Humankind's fascination with the animal kingdom began as a matter of
survival - differentiating the edible from the toxic, the ferocious from
the tractable. Since then, our compulsion to catalogue wildlife has
played a key role in growing our understanding of the planet and
ourselves, inspiring religious beliefs and evolving scientific theories.
The book unveils wild truths and even wilder myths about animals, as
perpetuated by zoologists - revealing how much more there is to learn,
and unlearn.
Long before Darwin, our ancestors were obsessed with the visual
similarities and differences between the animals. Early scientists could
sense there was an order that unified all life and formulated a variety
of schemes to help illustrate this. This human quest to classify living
beings has left us with a rich artistic legacy, from the folklore and
religiosity of the ancient and Medieval world through the naturalistic
cataloging of the Enlightenment to the modern, computer-generated
classificatory labyrinth.
This book tells the fascinating, visual story of this process. The
wonderful zoological charts reflect prevailing artistic trends and
scientific discoveries, as well as telling us as much about ourselves as
they do about the creatures depicted.
