Discoveries in zoology. Zoology is a biological science. A brief history of the development of zoology. Main stages in the development of zoology Discoveries of zoologists

1. The end of the antibiotic era

2017 showed that the era of antibiotics, which lasted almost a century, has come to an end. Bacteria have learned to develop resistance to known drugs, but there is neither time nor sufficient funds to develop new ones. Doctors and scientists are drawing grim predictions: if nothing is done, microorganisms will kill humanity much sooner than climate change. However, this threat is still not taken seriously. The reason for the appearance of superbugs is the rate of reproduction of microorganisms and their ability to exchange genetic information. The only bacterium that has acquired a drug resistance gene will share it with its relatives. To allow humanity to survive, researchers are looking for replacements for conventional drugs. To combat superbugs, it is proposed to use CRISPR, nanoparticles and new, more powerful antibiotics. The development of these and other methods is only possible through research into the molecular mechanisms of resistance.

2. The time of the appearance of life has been clarified

The question of how life appeared on Earth is one of the most important in biology. The exact dates and conditions for the origin of life remain a matter of debate. Last year, researchers from Australia studied rocks 3.48 billion years old and identified traces of microorganisms in them. This means that primitive life forms could have appeared even earlier - about 4 billion years ago. It is interesting that the studied rocks belong to land deposits - which means that the cradle of life could not have been the ocean, but hot springs on land. Also in the past year, scientists studied the molecular mechanisms that accompanied the early stages of the emergence of living organisms. In particular, the popular hypothesis of the RNA world was called into question: according to new research, RNA and proteins took equal part in the emergence of life.

3. The emergence of a new bird species

Typically, evolution is a very long process, almost invisible to the human eye. It takes hundreds and thousands of years for a trait to become established in a population. Therefore, scientists are forced to deal with evidence of evolution captured in fossils and DNA, and ordinary people doubt the reality of evolution. The transformation of one species into another happens even less often, and observing this is a real success, which sheds light on many mysteries of evolution. This past year, researchers announced that they were able to see the birth of a new species of bird.

The discovery was made in a place that is iconic for all biologists - the Galapagos Islands, which inspired Charles Darwin to create his theory. Ornithologists at Princeton University, Rosemary and Peter Grant, have spent forty years studying Darwin's finches here. While working on the islet of Daphne, they discovered that the local finch species had been joined by an alien from the remote island of Hispaniola, a male of the species Geospiza conirostris, nicknamed Big Bird. Due to the lack of females of his species, he mated with local birds. The descendants of these unions are so different from other finches in song and appearance that they can be recognized as a new species.

4. Evolution is recognized as endless

In 2017, one of the longest experiments in the history of biology celebrated its anniversary. Researchers led by microbiologist Richard Lenski have been monitoring the development of Escherichia coli bacteria for 30 years. During this time, 67,000 generations managed to change, which corresponds to a million years of human evolution. Despite its venerable age, the experiment continues and brings new discoveries. An analysis of its results, carried out last year, refuted one of the popular ideas in modern biology. According to many experts, there is a limit to adaptation: once a species has perfectly adapted to a stable habitat, its evolution will stop. However, decades of observations of microorganisms have proven that evolution will continue even in this case, and there is no limit to adaptability. This is more consistent with the views of Charles Darwin than with the ideas of modern specialists.

5. New signs of a biodiversity crisis

Many researchers are inclined to believe that we are living in the era of the Sixth Mass Extinction - the largest since the disappearance of the dinosaurs 65 million years ago. The rate of extinction of species is now much higher than at any time in the last millions of years - a process already called “biological annihilation”, and humans are to blame for it, destroying animals, plants and their habitats. One of the most alarming facts that became known to science in the past year was the result of a study by Dutch ecologists who studied the number of flying insects in Germany. They found that in just 28 years it fell by 76%, with the figure reaching 82% for the summer months.

Scientists around the world have previously suspected that insects are becoming fewer in number, but this is the first time such a strict and frightening assessment has been made. It is especially unpleasant that the study was conducted on the territory of nature reserves, where human intervention in nature is limited. The authors found that insect extinction could not be explained by either weather conditions or landscape features. Climate change or pesticide use may be to blame. The disappearance of insects is a very alarming signal, because they serve as food for many other species and are important pollinators, without which not only wild plants, but also agriculture will die.

6. Scientists have learned to selectively erase memories

Neuroscience is advancing faster than any other branch of biology. In 2017, many amazing discoveries were made about how the brain works: scientists found out what effect smartphones have on it, discovered a self-cleaning system in it, and learned that humans, like AI, are capable of deep learning. Among this news it is difficult to single out the main one, but perhaps it should be called a new step towards memory management. By experimenting with the sea mollusk Aplysia, a classic model object for studying memory, scientists have learned to turn off the memories recorded in neurons. To do this, it was necessary to block the enzyme protein kinase M in the desired cells. In the future, the research may help people suffering from painful memories. This technique can be especially effective in the fight against post-traumatic syndrome.

7. Diet can cure diabetes

The spread of diabetes has become an epidemic: according to some forecasts, up to a third of US residents will suffer from it by the middle of the century. The main increase is type 2 diabetes, which is associated with excess weight and poor diet. In the early stages, doctors recommend controlling it with diet. However, as a study by scientists from Yale University has shown, severe dietary restrictions can even completely cure type 2 diabetes.

Evidence of this has appeared before, but this is the first time a thorough study has been carried out. As it turned out, the diet made the liver more responsive to insulin by reducing the amount of fat and inhibited the production of glucose from other substances. In an experiment with rodents, positive changes began just 3 days after the introduction of dietary restrictions. These findings are confirmed by the work of scientists from the University of Glasgow. A study of 300 patients found that reducing daily calorie intake to 800 for 3 to 5 months could reverse diabetes without medication.
8. An effective male contraceptive has been developed

Scientists have long tried to create an effective and convenient contraceptive for men, similar to female birth control pills. Condoms, a common solution today, seem to many to be uncomfortable and reduce the quality of sex, and a vasectomy is too radical. As a result, in most couples the burden of protection falls on the woman's shoulders, or unreliable methods such as coitus interruptus are used. In 2017, it seems that a breakthrough was achieved in this area.

