Whats the difference between zoology and animal biology?

Question

Is there a difference or are they the same thing?

Answer 1

I think animal biology is the study of physical aspects of an animal, such as genetics and anatomy, whereas zoology is the study of the animals life and behavior. Of course, some overlap can occur.

Answer 2

Zoology is the study of non-human animals (wikipedia), which sounds pretty similar to wildlife biology. I think the difference between the two would be slim enough that the university you go to would matter more. Perhaps wildlife biology is a little more centered towards animal physiology and zoology more centered towards ecology. Again, the university probably makes a bigger difference. The best thing to do is look at the degree plan for each one and see what kinds of classes you have to take, the university undergraduate catalog (which might be available online) will have detailed descriptions of each class. One more thing to keep in mind. While some universities might offer majors in those two topics, most offer a major in biology with enough freedom that you can take classes focusing on wildlife and ecology.

Answer 3

Nothing really, it depends on who you ask.

The use of zoology and animal biology has been scaled back greatly in the past few years as more specific specializations of biology (and other sciences) develop. It's arguably more useful to divide fields of study by scale (biochemistry, molecular, cell, micro-, physiology, population/community ecology) than by types of organisms these days.