and variability in all generations;
- histology - studies the cellular structure of tissues;
- paleozoology - the science of fossil remains and extinct animals of all periods of the planet's life;
- cytology - the science of the cell and its structure;
- ethology - studies the features of behavioral mechanisms in animals in different situations;
- embryology - deals with the consideration of embryos and the establishment of similarities and differences between all representatives of the animal world on the basis of embryonic analysis, as well as features of ontogenesis;
- ecology - studies the interaction of animals with each other, as well as adaptability to the conditions of the surrounding world and interaction with humans;
- physiology - features of all life processes;
- anatomy - studies internal structure animals.
Zoology of vertebrates
What is vertebrate zoology? This is a section that studies all representatives of the animal world that have a chord (during life it transforms into a spinal column with a spinal cord).
In the task of this academic discipline includes acquaintance of students with the external and internal features of all classes of vertebrates, their behavior and lifestyle, distribution and role in nature and human life.
Main distinctive features vertebrates, which are characteristic only for this group, are the following:
- Only they have a chord - the progenitor of the spine. In some species, it remains so for life, but in most it develops into a spine.
- The nervous system of such animals is clearly differentiated into the head and spinal cord(with the exception of strictly chordates, in which it always remains in the form of a nerve cord above the chord).
- The digestive system in representatives of different classes opens outward with a mouth opening on the front of the body, the end of the digestive tube is transformed into gills in marine life. In terrestrial, lungs are formed inside.
- All representatives have a heart - the center of the circulatory system.
It is precisely such animals that the section of zoology on vertebrates is devoted to.
Zoology of invertebrates
What does invertebrate zoology study? These are the features of the structure, lifestyle and significance in nature of all animals that do not have the above characteristics. These animals include representatives of the following types:
- sponges;
- coelenterates;
- annelids, round and flat worms;
- shellfish;
- echinoderms;
- arthropods (arachnids, insects, crustaceans).
Invertebrates make up most of all known animals. In addition, they play an important role in human economic activity.
That is why the study of invertebrates is important and of great scientific interest.
Zoology of protozoa
Protozoa include all unicellular animals. Namely:
- sarcomastigophores (amoeba, ray, foraminifera, sunflowers);
- flagellates (volvox, euglena, trypanosoma, opaline);
- ciliates (ciliary and sucking ciliates);
- sporozoans (gregarines, coccidia, toxoplasma, malarial plasmodium).
Some amoebas, ciliates and all sporozoa are dangerous pathogens of serious diseases in both humans and animals. Therefore, a detailed study of their life cycle, ways of feeding and reproduction is an important part in the search for methods to combat them. That is why the zoology of protozoa is no less important branch of science than all the others.
Brief outline of the development of science
This science is very interesting. Zoology has captivated and seduced many minds at all times. And this is certainly justified. After all, watching our smaller brothers is really a very interesting and useful activity.
The main stages that the development of zoology went through are not much different from those in other sciences. These are the main four periods:
- Ancient time. Ancient Greece- Aristotle, Ancient Rome- Pliny the Elder.
- The Middle Ages is a time of stagnation. All sciences were under the influence of the church, the study of all living things was strictly prohibited.
- The Renaissance is the most active period in the development of zoology. A lot of theoretical and practical data on the life of animals has been accumulated, basic laws have been formulated, systematics and taxa, and a binary nomenclature of animal and plant names have been put into use. The loudest names in this period were: Charles Darwin, Jean Baptiste Lamarck, Carl Linnaeus, Georges Cuvier, John Ray, Saint-Hilaire, Anthony van Leeuwenhoek.
- The new time refers to XIX-XX century. This is the period of development of knowledge about the molecular and genetic structure of animals, the discovery of biogenetic laws and mechanisms of embryonic and physiological development of animals of all types. The loudest names: Sechenov, Haeckel and Muller, Mechnikov, Kovalevsky.
Modern zoology
The 21st century is the time of digital technologies and the triumph of unique heavy-duty technology. This gives great advantages to all sciences that study wildlife but also poses new challenges for them.
What is zoology modern stage development? It is a science that is preparing to give answers to questions:
- What is the animal kingdom?
- By what laws does he live and what features does he have?
- How can a person without harm to nature use the animal diversity of the world for their own purposes?
- Is it possible to artificially recreate lost (extinct) animal species?
The search for answers will take scientists a very long time, despite the possession of such a perfect technique.
The value of zoology is difficult to overestimate. More than once it has been mentioned above what a big role it plays in people's lives, their health and economic activity. It has been studied for centuries and will always be studied, because there are still a very large number of unresolved questions about animals.
Zoology(from other Greek. zoo- animal, logos- science) - a science that studies animals, their structure, lifestyle and distribution on Earth.
There is no such place on Earth where certain representatives of the animal world would not meet. In the boundless expanses of the northern tundra, in impenetrable taiga forests, on snowy mountain peaks, in hot waterless deserts and in the depths of the oceans, one or another animal lives everywhere.
Like plants, animals live in different environments. This affects the features of their structure. Everyone knows how well fish are adapted to life in the water, and birds to flight. Animals that live in deserts have many adaptations that allow them to live for a long time without water, to withstand great heat.
