Animal biology is mostly referred to as zoology, which is a branch of biology that studies animals as well as their behaviors. This can include the structure of the animal, how they are formed in an embryotic state, their evolution, as well as how animals are distributed. This can include both living and extinct animals in their ecosystems. Zoology constantly evolves every day, trying to keep up with constant new information and species arising on a day to day basis.

Aristotle and Galen would provide the groundwork for zoology in the ancient Greco-Roman world. This work would be further developed in the Middle Ages by Muslim physicians, like Albertus Magnus, and would be truly revolutionized during the Renaissance as well as early modern period. Vesalius and William Harvey were two prominent scientists who would use experimentation and observation to properly map out an animal's physiology.

Carl Linnaeus, famous for making the Linnaean system, would revolution categorizing animals, and Buffon would help push the fossil record studies to new bounds. Microscopy would reveal hidden, unknown microorganisms to scientists, creating new organisms and laying the fundamentals for cell theory. In the 18^th and 19^th centuries, zoology would become a true scientific discipline, with works from Charles Darwin solidifying many theories on embryology and paleontology. He would also provide the evidence for evolution, giving a new direction to morphology and physiology by uniting them under the theory of evolution.

There are many sciences which assist zoologists in researching and studying their field to its fullest. Cell biology assists by helping scientists know what's happening on microscopic and molecular levels. This is applied to both single celled organisms like bacteria and multi-celled organisms like humans. Physiology also plays a large part, which is the study of mechanical, physical, and the biochemical processes in living organisms. This helps zoologists understand animals fundamentally better.

Evolutionary research is a major aspect of zoology. Its focus is the origin and changes to species over time. This takes scientists from a broad spectrum, like mammologists who study mammals or entomologists who study insects. Paleontology also plays a large part, as the fossils can clearly show evolution between species, and the development of DNA techniques in the late 20^th century have helped zoologists understand populations better than ever before.

Another major part of zoology is classification. Carl Linnaeus' system of classification the mid-18^th century revolutionized how organisms were classified by breaking them into genus or species. Organisms are grouped based on characteristics or traits that they have, and was revised and improved by the Darwinian principle of common descent. These changes are not the last to come, as the development of molecular sciences has already changed many things fundamentally in zoology.

Zoology helps us better understand animals in general. It is a constantly evolving and changing study that has never ceased to gain interest due to people's inherent love for animals. More information gathered will lead us to knowing more species, and help us understand what life could be like on other species in the various environments they could possibly live in.

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