The team of scientists used a gel for contraception, which is injected into the vas deferens and blocks them, as a result of which the sperm remains in the body and is absorbed. Two-year trials on macaque monkeys showed 100 percent effectiveness of the drug, as well as the absence of side effects such as inflammation. The effect of the gel is reversible: “plugs” can be removed by applying ultrasound to them. An alternative solution uses hormones, as in female contraceptives. A gel containing progestin and testosterone must be rubbed into the shoulders, as a result of which the sperm count drops to levels at which pregnancy is impossible. Large-scale trials of the drug will begin in 2018. Researchers hope that, unlike previous hormonal male contraceptives, their development will not cause mood swings and other unpleasant consequences.

9. More advanced prosthetics

The creation of complex modern prosthetics is an area where medicine and biology meet artificial intelligence and high technology. Developers of artificial limbs are no longer satisfied with creating comfortable and lightweight prosthetics; their goal is now to make prosthetics as functional and dexterous as real human hands. In 2017, scientists and engineers managed to get closer to solving this problem. The robotic hand, created by employees of the Georgia Institute of Technology, allows the owner to move each finger individually. This capability is achieved through the interaction between the prosthesis and the muscles in the rest of the arm. An ultrasonic probe embedded in the hand determines which ones are moving and, using a special algorithm, translates this information into finger movements. The device is advanced enough that you can use it to play the piano.

10. Search for life in space

Interest in space has been steadily growing in recent years, and the question “Are we alone in the Universe?” flared up with renewed vigor. Every NASA press conference in 2017 was accompanied by expectations that we were about to be announced about the discovery of extraterrestrial life. Alas, this did not happen this past year. However, scientists have improved ways to search for signs of life in space using biomarkers and have developed new designs for missions to potentially habitable worlds, such as Saturn's moon Enceladus.

One of the main hopes of the year was the discovery of seven Earth-like planets in the TRAPPIST-1 system, of which six are in the potentially habitable “Goldilocks zone” (another was later discovered, around the red dwarf Ross 128). However, some researchers believe that life is impossible there: the degree of UV radiation from the star is too high and leaves no possibility for the existence of an atmosphere and carbon-based life. Another disappointment was the discovery of Scottish scientists who proved that the surface of Mars is toxic to bacterial life. However, astronomers and biologists believe that extraterrestrial life will be discovered within 10-15 years.

02/21/2012 | Scientific discoveries in zoology and biology. February 2012

Zoologists have discovered new species of the smallest reptiles

A group of German and American scientists have discovered four new species of dwarf chameleons on the islands of northern Madagascar. Discoverers believe these lizards may be the smallest reptiles in the world.

Very young individuals of the species Brookesia micra fit on a match head (photo by Jorn Kohler).

As Wired reports, all the new species belong to the genus Brookesia. The smallest of the new brookesias, called B. micra, is 24 mm long including its tail, making it the smallest chameleon on Earth. Individuals of the other three species do not exceed 29 mm in length.

Researchers say the new species are very similar in appearance, but have remarkable genetic differences that suggest millions of years may have passed between the appearance of these chameleons on Earth.

Scientists note that all the new lizards have a very small range (it is limited to a few square kilometers), and for this reason, chameleons are in danger of extinction along with their tiny habitat.

Males (left) and females (right) of the new species. A and B - B. tristis. C and D - B. confidens. E and F - B. micra. G and H - B. desperata (photo by Frank Glaw).

Thus, B. micra lives only on one island, Nosy Hara, and the species B. desperata and B. tristis rely on small forest areas, which are officially considered nature reserves, but suffer from illegal logging, which has recently increased significantly, partly due to with the political crisis in Madagascar. Zoologists deliberately gave species names that scream for help: desperata means desperate, and tristis means sad. (The name of the fourth species, B. confidens, does not contain such a call.)

Portrait of an adult male "desperate looking" B. desperata (photo by Frank Glaw).

Scientists described “striking examples of miniaturization and microendemism” in an article published in the free access journal PLoS ONE.

Biologists have discovered self-medication with alcohol in fruit flies

If the potential victims of this wasp, the larvae of the fruit fly, are taken to the breast, the aggressor will not only fail in his plan, but will also die in terrible agony.

As LiveScience reports, American biologists from Emory University experimented with the black-bellied fruit fly (Drosophila melanogaster). The larvae of these flies feed on fungi and bacteria from rotten fruits.

"They're essentially living on a binge," explains Todd A. Schlenke. - The amount of alcohol in their natural habitat can vary from 5 to 15 percent. Imagine that your entire daily diet of food and drink consists of 5% alcohol. We couldn’t live like that, and fruit flies have a good detoxification mechanism.”

However, some fruit flies can resist wasp venom and have an immune response to fight off the wasp eggs. The blood cells of these flies emit egg-killing chemicals.

“There is an ongoing evolutionary battle between the fly's immune system and wasp venom. Any new defense mechanism in fruit flies tends to spread through natural selection,” comments Todd Schlenke, who suggested that alcohol may be such a defense for D. melanogaster.

To test the theory, the researchers filled a Petri dish with yeast. The scientists mixed 6 percent alcohol on one side of the saucer and not on the other, after which they released Drosophila larvae into the cups and allowed them to move freely in any direction.

After 24 hours, 80% of the wasp-infected larvae were on the “alcoholic side” of the saucer, while only 30% were uninfected in this kind of bar.

Meanwhile, those few wasps that encroached on the “alcoholized” larvae faced a terrible death. "In many cases, the wasp's internal organs fell out of its anus," Schlenke says. “The wasps were turned inside out.”

Zoologists explain the appearance of stripes on zebras

Before creating their model for analysis, scientists carefully recalculated the width of black and white stripes on different parts of the body, using the skins of three types of zebras (photo by Adam Egri et al. / Journal of Experimental Biology).

Hungarian researchers have proposed a new version of the purpose of black and white stripes, which intrigued Charles Darwin. The reasons for their appearance turned out to be unexpectedly related to insects.

Adam Egri from Eotvos Lorand Tudomanyegyetem University and his colleagues believe that alternating black and white stripes protects zebras from blood-sucking insects.

Biologists from Budapest decided to revive and retest the hypothesis first expressed back in the 1930s. Scientists say striped horses attract far fewer horse flies than their uniform black, brown, gray or white equivalents.

The point is the visual characteristics of insects. The decrease in the attractiveness of a striped surface is not so much due to the alternation of brightness as due to polarization effects.

White and black stripes reflect light with different polarizations, scientists explain, and this confuses horse flies (the stripes get confused in their head, disrupting the functioning of the spatial orientation system).