The difference in the conditions of existence on Earth is the reason for the huge diversity of the animal world. Animals differ in their shape, size, color and ability to adapt and live in different conditions.
The body shape of animals is very diverse. Sometimes she is just amazing. For example, some marine animals appearance resemble flowers. Animals also vary in size. Zoology studies a whole world of such small animals that can only be seen with a microscope at high magnification. Along with such tiny creatures on Earth, there are such huge animals as elephants and whales. An elephant weighs more than 4 tons and reaches a height of 3.5 m. The body length of some whales reaches 30 m, and they weigh up to 150 g.
The color of the body of animals is also very diverse. Among the rich vegetation of the tropical forests, there are many very beautiful, brightly colored butterflies and birds. Often the coloration of animals matches the environment in which they live. Everyone knows our common hare. Its suit is very close to the color of the places where this hare lives. And in the north lives a relative of the hare - a white hare. White color fur makes it hardly noticeable on the snow that covers the land in the north for most of the year.
The task of zoology is to study the structure and life of various animals, the conditions for their existence and distribution on the globe, develop ways to remake the animal world in the direction desired by humans.
Characteristic signs of animals in zoology
Although animals are extremely diverse, they all have quite a few common features. Their body is always made up of cells. Animals move and breathe. When they breathe, they take in oxygen and release carbon dioxide. All animals feed by absorbing various nutrients. Animals grow and develop. They respond to different kind stimuli from the environment. This ability in many animals is associated with the presence of nervous system and sense organs - eyes, ears, etc. With the help of the nervous system and sense organs, they are connected with their environment. Animals reproduce, that is, they give rise to living creatures similar to themselves.
Animals share many characteristics with plants. The body of plants and animals consists of cells from which tissues, organs and organ systems are formed. Plants, like animals, breathe, eat, grow and reproduce.
Common signs of plants and animals indicate the unity of the plant and animal world, their common origin. As Installed modern science, the first living beings arose from substances of inanimate nature millions of years ago.
What is the main difference between animals and plants? Animals differ from plants primarily in the way they feed. As we know from botany, plants, capturing energy with the help of chlorophyll sunlight, they process inorganic substances into organic (sugar, starch and proteins). Animals, on the other hand, use ready-made substances formed by plants for nutrition.
In the body of animals there are tissues, organs and organ systems that plants do not have. In particular, plants do not have a nervous system. And in most animals, communication with the environment is carried out using the nervous system.
Animals were not always the way we see them now. In the deep layers of the earth or in the steep banks eroded by water, one can often find shells, fragments of bones, and sometimes whole skeletons of long-extinct animals that once inhabited the Earth; studying them shows that they differ from modern ones. Some of these fossil animals were enormous. So, the skeleton of one giant fossil reptile reached 36 m in length and 12 m in height. Quite often, on the territory of Ukraine, bones of a large animal are found - a mammoth, very similar to an elephant. But unlike the elephant, the mammoth's body was covered with thick, long hair. This proves that mammoths lived in more severe climatic conditions than modern rainforest-dwelling elephants.
The study of the remains of fossil animals convincingly proves that the animal world on Earth has continuously changed and developed, forming new species.
Importance of studying zoology
Animals have great value In human life. Therefore, zoology, as a science, arose and developed in close connection with human activity. Since ancient times, man has received a variety of food products from animals: meat, milk, eggs, honey, etc. Man also uses the wool, skin and furs of animals. Finally, some animals are used as draft animals.
Many of our birds (tits, swallows, starlings, woodpeckers, cuckoos, etc.) exterminate a huge number of harmful insects, protecting cultivated plants and forests from pests.
Many insects (bees, bumblebees, etc.) play an important role in the pollination of flowers and thus increase the yield of cultivated plants.
In order to make even better use of all useful animals, one must know their structure and mode of life well.
There are even more harmful animals in nature than useful ones. Predatory animals (for example, wolves) attack domestic animals. Great damage is caused agriculture harmful insects (for example, hawthorn, cabbage, winter scoop, beet weevil, etc.) and various rodents (for example, ground squirrels, voles, etc.).
With such pests, a person has long been waging a stubborn struggle. Some animals (rats, mice, a number of insects) spoil and destroy various structures. Many animals cause severe diseases in humans and domestic animals or carry pathogens of such diseases (malarial mosquito, flea, etc.).
Knowledge of zoology will help to make better use of natural resources, to fight for an increase in the production of livestock products, for an increase in the well-being of the working people.
The most important task of zoological science is to help people manage the animal world, change and transform it in the desired direction.
Animal protection
Among the numerous animals, along with harmful ones, there are many useful ones. Therefore, we must use the riches of the animal world in the interests of the national economy as expediently as possible, take care of their restoration and increase every day.
Many rare and endangered animal species are of great scientific importance, and we have an obligation to preserve them for future generations.
Some animals, regardless of their economic and scientific value, bring people a lot of joy. Suffice it to recall the many-voiced singing of birds, strikingly in harmony with the wonderful pictures of nature. In addition, songbirds are of great benefit, destroying harmful insects. That is why we have introduced a system of protection and protection not only for game birds, but also for songbirds.
