ZOOLOGY: An introduction

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 ZOOLOGY
• Scientific study of the
diversity of animal life
• Animal biology, is the branch
of biology that studies the
animal kingdom, including the
structure, embryology,
evolution, classification,
habits and distribution of all
animals, both living and
extinct, and how they interact
with their ecosystems.

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 Zoology, continued…
Zo= animal; ology= study of,
knowledge

One of the broadest fields in all

sciences.
20,000 species, bony fishes
300,000 species, beetles

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BRANCHES OF ZOOLOGY
• Ichthyology – fish
• Ornithology – birds
• Entomology – insects
• Herpetology – reptiles &
amphibians
• Mammalogy – mammals
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BRANCHES OF BIOLOGY
• Malacology – mollusks
• Arachnology – spiders
• Protozoology – protozoans
• Parasitology - parasites
• Ethology – animal behavior

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BRANCHES OF BIOLOGY
• Genetics – heredity
• Ethnozoology – ways in w/c
animals influence the
people they interact with.
• Primatology – primates
• Physiology – body functions
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BRANCHES OF BIOLOGY
• Paleontology – pre-historic
organisms
• Cryptozoology – still
unknown species
• Taxonomy – classification
• Evolution – changes of
organisms over period of
time.
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BRANCHES OF BIOLOGY
• Embryology – embryo
• Ecology – interrelationship
of animals and their
environment.

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Why Study Zoology?

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Understand the natural world

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Learn to protect the environment

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Develop skills for learning

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 Myths To Explain Biological
Processes

• Disease caused by
evil spirits
• Brain produces snot
• Blood determines
heredity
• Heart is for emotions

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How Does Science Separate
Myths from Reality?

Scientific
Method
Scientific Method
• Observation
• Hypothesis
– Prediction
• Test Hypothesis
– Experiment
– Further Observations
• Conclusion

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Edward Jenner 1749-1823
• Smallpox
• Scientific method

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 Observation
• Smallpox is deadly

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 Observation
• Survivors are immune

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 Observation
• Milkmaids do not get smallpox

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 Observation
• Milkmaids get cowpox from cows

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 Hypothesis

Cowpox Makes You

Immune to Smallpox
 Prediction
• If you are exposed to cowpox, you will be
immune to smallpox

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Experiment

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 Results
• Boy did not get smallpox

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 Conclusion
• Hypothesis supported

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 Robert Koch 1843-1910
• Identified the
bacterium that causes
anthrax
• Identified the
bacterium that causes
tuberculosis

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 Louis Pasteur 1822-1895
• Developed vaccines for
rabies and anthrax
• Demonstrated the
existence of germs
• Invented Pasteurization

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 A New Scientific Theory Explains
the Observations of Many
Scientists

• Edward Jenner
– Smallpox
• Louis Pasteur
– Rabies and anthrax
• Robert Koch
– Tuberculosis and
anthrax

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 Germ Theory of Disease
• Germs cause disease
• Predictions of the Germ Theory
– Many diseases are caused by germs
• Diptheria
• Whooping cough
• Measles
• Plague
• Modern medicine uses the Germ Theory
to guide research
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 Ramifications of Germ Theory
• Previous concepts about the cause of
many diseases incorrect
– Evil spirits
– Bad thoughts
– Excess blood

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 Theory vrs Scientific Theory
• Theory (as used outside of science)
– Guess
– Speculation
– Has not been tested

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 Scientific Theory
• Principle
• Tested many times
• Explains many different phenomena
• Makes predictions
• Falsifiable

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 Falsify Germ Theory
• Smallpox occurs without the smallpox
virus
• Tuberculosis occurs without the TB
bacterium
• Discovery of a different type of cause for
infectious diseases
– Cell phones
– Computer screens
– Lack of exercise
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Jeff’s Lost Dog
• Jeff’s beloved dog is
I love missing (observation)
my dog
• Jeff thinks the dog
has run away
(hypothesis)
• What can falsify his
hypothesis?
• Jeff finds his dog
asleep in the house

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 Testing Hypotheses
• Observation
– Jeff found his dog asleep in the house
– Scientists find the same bacterium in the
bodies of people who die of the plague
• Experiment
– Jenner vaccinates boy with cowpox and later
infects him with smallpox. The boy does not
get smallpox.

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 100 Sick People

• Experimental group • Control group

• 50 People • 50 People
• Medicine X • Placebo

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 Three Days Later

• Experimental group • Control group

• 34 Better • 33 Better
• Medicine X • Placebo

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 Three Days Later

• Experimental group • Control group

• 34 Better • 5 Better
• Medicine X • Placebo

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Why does this frog have extra legs?
• Website

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 Law vrs Theory
• Law
– Observation that has been repeated
numerous times
– Law of gravity
– Does not explain the observation
• Theory
– Explains why or how something in nature
happens

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Which is most important to a
scientist?
• Fact
• Hypothesis
• Law
• Theory

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Theory is the most important
• Theory
– Explains laws,
hypotheses and facts
• Law
– States what happens
• Hypothesis
– Untested theory
• Fact
– Observation

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 Major Scientific Theories
• Germ Theory of Disease
– Germs cause infectious disease
• Atomic Theory
– Matter is made if tiny atoms
• Gene Theory (Chromosomal Theory)
– Genes on chromosomes determine heredity
• Cell Theory
– All living things are made of cells
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Theory of Evolution
• Populations of
organisms change
over time
• Changes result in
new species that
share a common
ancestor.

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Evolution is both a fact and a
theory
• Fact
– Evolution is
documented in the
fossil record and has
been observed in our
lifetime.
• Theory
– How evolution
happens

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 Theory of Evolution
• Scientists no longer
ask if evolution
occurs. They study
how evolution occurs.
• Evolution is the major
theory that guides
research in Zoology

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Science
• A body of knowledge
gained from studying the
natural world
• It is tested against the
natural world
– Does not use supernatural
explanations
• Its conclusions are not
absolute.
– New discoveries can revise
previous conclusions
• It is falsifiable

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The End
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