To experimentally test the hypothesis, biologists used trays of oil, reports New Scientist. It was necessary to catch annoying flies. Researchers hunted near Budapest on farms where many of the necessary insects were found.

Black trays were covered with white patterns of various types - thick and thin stripes, ribbons running parallel and intersecting in a criss-cross pattern were tested, and so on.

The authors note that horseflies have learned to identify water using the horizontal polarization of light. After all, insects drink, mate, and lay eggs near bodies of water. The pictures show several options for test trays. From top to bottom - color image, degree of polarization, angle of polarization and the proportion of the surface identified by the horsefly as water, that is, attracting its attention (photo by Adam Egri et al. / Journal of Experimental Biology).

Tests have shown that horse flies are less likely to fly onto thin strips than thick ones, and are less likely to be caught in trays with parallel stripes than with intersecting ones.

Well, since diseases are transmitted through horsefly bites, it is clear that striped creatures in ancient Africa statistically had a greater chance of growing up and giving birth to offspring than variants with other colors. The authors of the work believe that the version with insects can explain the striping of the skins of animals in some other cases, in addition to zebras.

The scientists reported on the results of the study in the Journal of Experimental Biology.

In this set of tests, biologists gradually reduced the width of the strips and looked at how many insects fell into the tray (photo by Adam Egri et al./Journal of Experimental Biology).

Other known explanations for the stripes, their causes and functions are numerous, but none have yet been definitively established.

One of them says that zebras “invented” this coloring for camouflage in tall grass. (But this doesn't work well on open plains.) The second is that the stripes confuse large predators by creating optical illusions. This flickering especially confuses the eye when several animals are moving quickly nearby. (This is a probable, but not certain reason.) The third version is that stripes are needed for social interaction, as an identification mark, especially important during courtship. (Such a purpose is possible, but it does not follow that they appeared for this reason.) The fourth option is that the stripes are needed for thermoregulation. (And this hypothesis has not been proven.)

Voluntary castration was the spiders' response to female cannibalism

Spiders of the species Nephilengys malabarensis have come up with an unusual tactic to escape from bloodthirsty females - in order to increase the chances of survival of their offspring without being eaten, they “break off” their genitals after mating.

The results of a study by biologists from the National University of Singapore surprised even seasoned scientists. For a long time they could not understand why males actually sterilize themselves.

However, it turned out that in this way the males “finish what they started” and at the same time manage to escape before the spider decides that the partner will go for a snack.

The sexual organ, separated from the male’s body, while in the female’s body, continues to emit sperm for a long time, biologists write in an article in Biology Letters. It would be possible to delay and complete the process, but voluntary castration saves the spider’s life.

Long-term insemination “from afar” increases the male’s chances of procreation, since more of his sperm enters the female’s genitals, in addition, the tip covers the hole, preventing other spiders from copulating with the same female.

It is curious that females also sometimes interrupt the copulation process by breaking off the tip of the spider’s genital organ, in this way they probably regulate the duration of the act of fertilization.

In this image, the red square highlights the broken tip of the male's genital organ protruding from the female's body (photo by D. Li et al., Biol. Lett., The Royal Society).

Scientists also do not rule out that eunuch spiders gain some advantage for themselves personally. Voluntary castration can make them more aggressive and agile, which helps in hunting and fighting other individuals.

Scientists: Dogs are smarter than chimpanzees

A team of researchers from the Max Pank Institute (Leipzig, Germany) conducted a study, the results of which surprised everyone - it turned out that dogs are superior in intelligence to chimpanzees, although the latter are considered the most intelligent creatures after humans.

During the work, the scientists asked the animals, which included only dogs and chimpanzees, to bring various objects from the back of the room in which they were located. All objects were similar pairs, such as a piece of hose and a piece of rope. For correctly identifying the item, the test animal was rewarded with food.

A person can perform similar tasks as early as 14 months, so the test was classified as fairly easy. However, none of the chimpanzees tested were able to cope with it as quickly as the dogs did. In addition, the number of dogs that completed the task was 25% higher than the number of chimpanzees that completed the task.

However, scientists have found a fairly logical explanation for this phenomenon: “Dogs are bred to follow human orders. They are highly receptive to human cooperative relationships, which makes them an indispensable tool in activities such as hunting and herding.”

One of the hypotheses confirmed during the study suggests that dogs perceive human speech as a certain set of imperatives and spatial directives that regulate their behavior.

This study correlates with previous work by British scientists who decided to find out which pet is smarter - a dog or a cat. For this purpose, 11 criteria of cognitive activity were identified, in 5 of which cats were stronger, and in 6 - dogs, which proved the slight superiority of dogs over cats. However, it turned out to be too early to rejoice - as statistics show, UK residents with higher education more often prefer a cat than a dog as a pet.

Spiders' eyes 'blur' images to judge distance, scientists say

The front eyes are “rangefinders” of the jumping spider Hasarius adansoni

Jumping spiders estimate the distance to their prey by using image “blurring,” which allows them to calculate the exact distance to the target by how blurry the green component of the image becomes on the retina of their front eyes, Japanese biologists say in a paper published in the journal Science.

Vertebrates and invertebrates use several methods to determine distance using their eyes. For example, people estimate the distance to objects using their binocular vision, which allows them to determine the distance by the difference between the images in the right and left eyes. Other animals and insects turn their heads, estimating distance by the displacement of an object relative to a distant background.

A group of scientists led by Akihisa Terakita from Osaka University (Japan) studied the structure of the eyes of jumping spiders of the species Hasarius adansoni, trying to find out the secret of the extraordinary accuracy of jumping of these arthropods.

These arthropods have a pair of well-developed front eyes, which are one of the most important hunting tools. As a rule, damage to these organs is accompanied by a loss of the ability to make accurate jumps. According to scientists, the front eyes of horses must use some special mechanism to estimate distance, since they are not binocular and cannot focus on a specific point to determine displacement.

As the researchers note, the retina of Hasarius adansoni and many other spiders is designed in a special way. It has four layers with different sets of light-sensitive receptors. Each layer is responsible for recognizing four separate colors. This is explained by the fact that the spider does not know how to arbitrarily focus the image and therefore it has to read different components of light separately on those layers on which the picture will be clearest.

Terakita and his colleagues noticed that green light receptors are not located where green light waves are focused. Scientists have suggested that the spider uses this part of the retina not to recognize the green part of the visible spectrum, but to estimate distance by how “blurred” the image will be compared to pictures of other colors.

