The ornithology Is the science Practiced by those lovers and lovers of birds. It is encompassed in a major science, zoology.
Ornithologists study birds in any form and in any habitat, including both zoos and natural environments.
Its main classification methods are guided by the kinship found in the birds themselves and the evolution of this bird over the years, both internal and external (body, bones...).
Like all science, ornithology is a series of large and complex studies. Also, study what are the functions within the body of each bird. Also, it seeks to understand all its anatomy and morphology.
Ornithologists are also responsible for understanding and searching for those problems that may affect the ecosystem Of a certain species of animals and try to solve the problem, avoiding extinctions of more species, in this case birds.
Likewise, ornithology also needs to understand the habits of different birds, in addition to their singing, their instincts and their most common practices, among other things related to the customs of these animals and the differences between each species.
In order to be able to carry out studies on birds, their practical characteristics, anatomy, habitats and to classify them in general, the ornithologist must take into account that he will do it more easily and quickly if he has binoculars, knows the place of study, or An extreme case, if you have a guide or map.
In what way does ornithology arise?
Its birth comes from the most remote years, because it is considered that among human beings of all times there has been a special interest in knowing the birds.
Although perhaps this interest was not considered as a science formally, they always tried to know the behavior of birds, classify them according to sounds and even verify everyday uses, both in medicine and in gastronomy.
In fact, the names of the birds currently used are due to ways of calling them from ancient times, almost always based on the sounds emitted by which the animal was identified.
There are several books of different famous personages of the antiquity, like Aristotle , Where it is already recognized the presence of ornithological studies present in Greek society.
It is considered that poultry farming is practiced in the western regions even before Christ, and that is also part of ornithology.
Main studies and discoveries made by ornithology
Pierre Belon
In 1555 Pierre Belon performed one of the most important works that has repercussions even today. He was in charge of studying and discussing the characteristics of the most popular fish and birds in France.
He wrote a book called L'Histoire de la nature des oyseaux , Which contains every detail of about 200 kinds of animals. In addition, he made a comparison between the human skeleton and the flying animals .
William Turner
For his part, the first work on birds made in the British community was written by William Turner, who talked about the history of these animals and which are the main birds found frequently in the cities of this country.
He makes mention of the real kites and puts everyday examples, as they always wandered down the street and dedicated themselves to stealing food from the children.
On the other hand, he talked about certain myths existing in that society, as fishermen always had the desire to kill the eagles because they thought that they ended up with the fish previously.
Francis Willugbhby and John Ray
In the last decades of the sixteenth century, knowledge about ornithology began to be further strengthened and although these studies were carried out by"amateurs", many of these books contributed in a special way to scientific ornithological knowledge of the present.
In this group are Francis Willugbhby and John Ray, who began to order and classify each aerial animal depending exclusively on the habits and anatomy of each species, creating a rupture and difference between the way of previous classification.
His books were called Ornithologiae libri tres (Written by Willughby) and Synopsis methodica , But was originally titled Ornithology (Published by Ray)
Mathurin Jacques Brisson and Georges Louis Leclerc
Two other important figures in studies on ornithology in the past who have left great teachings for this branch of zoology have been Mathurin Jacques Brisson and Georges Louis Leclerc.
This one was in charge of writing a book titled Ornithologie In which he dedicated six volumes to talk specifically about different characteristics of birds best known and observed by him.
He wrote a book called Histoire naturelle générale et particulière And there included nine specimens unique to birds.
François Le Vaillant
In the 19th century the Frenchman François Le Vaillant was sponsored by Coenraad Jacob Temminck to devote himself to the collection, study and subsequent publication of all the characteristics of African birds. The result was a book with six volumes titled Histoire naturelle des oiseaux d'Afrique .
Louis Jean Pierre Vieillot
Finally, Louis Jean Pierre Vieillot reserved and dedicated ten years of his life observing and trying to understand the different American birds, until he could write a book with all its practices and habitats among other aspects. The work was titled and called Histoire naturelle des oiseaux de l'Amerique septentrionale .
References
- Block, W. M., and Brennan, L.A. (1993). The habitat concept in ornithology. In Current ornithology (Pp. 35-91). Springer US. Retrieved from: link.springer.com.
- Van Tyne, J., and Berger, A.J. (1971). Fundamentals of ornithology . Retrieved from: agris.fao.org.
- McKitrick, M.C., and Zink, R. M. (1988). Species concepts in ornithology. Condor , 1-14. Retrieved from: jstor.org.
- Stresemann., And Stresemann, E. (1975). Ornithology from Aristotle to the Present . Harvard University Press. Retrieved from: agris.fao.org.
- Pettingill, O. S. (2013). Ornithology in laboratory and field . Retrieved from: books.google.com.
- Wallace, G.J., & Mahan, H. D. (1975). Introduction to ornithology . Macmillan. Retrieved from: agris.fao.org.
- Walters, M. (2006). A concise history of ornithology . Retrieved from: philpapers.org.