During the last centuries, as tsarist Russia, and in other countries of the world, due to the predatory extermination of wild animals, mismanaged deforestation, the animal world became poorer.
It was only after the Great October Socialist Revolution that the unrestrained extermination of useful animals was stopped in our country and a huge work was launched to reproduce them in the interests of the national economy, science and the general cultural needs of the people.
In 1960, the Supreme Council adopted the Law on the Protection of Nature of the Ukrainian SSR, aimed at improving the cause of nature conservation. In carrying out the tasks provided for by this Law, important role belongs to the school. Every pioneer, every student is obliged to take an active part in the enrichment and protection of our nature, in particular animals.
In order to consciously protect animals, to be able to distinguish useful from harmful ones, one must study zoology, know the characteristics of animals, their way of life, distribution and economic significance.
Zoology - the science of animals, is part of the science of living beings, biology.
The subject of zoology is the study of the animal world in relation to the structure and function of the body of animals, their development, distribution over the earth, their mutual relations in terms of structure and origin, and relations to the surrounding world. In view of the absence of a sharp boundary between plants and animals, the field of zoology comes into contact with the field of botany and to a certain extent mixes with it in the doctrine of the lower representatives of both groups.
The branch of zoology devoted to the study of the structure of animals bears the general name of morphology.
The study of the structure of an animal or a known group of animals, independently of others, is the subject of descriptive anatomy; if the structure of animals is studied by comparing various forms, then this branch of zoology is called comparative anatomy; the general task of the latter is to elucidate the laws of the structure of animals.
The finest structure of animals, studied with a microscope, is the subject of a special branch of morphology - histology, but since there is no sharp, definite boundary between the study of the structure of animals without auxiliary optical means and the study with the help of optical instruments (simple and compound microscopes), then the area histology is not delimited in a certain way from the field of anatomy.
The functions of the body of animals are the subject of physiology; physiology may be directed to the elucidation of the activity of a certain particular organism, while others are considered only so far as is necessary for understanding the phenomena occurring in the animal studied, or physiology, then called comparative, studies all animals from the point of view of their functions, striving to clarify general laws of the studied phenomena.
A special department of animal physiology is the doctrine of their mental life - zoopsychology.
The relationship of animals to the surrounding world is the subject of animal biology in the narrow sense of the word (in a broader sense, biology is the totality of sciences about living beings); here, too, we can deal either with the biology of a given animal or with the general biology of animals, if we study the general laws of the relationships between animals and the surrounding world, both organic and inorganic. This includes the study of the influence on animals of various external conditions: temperature, light, the composition of the environment, its physical properties, pressure, movement or immobility of the environment, etc., as well as relations with other organisms that are their enemies, prey, means protection, food source, etc.
Not limited to the study of an animal in its adult, developed state, zoology considers how an animal develops before it reaches its final adult state; this branch of zoology is called developmental history, or ontogeny, or embryology. The structure of embryology includes both the study of the phenomena occurring inside the egg, the actual embryonic development, and those changes that occur in the animal later - postembryonic development.
The mutual relations between animals can be considered from the point of view of their origin; the branch of zoology that seeks to find out how the animal kingdom developed, by what changes and under the influence of what factors new forms of animal life were developed, and in what genetic (by origin) relationships different groups of animals stand among themselves, is called animal phylogeny. Its task is to establish the genealogy of the animal kingdom.
An essential role in relation to comparative anatomy and to the phylogeny of animals is played by the study of fossil remains of animals that lived in previous geological epochs - animal paleontology or zoopaleontology.
An important branch of zoology in modern times is the doctrine of the distribution of animals on earth - animal geography or zoogeography. Based on the facts of animal distribution and with the help of paleontology, geology and general animal biology, zoogeography seeks to elucidate the causes and laws of the modern distribution of animals. From the point of view of modern views on the origin of the animal kingdom, the distribution of animals is as much the result of a series of antecedent conditions as is the very structure of animals; at the same time, zoogeography is a valuable criterion for testing the provisions of theories of the origin of animals.
All the listed branches of zoology are closely connected with each other, pursuing their own special goals.
All zoology is divided into general and special.
The subject of the first is the study of data and laws relating to the whole animal world; the subject of the second is the detailed study of individual groups on the basis of the general views of zoology.
The departments of special zoology bear special names according to the groups to which they are devoted: the science of mammals - mammology, birds - ornithology, reptiles - herpetology, amphibians - batrachology, fish - ichthyology, mollusks - malacology, insects - entomology, spiders - arachnology, worms - helminthology, sponges - spongiology; other similar names are less common.
Applied zoology must be distinguished from theoretical zoology, which aims at the purely scientific study of animals. Based on the data of theoretical zoology, applied zoology studies animals solely from the point of view of human economic interests, from the point of view of their benefit or harm (direct or indirect), methods of protection, reproduction, or vice versa, their extermination. Two branches of applied zoology have become very important - applied entomology (the science of insects) and applied ichthyology (the science of fish).