To test this hypothesis, biologists caught several horses and put them in a cage, which was illuminated by a monochrome lamp of green or red light. According to the researchers, the red radiation should have disrupted the spiders' "sight" and their jumps would have been shorter than the actual distance to their target.

As the scientists expected, the horses jumped and captured their prey very accurately when illuminated with green light. The light of the red “sun” forced their players to make mistakes. In such cases, the spiders did not reach up to 10% of the distance to the target. This result is in good agreement with theoretical calculations that explain the physics of “misses”.

Scientists believe that this method of estimating distance is well suited for simulating it using digital devices and can serve as the basis for creating artificial analogues of the eye.

Killer whales may destroy modern marine ecosystems

Killer whales hunting in ice-free Arctic waters could disrupt marine ecosystems, Canada's University of Manitoba reported today. According to scientists, mammals are increasingly exploring northern waters due to the fact that Arctic ice is melting very quickly. As a result, killer whales are integrating into ecosystems to which they previously had little connection.

Researchers are trying to understand what changes will occur in the food chain. How will predators behave in the near future, how will their diet change in connection with new lands being developed, how will smaller mammals behave in changing conditions, and also how can existing species of mammals be preserved in connection with global warming? - all these questions remain unanswered.

So far, scientific observations, largely based on the experience and knowledge of indigenous Canadian peoples, show that in areas occupied by killer whales, smaller marine inhabitants prefer to “bury themselves” in shallow water or, conversely, in depth and wait out the hunting time of large predators.

Historical sketch. Zoological knowledge began to be accumulated by man since ancient times. Already the life of primitive people (at least 1 million years ago) was closely connected with the great diversity of living organisms surrounding them and knowledge of important natural phenomena. About 40-50 thousand years ago, and possibly earlier, people learned to fish and hunt. 15-10 thousand years ago the domestication of animals began. The art of Stone Age people brought to us expressive, accurate drawings of many animals, among which there are now extinct ones - mammoth, woolly rhinoceros, wild horses, bulls. Many of them were deified and became objects of cult. The first attempts to systematize knowledge about animals were made by Aristotle (4th century BC). He managed to build a hierarchical system, including over 450 animal taxa, in which a stepwise transition from simple to complex forms is visible (the idea of ​​a “ladder of creatures”), to draw a boundary between the animal world and the plant world (in fact, to separate them into separate kingdoms). He made a number of zoological discoveries (including a description of viviparity in sharks). Aristotle's achievements and authority dominated Europe for several centuries. In the 1st century AD, Pliny the Elder, in the 37-volume Natural History, summarized the knowledge about animals available at that time; Along with actual facts, it contained a lot of fantastic information. Galen continued the traditions of the Hippocratic medical school, supplementing them with his own comparative anatomical studies and physiological experiments on animals. His numerous works served as authoritative guides until the Renaissance. During the Middle Ages in the countries of Europe and Asia, the development of zoology was limited by the prevailing religious doctrines. The accumulated information about animals and plants was apocryphal or applied in nature. The largest biological encyclopedia of the Middle Ages was the works of Albertus Magnus, including the treatise “On Animals” (“De animalibus”) in 26 books.

During the Renaissance, the picture of the world radically changed. As a result of the Great Geographical Discoveries, ideas about the diversity of the world's fauna have expanded significantly. Multi-volume, compilation reports by K. Gesner, French naturalists (U. Aldrovandi and others), monographs on individual classes of animals - fish and birds - by French scientists G. Rondelet and P. Belon appeared. The subject of the study is man, his structure and position in relation to the animal world. Leonardo da Vinci creates accurate images of the appearance and internal structure of humans and many animals; he also discovers the fossilized remains of extinct mollusks and corals. A. Vesalius, based on empirical material, publishes the work “On the Structure of the Human Body” (1543). Human anatomical nomenclature is developed and later used in the developing comparative anatomy of animals. In 1628, W. Harvey proved the existence of a circulatory system. The development of instrumental methods, including the improvement of the microscope, made it possible to open capillaries (M. Malpighi, 1661), spermatozoa and red blood cells (A. van Leeuwenhoek, 1677 and 1683, respectively), and see microorganisms (R. Hooke, M. Malpighi, N. Grue , A. van Leeuwenhoek), to study the microscopic structure of animal organisms and their embryonic development, which was interpreted from the standpoint of preformationism.

At the end of the 17th - beginning of the 18th century, English scientists J. Ray and F. Willoughby published a systematic description of animals (mainly vertebrates) and identified the category “species” as an elementary unit of taxonomy. In the 18th century, the achievements of previous generations of taxonomists were accumulated by C. Linnaeus, who divided the kingdoms of plants and animals into hierarchically subordinate taxa: classes, orders (orders), genera and species: he gave each species known to him a Latin generic and specific name in accordance with the rules of binary nomenclature. Modern zoological nomenclature dates back to the publication of the 10th edition of Linnaeus' System of Nature (1758). Since K. Linnaeus' system is built mainly on a comparison of individual characteristics selected by him, it is considered artificial. He placed humans in the same group with monkeys, which destroyed the anthropocentric picture of the world. Linnaeus emphasized the relative stability of species, explained their origin as a single act of creation, while still allowing the emergence of new species through hybridization. But the very principle of the Linnaean hierarchy of taxa in the form of divergent branching (a class includes several genera, and the number of species is even greater) contributed to the further development of evolutionary views (ideas about monophyly, divergence of species).

The 36-volume Natural History published by J. de Buffon (1749-1788) contained not only descriptions of the lifestyle and structure of animals (mainly mammals and birds), but also a number of important provisions: about the antiquity of life on Earth, about the settlement of animals, their “prototype”, etc. Without sharing Linnaean principles of systematics, J. de Buffon emphasized the presence of gradual transitions between species, developed the idea of ​​a “ladder of creatures” from the position of transformism, although later, under pressure from the Church, he abandoned his views. During this period, the formation of animal embryology begins. Experimental studies are being conducted on reproduction and regeneration in protozoa, hydras and crayfish. Based on the experiment, L. Spallanzani refutes the possibility of spontaneous generation of organisms. In the field of physiology, the study of the interaction of the nervous and muscular systems (A. von Haller, J. Prochaska, L. Galvani) made it possible to formulate the idea of ​​irritability as one of the most important properties of animals.

