Zoölogy: The Science of Animal Life

This volume offers a sweeping overview of animal life across the globe, guiding listeners from the most familiar mammals and birds to the often‑overlooked invertebrates that form the foundation of ecosystems. By emphasizing the diversity of lower orders—tiny sea creatures, insects, and other modest forms—the author reveals how these organisms sustain the larger, more charismatic species and illustrate the gradual march of evolution. The chapters follow the latest classification schemes, showing how simple life forms give rise to increasingly complex ones, and they are richly illustrated with vivid examples from deserts, forests, reefs, and skies.

Beyond cataloguing species, the book delves into the age‑old question of how life began, exploring early scientific theories from meteoric germs to panspermia. Listeners will gain insight into the historical debates that shaped modern zoology and appreciate the interconnected web that links every creature, great and small, to the story of life on Earth.