Who is the Father of Indian Zoology?

Father of Zoology Overview

Since the beginning of time, people have been studying animal behaviour. Comparative anatomical studies are credited with helping to establish modern zoology as a field of study by Hunter and Cuvier. Zoology, a branch of biology, is the subject of this study of animal existence. Zoology studies the morphology, metabolism, behaviour, environment, and health of animals. Among the techniques employed are microscopy, genetic analysis, and fieldwork ecology.  Aristotle was a renowned philosopher who lived from 384 to 322 BCE. His intellectual interests were wide-ranging and included the majority of the arts, sciences, poetry, political philosophy, and psychology. Greece was the nation where Aristotle was born.

What is Zoology?

The study of animals is called zoology. It is a subfield of biology that investigates animal existence, organism structure, and subcellular life. Zoologists investigate how animal bodies work and are built, how creatures develop, and how traits are passed down from one generation to the next. 

Zoologists investigate animal behaviour, social interactions, and living conditions. They also research the importance of animal behaviour. You might approach zoology applications as basic or applied science. Basic zoology students are eager to learn about animals but do not think about how they will use what they learn. The application of zoology and how the information learned might advance the medical area for both people and animals are of interest to those who study it. Zoology has always been used to categorise and study animals.

Scope of Zoology

The area of science that deals with animals is called zoology. One definition of a species is the biggest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the same sex can conceive a fertile offspring. Approximately 1.5 million animal species have been identified, however some estimates place the number as high as 8 million. Identification of the species and their classification in accordance with their traits, distinctions, and relationships were needed early; taxonomists work in this area. Initially, it was believed that species were unchangeable, but with the advent of Darwin's theory of evolution, the field of cladistics—which examines the connections between various groups or clades—came into existence. Systematics is the study of the evolution of living organisms. A group's evolutionary history is referred to as its phylogeny, and a cladogram can graphically depict the relationship between the clades.

Although historically, a zoologist was someone who made a scientific study of animals, the term has come to refer to those who work with specific animals. Some people identify themselves as physiologists, ethologists, evolutionary biologists, ecologists, pharmacologists, endocrinologists, or parasitologists.

Father of Zoology Highlights

The following gives details about the father of botany-

Father of Zoology

Aristotle is referred to as the "Father of Zoology" owing to his important contributions to the subject, which include a wealth of information on the variety, makeup, and behavior of animals, as well as the examination of numerous aspects of living things and the emergence of taxonomy science. Aristotle's time saw the recognition of about 500 species, which were organized into eight classes. Theophrastus (371-287 BCE), a close friend and associate of Aristotle, was a wandering philosopher. He wrote multiple works in several branches of philosophy with the aim of advancing, extending, expanding, or expanding the Aristotelian system. He is credited with being the Father of Botany. He developed his vocabulary to describe horticultural and agricultural endeavours as well as processes in plants.

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Treatises by Aristotle

The student of Plato, Aristotle (384–322 BC), was very interested in the natural world. He studied many aspects of geography and meteorology, but his biggest contributions to science were in the areas of natural history and biology. Aristotle was the first to apply empirical methods and procedures in a proto-scientific way, whereas preceding intellectuals made observations about flora and animals. He set the standard for future academics in the topic, namely the later Islamic scholars who would safeguard Greek knowledge and transmit it to the West, thanks to his precise procedures and record-keeping.

Aristotle wrote several treatises based on his zoological research, including-

1. On Sleep and Waking
2. On Life and Death
3. On Respiration
4. On Breath
5. On Dreams
6. Of Prophecy in Sleep
7. On Length and Shortness of Life
8. On Youth and Old Age
9. The Parts of Animals
10. The History of Animals
11. The Movement of Animals
12. The Progression of Animals
13. On Sense and Sensible Objects
14. On Memory and Recollection
15. On Plants

Also read more about Wildlife Sanctuary and Scientific Names of Animals and Plants.

Branches of Zoology

Even though the study of animal life has a long history, science has only recently adopted this discipline. This parallels how natural history gave way to biology at the beginning of the 19th century. Anatomy, physiology, histology, embryology, teratology, and ethology are the modern fields of zoological study that were shaped by comparative anatomical study and morphography after Hunter and Cuvier.

The following are the branches of zoology-

1. Zoography
2. Comparative Zoology
3. Soil Zoology
4. Mammalogy
5. Comparative anatomy
6. Herpetology
7. Animal physiology
8. Entomology
9. Behavioural Ecology
10. Ornithology
11. Ethology
12. Invertebrate and vertebrate zoology

Also read more about Thallophytes and Uses of Microscope.

Father of Zoology: Aristotle's Discoveries and Works

Aristotle extensively studied the natural world and researched its origins using scientific knowledge and meticulous observations rather than attributing them to supernatural influence. In Aristotle's theory of biology, processes including information processing, metabolism, inheritance, and temperature regulation are all described. He created a classification system and discovered animal relationships before any other researcher. Aristotle's corpus was preserved because of mediaeval manuscripts that were based on a first-century BCE edition. There were no remarks on the biographical works until they were simultaneously translated into Arabic. The first Western publications of Aristotle's biological writings were Latin translations of an Arabic version by Michael Scot, which served as the basis for Albertus Magnus' De animalibus.

In addition to the three volumes commonly referred to as "History of Animals" (HA), "Parts of Animals" (PA), and and "Generation of Animals,Animals," there are other shorter "essays" on more focused topics (GA). These contain information on breathing, life and death, youth and old age, life expectancy, sleeping and awakening, among other things. Aristotle's procedures, which included systematic data collection, pattern discovery, and the inference of likely meanings from these, were comparable to those used by contemporary scientists when they investigated a new territory.

Instead of performing experiments in the modern sense, he observed and dissected living animals. He is able to identify about 500 different bird, mammal, and fish species, as well as dozens of different bug and invertebrate species. He documented the internal anatomy of more than a hundred species and dissected about 35 species.