In Russia during this period, the first attempts were made to scientifically describe the wildlife resources of the vast country. It was necessary to process the knowledge about game animals accumulated over centuries, study the traditions of animal husbandry, collect representative collections of fauna, etc. The implementation of these tasks was entrusted to the members of the academic detachment of the Great Northern (2nd Kamchatka) expedition (1733-43). I. G. Gmelin, G. V. Steller, S. P. Krasheninnikov discovered and described a large number of previously unknown animal species. The book “Description of the Land of Kamchatka” (1755) by S.P. Krasheninnikov includes the first regional faunal report for Russian territory. In 1768-74, P. S. Pallas, I. I. Lepyokhin and others completed the first systematic stage of inventory of the country’s fauna. In addition, P. S. Pallas published several illustrated volumes on the fauna of Russia and neighboring countries, including the final book “Zoographia Rosso-Asiatica” (vol. 1-3, 1811) with a description of 151 species of mammals, 425 of birds, 41 of reptiles , 11 amphibians, 241 species of fish.

In the 19th century, the frontier of zoological research expanded enormously. Zoology finally emerged from natural science as an independent science. As a result of expeditionary and museum research, hundreds of new species of animals were described annually and collection funds were formed. All this stimulated the development of systematics, morphology, comparative anatomy, paleontology and biogeography, ecology and the theory of evolution. The works of J. Cuvier, who laid the foundations of comparative anatomy, substantiated the principle of functional and morphological correlations, and used morphotypes - “structural plans” to classify animals, were widely recognized. J. Cuvier's studies of fossil organisms laid the foundation for paleontology. Adhering to the doctrine of the constancy of species, he explained the existence of extinct forms by global catastrophes (see Catastrophe theory). In the famous dispute with E. Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire (1830), who defended the idea of ​​the unity of the structural plan of all animals (from which the idea of ​​evolution flowed), J. Cuvier won a temporary victory. The first attempt to create a coherent theory of evolution was made by J. B. Lamarck in “Philosophy of Zoology” (1809), but its main position - the presence in animals of a certain internal desire for improvement through the inheritance of acquired characteristics - was not recognized by most of his contemporaries. Yet Lamarck's work stimulated further searches for evidence and reasons for the historical development of species. He also developed a system of invertebrate animals, dividing them into 10 classes; 4 classes consisted of vertebrates.

The study of the cell and the theory of evolution played a significant role in the development of zoology. The substantiation of the unity of the cellular structure of plant (M. Schleiden, 1838) and animal (T. Schwann, 1839) organisms formed the basis of a unified cellular theory, which contributed to the development of not only cytology, histology and embryology, but also proof of the existence of unicellular organisms - protozoa (K Siebold, 1848). The theory of evolution of the organic world (see Darwinism), proposed by Charles Darwin (1859), which became the cornerstone consolidating doctrine of all biology, contributed to the development of certain areas of biological knowledge, including zoology. Convincing confirmation of the idea of ​​evolution was the discovery of extinct human ancestors, a number of intermediate forms between certain classes of animals, the construction of a geochronological scale and phylogenetic series of many groups of animals.

In the 19th century, many mechanisms of the functioning of the nervous system, endocrine glands, and sensory organs of humans and animals were discovered. The rationalistic explanation of these biological processes dealt a crushing blow to vitalism, which defended the concept of the presence of a special “life force.” The achievements of embryology were not limited to the discovery of germ and somatic cells and the description of the process of their fragmentation. K. M. Baer formulated a number of principles of comparative animal embryology, including the similarity of the early stages of ontogenesis, specialization at the final stages, etc. (1828-37). The evolutionary substantiation of these provisions was developed by F. Müller (1864) and E. Haeckel (1866) within the framework of the biogenetic law.

Although the term “ecology” was proposed by E. Haeckel only in 1866, observations of animal life were carried out earlier, and the role of individual species in nature was also assessed. The role of zoologists in the formation of ecology as a science, in the development of soil science, and the development of the first principles of nature conservation is significant. Zoogeographical (faunistic) zoning of land was carried out by F. Sclater (1858-1874) and A. Wallace (1876), and of the ocean by J. Dana (1852-53). In Russia, A. F. Middendorf, N. A. Severtsov, M. A. Menzbier and others worked in this area. In 1864, A. Brehm began publishing a multi-volume summary, later called “Brehms Tierleben”, republished in the original or in a stronger version. modified version to this day (in Russia “Life of Animals”, since 1894). Based on the results of processing the collections of numerous sea and land expeditions, major summaries on regional faunas and individual groups of animals are published, for example, “Birds of Russia” by M. A. Menzbier (vol. 1-2, 1893-95).

Since the mid-19th century, zoologists have united into scientific societies, new laboratories and biological stations have been opened, including in Russia - Sevastopol (1871), Solovetskaya (1881), on Lake Glubokoe (Moscow province; 1891). Specialized zoological periodical literature appears: for example, in Great Britain - “Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London” (1833; since 1987 “Journal of Zoology: Proceedings of the Zoology Society of London”), in Germany - “Zeitschrift für wissenschaftliche Zoologie” ( 1848), “Zoologische Jahrbü-cher” (1886), in France - “Archives de zoologie expérimentale et générale” (1872), in the USA - “American Naturalist” (1867), “Journal of Morphology” (1887), in Russia - “Bulletin of the Moscow Society of Natural Scientists” (1829). The first international congresses are held: ornithological (Vienna, 1884), zoological (Paris, 1889).

Zoology in the 20th century. In this century, zoology has been characterized by intense specialization. Along with entomology, ichthyology, herpetology and ornithology, theriology, zoology of marine invertebrates, etc. are being formed. Systematics is reaching a new level of development, both in the field of higher taxa and at the subspecies level. Particularly fruitful research is being conducted in embryology, comparative anatomy and the evolutionary morphology of animals. Zoologists have made a significant contribution to revealing the mechanisms of transmission of hereditary information, to describing metabolic processes, to the development of modern ecology, theory and practice of nature conservation, to elucidating the mechanisms of regulation of the basic functions of the body, maintaining the homeostasis of living systems. Zoological research played a significant role in the study of behavior and communication processes in animals (the formation of zoopsychology, ethology), determining the factors and patterns of evolution, and creating a synthetic theory of evolution. Constantly replenishing its arsenal with more and more advanced instrumental methods, methods of recording and processing observations, zoology is developing in terms of both specialized (in objects and tasks) and complex research. The importance of theoretical and conceptual constructions has increased along with experiments in nature. The use of achievements in mathematics, physics, chemistry and a number of other sciences in zoology turned out to be fruitful. The instrumental arsenal of zoologists has expanded significantly: from radioactive tags and telemetry to video recording and computer processing of field and laboratory materials.

