College Zoology: Principles, Diversity, and Conservation

FULL COLOR EDITION For decades, students approaching zoology at the college level have faced a frustrating choice between textbooks that are either too superficial to be genuinely useful or too narrowly specialised to provide the broad foundation that undergraduate biology demands. College Zoology was written to fill that gap — a single, comprehensive, intellectually rigorous volume covering the full breadth of the animal kingdom with the depth, clarity, and contemporary scientific relevance that today's undergraduate biology students deserve.What Makes This Book DifferentThe book is equally distinctive in its consistent application of an evolutionary framework. Every anatomical structure, every physiological mechanism, every behavioural strategy examined in these pages is connected to its evolutionary origins — the selective pressures that shaped it, the phylogenetic history that produced it, and the comparative evidence that confirms our understanding of it. Students completing this book do not merely know what animals look like and how they function. They understand why, in the deepest biological sense of that word.What This Book CoversPart One: Foundations of Zoology establishes the conceptual framework within which animal diversity can be understood:The history and scope of zoology as a scientific disciplineAnimal classification, phylogenetics, and the mechanisms of evolutionary changeComparative body plans, symmetry, and anatomical organisationMetabolism, thermoregulation, and physiological homeostasisNutrition, predator-prey ecology, and chemical defenceReproduction, development, and life history evolutionAnimal behaviour — sensory biology, communication, learning, migration, and social organisationPopulation dynamics, community ecology, and biodiversity sciencePart Two: The Animal Kingdom examines every major animal group with depth and specificity:Invertebrates I — sponges, cnidarians, flatworms, roundworms, segmented worms, and molluscsInvertebrates II — arthropods, including insects, arachnids, crustaceans, and myriapodsInvertebrates III — echinoderms and their ecological significance in marine communitiesFish — jawless fish, cartilaginous fish, and the extraordinary diversity of bony fishAmphibians — frogs, salamanders, and caecilians, with full coverage of the global amphibian crisisReptiles — squamates, chelonians, crocodilians, and the physiology of ectothermic lifeBirds — dinosaurian origins, feather evolution, flight mechanics, and reproductive diversityMammals I — defining characteristics, monotremes, marsupials, and placental classificationMammals II — carnivores and herbivores, with detailed coverage of large predator ecologyMammals III — marine mammals, cetacean intelligence, and sirenian conservationMammals IV — primates, ape cognition, and the evolution of social complexityConservation Zoology — the sixth mass extinction, major threats, rewilding, and the role of biological knowledge in conservation practiceKey Features20 comprehensive chapters with integrated figures and full chapter summariesThree-tier review questions per chapter spanning recall, application, and critical thinkingComplete glossary of core zoological terminologyCurrent IUCN conservation data integrated throughoutEvidence-based approach grounding every claim in experimental, field, or fossil evidenceAlso Ideal For:Undergraduate biology, pre-veterinary, wildlife management, and conservation biology students seeking a rigorous, single-volume introduction to the animal kingdom. Read more