Principles of Zoology

Principles of Zoology is the sixteenth title in the Principles of Science series. This new resource introduces students and researchers to the fundamentals of zoology using easy-to-understand language, to provide a solid background, and help readers develop a deeper understanding and appreciation of this important and evolving subject. The subject matter of zoology is not limited to just the number and kinds of animal life on Earth. It includes all possible aspects of what defines any particular animal species and its role in the natural world. What gives an animal species its identity, both as a species and as a unique individual within that species? Where does it live, and how does it live where it lives? What are its relationships to the other animals in its environment, and to the environment itself? What does it eat? What eats it? How does it reproduce?...and so on. So many questions in such a small word! So what, then, is meant by zoology? Nothing more, or less, than study of living things. It is a science as varied as the myriad of living things this world contains in the present, that it has contained in the past, and that it will contain in the future. The volume provides high school and college students with a history of zoology from ancient to modern times, including the transformation work of Thomas Henry Huxley, who brought the teaching of zoology out of the lecture hall and into the laboratory. Designed for students and researchers, this volume provides new ways to think about and study issues, policies, and practices in zoology. This will be a helpful addition to science and environmental programs at the high school, community college, and university levels.