CHAPTER 1 



Introduction 



/jooLOGY is the science that deals with ani- 

 mals. It is an old, old science, almost as old 

 as man himself. According to current esti- 

 mates, man has been living on this planet 

 for about a million years, and the science of 

 zoology began with his curiosity about life. 



Murals on the walls of rock shelters pic- 

 ture the life of people who lived in the 

 Sahara Desert between 8000 and 3000 b.c. 

 Like many prehistoric people, these early 

 artists showed an interest in animal life by 

 portraying the various birds and mammals 

 that were so closely associated with their 

 sundval. 



Animals play a vital role in the survival of 

 man today: they feed, clothe, and provide 

 him with a means of transportation. His- 

 tory, poetry, music, and literature are en- 

 riched with references to our animal life. 

 Holmes philosophized about ''The Cham- 

 bered Nautilus," Saint-Saens composed "A 

 Grand Zoological Fantasy," and Frost wrote 

 a poem entitled "The Need of Being Versed 

 in Country Things." 



Our science had its beginning in the 

 earliest times because man had a curiosity 

 about animal life and made an effort to place 

 living things in groups based on their simi- 

 larities. Through the centuries we have con- 

 tinued to study the many forms of animals, 

 until today more than a million have been 

 described and named. 



And probably most zoologists would agree 

 with the statement made by St. Augustine 

 more than 1400 years ago, when he said: 

 "Man wonders over the restless sea, the 

 flowing water, the sight of the sky, and 

 forgets that of all wonders, man himself is 

 the most wonderful." Man is truly a re- 

 markable machine, highly complex, and still 

 not too well understood as a biologic organ- 

 ism. 



Regardless of your role in the world's af- 

 fairs, your life is not only enriched by a 

 knowledge of living things, but this informa- 

 tion will help you in understanding some of 

 the most challenging problems of our times, 



1 



