zoo-, zoa-, zo-, -zoic, -zoid, -zoite, -zoal, -zonal, -zooid, -zoon, -zoa, -zoan +

An animal fossil.

1. Of animals and animal life; a zoological region, a zoological exhibition.
2. Having to do with zoology; zoological works, a zoological experiment.

1. Original term for zoo.
2. The facility where wild animals are housed for exhibition.
3. A park or an institution in which living animals are kept and usually exhibited to the public.
4. A place where animals are restricted within artificial environments and exhibited to the public.

The first zoos were private menageries, usually belonging to monarchs.

King Charles I, of England, established a zoo with a large python as the main attraction.

The first public zoo was established in Vienna in 1752, when the Habsburg emperors decided to grant public access to the former privately-owned Schönbrunn Palace menagerie, now called Tiergarten Schönbrunn. After the French Revolution, the Paris Zoo was opened to the public.

Since those early times, the mission of zoos has shifted from simply displaying animals for the wonderment of the public, to scientific study, and, later, to breeding them, and in particular to maintaining populations of animals that are endangered or even extinct in the wild.

The first scientific zoological garden in the modern world was founded in London in 1828 by the Zoological Society of London.

It was opened to the public in 1847, as a way of funding its scientific work. Londoners soon shortened "zoological gardens" to "zoo".

It was the Zoological Society of London, too, which was to be the first to create an open wild animal park, with the establishment of the Whipsnade Wild Animal Park on the Chiltern Hills in 1926.

A scientist specializing in the discipline of zoology; an expert in zoology.

1. The branch of biology that deals with the study of animals and animal life; the study of the structure, physiology, development, classification, etc., of animals.
2. The animals living in a particular area or period.
3. Zoological facts or characteristics concerning a particular animal or group of animals. Also called, zoobiology.

Go to this zoology page for more information.

Divination with observations of animals or their movements under particular circumstances; imaginary animals that people claim to have seen; such as, a salamander playing around in a fire or a sea serpent riding ocean waves.

1. A mania or insane fondness or craze for animals.
2. An excessive devotion to an animal (dog, cat, etc.) or to certain animals.

Someone who uses animal behavior as a means of predicting future events.

Zooflagellates; phylum of Protoctista comprising unicellular heterotrophic organisms possessing at least one flagellum, often more; may be free-living or parasitic.

A protozoan class of the subphylum Mastigophora, including choanoflagellates, retortamonads, trichomonads, oxymonads, diplomonads, and hypermastigids.

A black pigment in bird feathers.

A specialist who uses statistical methods in the study of animals.

1. The application of statistical methods to the study of animals.
2. The branch of zoology that studies the sizes and proportions of animals.
3. The measurement and comparison of the sizes of animals and their parts.

A plant that imitates (mimics) an animal.

1. The representation of gods as animals or the attributing of animal characteristics to gods.
2. The use of animal figures in art and design or of animal symbols in literature.
3. A design element that depicts an animal; such as, those found in cave paintings or drawings.