Confirmation of G. Mendel's laws (E. Chermak Zeizenegg, K. Correns, H. De Vries, 1900) stimulated the study of individual variability and heredity in animals. Further progress in the study of the mechanisms of transmission of hereditary information is associated with the development of biochemistry and molecular biology. In parallel with the analysis of the molecular basis of heredity, research was carried out on other factors determining the individual development of animals. H. Spemann discovered the phenomenon of embryonic induction in 1901. Correlative systems of a regulatory nature (epigenetic systems) ensuring the integrity of living organisms were studied in the 1930s by I. I. Shmalhausen, K. Waddington (Great Britain), and others. In the 20th century, the study of hormonal regulation of body functions began. Further development and specialization of animal physiology are associated with studies of the nervous system, its structure and functioning mechanisms (I. P. Pavlov, Ch. Sherrington, etc.), the nature of reflexes, signaling systems, coordination and functional centers in the brain and spinal cord has been established. The study of many processes occurring in the nervous system was carried out at the intersection of zoology, physiology, biochemistry, and biophysics. With the participation of zoologists, research into various forms of animal behavior has expanded, it has been possible to evaluate the development of hereditarily determined reactions and reactions acquired through learning stereotypes (I. P. Pavlov, E. Thorndike, etc.), and to discover systems and mechanisms of communication in wildlife (K. Lorenz , N. Tinbergen, K. von Frisch, etc.).

The description of not only new species, but entire classes and even types in the animal kingdom continues, a large number of studies have been carried out on the animal world of all natural zones, the faunas of rivers, soils, caves and ocean depths. By the middle of the 20th century, domestic zoologists proposed a number of concepts that were of great importance for the development of zoology, for example, phylogenetic macrosystematics of animals (V.N. Beklemishev, 1944), the theory of the origin of multicellular organisms (A.A. Zakhvatkin, 1949), the principle of oligomerization of homologous organs (V. A. Dogel, 1954). Specialized zoological institutes were created (more than 10 in the USSR), new departments at universities (including invertebrate zoology, entomology, ichthyology at Moscow State University), laboratories in academic and applied institutions. Since 1935, the Zoological Institute of the USSR Academy of Sciences has been publishing a unique series of monographs “Fauna of the USSR” (since 1911 it was published by the Zoological Museum as “Fauna of Russia and Adjacent Countries”, in 1929-33 it was published under the title “Fauna of the USSR and Adjacent Countries”, from 1993 - “ Fauna of Russia and neighboring countries"), 170 volumes in total. In 1927-1991, the series “Identifiers for the Fauna of the USSR” was published, since 1995 - “Identifiers for the Fauna of Russia”, in total over 170 volumes. K.I. Scriabin and his co-authors published 2 series of monographs: “Trematodes of Animals and Humans” (1947-1978) in 26 volumes and “Fundamentals of Nematodology” (1949-79) in 29 volumes. Under the editorship of G. Ya. Bey-Bienko and G. S. Medvedev, the “Identifier of Insects of the European Part of the USSR” (1964-88) was published in 5 volumes (14 parts). Since 1986, the multi-volume Key to Insects of the Russian Far East has been published. The monograph “Freshwater Fishes of the USSR and Adjacent Countries” (parts 1-3, 1948-49) published by L. S. Berg marked the beginning of a whole series of reports on the ichthyofauna of Russia. The summary “Birds of the Soviet Union” (vol. 1-6, 1951-54) had a similar significance for ornithology. S. I. Ognev created a multi-volume monograph “Animals of the USSR and Adjacent Countries” (1928-1950), continued (since 1961) with several books “Mammals of the Soviet Union”, and then (since 1994) a series “Mammals of Russia and Adjacent Regions”. Large faunal reports are also published abroad. A significant role in the development of domestic zoology was played by the unfinished multi-volume “Manual of Zoology” (1937-51), begun by L. A. Zenkevich. The new version of the “Manual” published the 1st part - “Protests” (2000). Similar fundamental publications were published in other countries, including “Handbuch der Zoologie” (since 1923) and “Traite de zoologie” (since 1948). Domestic zoologists have published a number of comprehensive reports on issues of comparative anatomy and embryology of animals (V.N. Beklemishev, V.A. Dogel, A.A. Zakhvatkin, I.I. Shmalgauzen, etc.), the six-volume “Comparative Embryology of Invertebrate Animals” ( 1975-81) O. M. Ivanova-Kazas. Of the 15 volumes of “Fundamentals of Paleontology” (1959-63), 13 are devoted to fossil animals. The works of V. Shelford, R. Chapman, C. Elton, Y. Odum, D. N. Kashkarov, S. A. Severtsov, V. N. Beklemishev, V. V. Stanchinsky, N. had a significant influence on the development of animal ecology. P. Naumov, A. N. Formozov, S. S. Shvarts and others. External and internal factors determining the dynamics of animal populations, the structure of communities, and their changes in space and time were analyzed. The works (especially of hydrobiologists) studied food chains, trophic levels, patterns of formation of biological products, circulation of substances and energy flow in the ecosystem. By the end of the 20th century, rational principles for the exploitation of natural resources were formulated, the anthropogenic causes of many forms of population degradation and the extinction of various species were indicated, and sound principles and methods of nature conservation were proposed. Zoologists have written fundamental manuals in the field of zoogeography [N. A. Bobrinsky, V. G. Geptner, I. I. Puzanov (Russia), S. Ekman (Sweden), F. Darlington (USA), etc.]. One of the important applied achievements of zoology was the development of the doctrine of the natural focality of vector-borne diseases (tick-borne encephalitis, plague, and many others); A significant contribution was made by domestic scientists (especially E.N. Pavlovsky), thanks to whose efforts a wide network of epidemiological stations, including anti-plague stations, was created.

