This is a chronologically organized listing of notable zoological events and discoveries.
Ancient world 28000 BC. Cave paintings (e.g. Chauvet Cave) in Southern France and northern Spain depict animals such as mammoths in a stylized fashion. 12000–8000 BC. Bubalus Period creation of rock art in the Central Sahara depicting a range of animals including elephants, antelopes, rhinoceros and catfish. 10000 BC. Humans (Homo sapiens) domesticated dogs, pigs, sheep, goats, fowl, and other animals in Europe, northern Africa and the Near East. 6500 BC. The aurochs, ancestors of domestic cattle, were domesticated in the next two centuries if not earlier (Obre I, Yugoslavia). This was the last major animal to be tamed as a source of milk, meat, power, and leather in the Old World.
3500 BC. Sumerian animal-drawn wheeled vehicles and plows were developed in Mesopotamia, the region called the "Fertile Crescent." Irrigation was probably done using animal power. Since Sumer had no natural defenses, armies with mounted cavalry and chariots became important which increased the importance of equines. 2000 BC. Domestication of the silkworm in China. 1100 BC. Won Chang (China), first of the Zhou emperors, stocked his imperial zoological garden with deer, goats, birds, and fish from many parts of the world. The emperor also enjoyed sporting events with the use of animals. 850 BC. Homer (Greek) wrote the epics Iliad and Odyssey, both of them containing some correct observations on bees and fly maggots, while using animals as monsters and metaphors (gross soldiers turned into pigs by the witch Circe). Both epics refer to mules. 610 BC. Anaximander (Greek, 610–545 BC) was a student of Thales of Miletus. He was taught that the first life was formed by spontaneous generation in the mud. Later animals came into being by transmutations, left the water, and reached dry land. Man was derived from lower animals, probably aquatic. His writings, especially his poem On Nature, were read and cited by Aristotle and other later philosophers, but are lost now. 563? BC. Buddha (Indian, 563?–483 BC) had gentle ideas on the treatment of animals. He said that animals are held to have intrinsic worth, not just the values they derive from their usefulness to man. 500 BC. Empedocles of Agrigentum (Greek, 504–433 BC) reportedly rid a town of malaria by draining nearby swamps. He proposed the theory of the four humors and a natural origin of living things.
500 BC. Xenophanes (Greek, 576–460 BC), a disciple of Pythagoras (570–497 BC), first recognized fossils as animal remains and inferred that their presence on mountains indicated the latter had once been beneath the sea. "If horses or oxen had hands and could draw or make statues, horses would represent the forms of gods as horses, oxen as oxen." Galen (130–216 AD) revived interest in fossils that had been rejected by Aristotle, and the speculations of Xenophanes were again viewed with favor. 470 BC. Democritus of Abdera (Greek, 470–370 BC) made dissections of many animals and humans. He was the first Greek philosopher-scientist to propose a classification of animals, dividing them into blooded animals (Vertebrata) and bloodless animals (Evertebrata). He also held that lower animals had perfected organs and that the brain was the seat of thought. 460 BC. Hippocrates (Greek, 460–370 BC), the "Father of Medicine," used animal dissections to advance human anatomy. 440 BC. Herodotus of Halikarnassos (Greek, 484–425 BC) treated exotic fauna in his Historia, but his accounts are often based on tall tales. He explored the Nile, but much of ancient Egyptian civilization had already lost to living memory by his time. 427 BC. Plato (Greek, 427–347 BC) held that animals existed to serve man, but they should not be mistreated because this would lead people to mistreat others. Others who echoed this opinion are St. Thomas Aquinas, Immanuel Kant, and Albert Schweitzer. 384 BC. Aristotle's (Greek, 384–322 BC) books Historia Animalium (9 books), De Partibus Animalium, and De Generatione Animalium set the zoological stage for centuries. He emphasized the value of direct observation, recognized law and order in biological phenomena, and derived conclusions inductively from observations. He believed that there was a natural process of animals that ran from simple to complex. He made advances in marine biology, basing his writings on keen observation and rational interpretation as well as conversations with local Lesbos fishermen for two years, beginning in 344 BC. His account of male protection of eggs by the barking catfish was scorned for centuries until Louis Agassiz confirmed Aristotle's description.
323 BC. Alexander the Great (Macedonian, 356–323 BC) collected animals when he was not busy conquering the known world. He is credited with the introduction of the peacock into Europe. 70 BC. Publius Vergilius Maro (Virgil) (70–19 BC) was a famous Roman poet. His poems Bucolics (42–37 BC) and Georgics (37–30 BC) hold much information on animal husbandry and farm life. His Aeneid (published posthumously) has many references to the zoology of his time. 36 BC. Marcus Terentius Varro (116–27 BC) wrote De Re Rustica, a treatise that includes apiculture. He also treated the problem of sterility in the mule and recorded a rare instance in which a fertile mule was bred. 50. Lucius Annaeus Seneca (Roman, 4 BC–65 AD), tutor to Roman emperor Nero, maintained that animals have no reason, just instinct, a "stoic" position.
77. Pliny the Elder (Roman, 23–79) wrote his Historia Naturalis in 37 volumes. This work is a catch-all of zoological folklore, superstitions, and some good observations. 79. Pliny the Younger (Roman, 62–113), nephew of Pliny the Elder, inherited his uncle's notes and wrote on beekeeping. 100. Plutarch (Roman, 46–120) stated that animals' behavior is motivated by reason and understanding. 131. Galen of Pergamum (Greek, 130–216), physician to Roman Emperor Marcus Aurelius, wrote on human anatomy from dissections of animals. His texts were used for hundreds of years, gaining the reputation of infallibility. 200 c. Various compilers in post-classical and medieval times added to the Physiologus (or, more popularly, the Bestiary), the major book on animals for hundreds of years. Animals were believed to exist to serve man, if not as food or slaves then as moral examples. Early third century. Composition of De Natura Animalium by Claudius Aelianus (Roman, 175–235).
Middle Ages
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