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Zoology is the biological discipline which involves the study of animals.

1 History of zoology

Main articles: History of zoology (before Darwin), History of zoology (since Darwin)

2 Branches of biology relevant to zoology

The original branches of zoology established in the late 19th century such as zoo-physics, bionomics and morphography, have largely been subsumed into more broad areas of biology which include studies of mechanisms common to both plants and animals. The biology of animals is covered in several broad areas:

1. The physiology of animals is studied under various fields including anatomy and embryology
2. The common genetic and developmental mechanisms of animals and plants is studied in molecular biology, molecular genetics and developmental biology
3. The ecology of animals is covered under behavioral ecology and other fields
4. Evolutionary biologyEvolutionary biology is a subfield of biology concerned with the origin and descent of species, as well as their change over time, i. their evolution. One who studies evolutionary biology is known as an evolutionary biologist or less frequently evolutioni of both animals and plants is considered in the articles on evolutionThis article is about biological evolution. For other possible meanings, see Evolution (disambiguation). Evolution generally refers to any process of change over time. However, in the context of the life sciences, evolution is a change in the genetic make, population geneticsPopulation genetics is the study of the distribution of and change in allele frequencies under the influence of the four evolutionary forces: natural selection, genetic drift, mutation and migration. It also takes account of population subdivision and pop, heredityFor the scientific journal Heredity see Heredity (journal Heredity (the adjective is hereditary is the transfer of characters from parent to offspring, either through their genes or through the social institution called inheritance (for example, a title o, variationIn music, variation is a formal technique where material is altered during repetition; reiteration with changes. Changes may be harmonic, melodic, contrapuntal, rhythmic, and of timbre or orchestration. Variational sections depend upon one type of present, Mendelism, reproductionReproduction is the creation of one thing as a copy of, product of, or replacement for a similar thing, e. photocopying and the making of replicas. It is perhaps most commonly used in the context of biological reproduction and sex: Sexual reproduction is.
5. Systematics, cladistics, phylogenetics, phylogeography, biogeography and taxonomy classify and group species via common descent and regional associations.

In addition the various taxonomically oriented-disciplines such as mammalogy, herpetology, ornithology study mechanisms that are specific to those groups.