In contrast to the ongoing criticism of Darwinism (L. S. Berg, A. A. Lyubishchev, etc.) and repeated attempts, including on zoological material, to refute its basic postulates through the efforts of a number of scientists (including J. Huxley, E. Mayr , J. Simpson, I.I. Shmalgauzen), combining the achievements of genetics, morphology, embryology, population ecology, zoology, paleontology and biogeography, a synthetic theory of evolution was created, developing Darwinism at the present stage. The forms of evolutionary transformations of organs that determine biological progress (aromorphosis, idioadaptation, telomorphosis, catamorphosis) were described by A. N. Severtsov (1925-39), the role of stabilizing selection was revealed by I. I. Shmalgauzen (1938) and K. Waddington (1942-1953 ), the evolutionary significance of population fluctuations has been studied by zoologists both in nature and in experiment [S. S. Chetverikov, A. Lotka (USA), V. Volterra, G. F. Gause, etc.]. It has been proven that in some cases speciation in animals is due to parthenogenesis. The discovery of the molecular basis of heredity and further research in this direction affected the traditional ideas of zoological systematics. Perhaps the collaboration of specialists in the field of zoology and molecular biology will lead to the creation of a new phylogenetic system of the animal world.

In the 2nd half of the 20th century, with the beginning of space exploration, zoologists took part in the development of a scientific and practical basis that ensures the possibility of the existence of living organisms, including humans, in a spacecraft in interplanetary space.

The main problems and ways of development of modern zoology. Among the many problems developed by zoology, several fundamental ones can be identified.

Taxonomy. The development of methods of cytology, biochemistry and molecular biology has made it possible to move on to assessing the relationship and species specificity of zoological objects at the level of hereditary microstructures (karyotypes, DNA, etc.), using intravital, gentle forms of collecting samples for analysis. Improving methods for studying the behavior and lifestyle of animals in nature has contributed to the identification of many new taxonomic characteristics (demonstration, acoustic, chemical, electrical, etc.). Modern computer technologies for statistical processing have made it possible to operate with large amounts of information both on specific species and on individual characteristics (for example, in cladistic analysis), and to prepare extensive databases on the world fauna. At a new level of development of knowledge, general summaries are published, for example, on the fish of the world - “Catalog of fishes” (vol. 1-3, 1998), on birds - “Handbook of the birds of the world” (vol. 1-11, 1992 -2006), on mammals - “Mammal species of the world” (vol. 1-2, 2005), guidebooks are published. However, in a number of cases there is a discrepancy between the constructions of classical taxonomy and classification based on molecular biology data. This applies to various levels - from species and subspecies to types and kingdoms. Eliminating these contradictions and building the most natural system of the animal kingdom is the task of the coming generations of zoologists and specialists in related disciplines.

Functional and evolutionary morphology, exploring the adaptive capabilities of individual organs and their systems in animals, reveals highly specialized and multifunctional morphological adaptations of the integument, skeleton, muscular, circulatory, nervous and excretory systems of animals, sensory organs and reproduction. Discoveries in this area are used by bionics, they also contribute to the development of biomechanics, aerodynamics and hydrodynamics. Based on morphological and functional correlations, paleoreconstructions are carried out. A number of unresolved issues remain in the field of research into the Primary morphological types of animals and the assessment of homologous structures.

Zoological research plays a significant role in elucidating the mechanisms of differentiation of cells, tissues and organs, in studying the role of hereditary, species-specific factors, and in creating a theory of ontogenesis. To obtain (including through genetic engineering methods) animal organisms with predetermined properties, special zoological research is required, because The consequences of the introduction of such objects into natural complexes and their inclusion in food chains are not yet known.

A new synthesis in evolutionary theory with the participation of zoologists and biologists of other specialties will address the issues of the relationship between macro- and microevolutionary transformations, the possibilities of mono- and polyphyletic origin of taxa, criteria for progress, and assessment of parallelisms in evolution. It is required to develop unified principles for constructing a natural (phylogenetic) system of living organisms. Thanks to the improvement of theory and modern diagnostic methods, the relationship of species and the very criterion of this level of organization should receive a clearer justification. The development of ecological and biocybernetic directions of evolutionary research related to the problems of the relationship between different levels of life organization in the process of its evolution is expected. The study of the early stages of the evolution of animals, the causes, conditions and forms of the appearance of life on Earth, and the possibilities of the existence of life in outer space will continue.

The study of various forms of behavior and their motivations in animals will develop in terms of creating opportunities to control the behavior of specific species, including those important for humans. Of particular importance is the study of group behavior and the relationships of individuals in populations and communities. There are already well-known achievements in this area, for example in controlling the behavior of fish (including in the area of ​​hydraulic structures) and birds (in order to prevent collisions with aircraft). Significant progress is expected in deciphering methods of communication in animals at the level of sound, visual, chemical signals, etc.

The contribution of zoology to the development of ecology will increase. This will affect the study of population dynamics of species, including those important for humans, studies of the structure of animal communities, their environment-forming, trophoenergetic, and ecosystem significance. Thanks to the development of modern tagging methods and computer processing of materials, the database on the distribution of animals will expand, and more advanced maps of habitats will be created. One of the successfully solved problems of modern zoology has been the inventory of biodiversity - the compilation of database inventories, lists of species, atlases, keys, etc. in printed, electronic audio and video versions. The study of regional faunas will reach a new level. In connection with the rapid, uncontrolled growth of the Earth's population, the problem arises not only of providing people with food resources, but also of preserving the habitat where it is possible to obtain such resources. Increasing the productivity of natural and artificial biocenoses should not jeopardize the existence of the necessary biodiversity, including the animal world. With the participation of zoologists, Red Data Books of endangered animals in need of protection at the global, national and regional levels have been created, and concepts for the conservation of biodiversity have been developed. This meets not only utilitarian goals, but also the tasks of fundamental zoology, including further study of the process of evolution and forecasting the future development of life on Earth.

Achievements of zoology are used in biomechanics, aero- and hydrodynamics, in the creation of location, navigation, and signal systems, in design practice, in architecture and construction, in the production of artificial materials comparable to natural analogues. The results of zoological research are important for substantiating the principles of sustainable development of the biosphere. Ideas about the uniqueness of each biological species are of great importance for the development of measures to preserve the entire diversity of life on Earth.

Scientific institutions and periodicals. In various countries, zoological research is carried out in a number of scientific institutions: including universities, zoological museums, zoos, biological stations, expeditions, nature reserves and national parks. In Russia, the center of zoological research is the Department of Biological Sciences of the Russian Academy of Sciences (a number of institutes belong to it; see Zoological Institute, Institute of Problems of Ecology and Evolution, Institute of Plant and Animal Ecology, Institute of Marine Biology, Institute of Systematics and Animal Ecology, etc.). Many Russian universities have specialized zoological departments and laboratories in their biological faculties. Zoologists unite in various scientific societies (ornithologists, entomologists, theriologists, etc.), hold congresses, conventions, thematic meetings and exhibitions. A large number of zoological journals are published, for example, under the auspices of the Russian Academy of Sciences - “Zoological Journal”, “Entomological Review”, “Ichthyology Issues”, “Marine Biology”. The electronic database of zoological information is expanding. The popularization of zoological knowledge and recommendations for the protection of the animal world is actively carried out.

Lit.: Kashkarov D.N., Stanchinsky V.V. Course of zoology of vertebrate animals. 2nd ed. M.; L., 1940; Plavilshchikov N. N. Essays on the history of zoology. M., 1941; Mayr E., Linsley E., Usinger R. Methods and principles of zoological taxonomy. M., 1956; Mazurmovich B. N. Outstanding domestic zoologists. M., 1960; Zoologists of the Soviet Union M.; L., 1961; Zoology course: In 2 volumes, 7th ed. M., 1966; Mayr E. Zoological species and evolution. M., 1968; History of biology from ancient times to the present day. M., 1972-1975. T. 1-2; Naumov N.P., Kartashev N.N. Zoology of vertebrates: At 2 p.m. M., 1979; Dogel V. A. Zoology of invertebrates. 7th ed. M., 1981; Zoological Institute of the USSR Academy of Sciences. 150 years. L., 1982; Naumov S.P. Zoology of vertebrates. 4th ed. M., 1982; Animal life: In 7 volumes, 2nd ed. M., 1983-1989; Hadorn E., Vener R. General zoology. M., 1989; Shishkin V.S. Origin, development and continuity of academic zoology in Russia // Zoological Journal. 1999. T. 78. No. 12; Protests: A Guide to Zoology. St. Petersburg, 2000. Part 1; Red Book of the Russian Federation: (Animals). M., 2001; Alimov A.F. et al. Alma mater of Russian zoology // Science in Russia. 200Z. No. 3; Fundamental zoological research: theory and methods. St. Petersburg, 2004.

D. S. Pavlov, Yu. I. Chernov, V. S. Shishkin.

Src="https://present5.com/presentation/1/-101351652_419119677.pdf-img/-101351652_419119677.pdf-1.jpg" alt=">Discoveries in zoology.">!}

Src="https://present5.com/presentation/1/-101351652_419119677.pdf-img/-101351652_419119677.pdf-2.jpg" alt=">Zoology is a biological science that studies representatives of the animal kingdom. Zoology studies physiology, anatomy, embryology, ecology,"> Зоология – биологическая наука, изучающая представителей царства животных. Зоология изучает физиологию, анатомию, эмбриологию, экологию, филогению животных. Основные дисциплины зоологии, выделяемые по задачам исследования: Систематика животных. Морфология животных. Эмбриология животных. Физиология животных. Этология животных. Экология животных. Зоогеография животных.!}

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Src="https://present5.com/presentation/1/-101351652_419119677.pdf-img/-101351652_419119677.pdf-12.jpg" alt="> Georges Cuvier (1769- 1832) The doctrine of correlations Basis comparative anatomy"> Жорж Кювье (1769- 1832) Учение о корреляцих Основа сравнительной анатомии животных Основоположник палеонтологии!}

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Src="https://present5.com/presentation/1/-101351652_419119677.pdf-img/-101351652_419119677.pdf-17.jpg" alt=">Karl Baer (1792 -1876) “History of the development of animals "Animal Embryology" Law"> Карл Бэр (1792 -1876) «История развития животных» Эмбриология животных «закон Бэра» Учение о зародышевых листках!}

Src="https://present5.com/presentation/1/-101351652_419119677.pdf-img/-101351652_419119677.pdf-18.jpg" alt=">M. Schleiden (1804 -1881) and T. Schwann (1810 -1882) Founders of cell theory">!}

Src="https://present5.com/presentation/1/-101351652_419119677.pdf-img/-101351652_419119677.pdf-19.jpg" alt=">Charles Darwin (1809 -1882) “The Origin of Species” Careful study and description of marine"> Чарльз Дарвин (1809 -1882) «Происхождение видов» Тщательное изучение и описание морских беспозвоночных!}

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Src="https://present5.com/presentation/1/-101351652_419119677.pdf-img/-101351652_419119677.pdf-23.jpg" alt=">The latest discoveries and research Vladimir Demikhov Experiment In 1954"> Новейшие открытия и исследования Владимир Демихов Эксперимент В 1954 году Владимир Демихов пересадил голову, плечи и передние лапы щенка на шею взрослой немецкой овчарки. Животным соединили кровеносные сосуды, создали общий круг кровообращения. У маленькой собаки, кроме того, были удалены сердце и легкие, так что она жила за счет дыхания и кровообращения большой собаки. На кинопленку был заснят момент, когда обе головы собаки одновременно лакали молоко из миски. Потом они играли, голова большой собаки все время пыталась цапнуть трансплантированного щенка за ухо. Этот эксперимент казался жестоким. Но он открывал путь к медицинской пересадке органов. Знаменитый хирург Кристиан Бернард, первым пересадивший сердце от человека к человеку, опирался на эксперименты Демихова и считал его своим учителем.!}

Src="https://present5.com/presentation/1/-101351652_419119677.pdf-img/-101351652_419119677.pdf-24.jpg" alt=">Jose Delgado Experiment Mid-60s. Farm in Spanish province of Cordoba."> Хосе Дельгадо Эксперимент Середина 60 -х. Ферма в испанской провинции Кордова. На арене бык по кличке Лусеро, весом в четверть тонны. Сначала он пытается атаковать матадора, тот уворачивается. Потом на поле появляется человек в белом халате, который нажимает на кнопку пульта. Тут же боевой бык начинает вести себя, как испуганный щенок – отскакивать в сторону, прижиматься к ограде арены. Человеком в белом халате был Хосе Дельгадо, который перед этим вживил в голову быку специальный чип – стимосивер (от «stimulation receiver» – стимулирующий приемник радиосигналов). Этот чип воздействовал на определенные зоны мозга животного и подавлял его агрессию.!}

Src="https://present5.com/presentation/1/-101351652_419119677.pdf-img/-101351652_419119677.pdf-25.jpg" alt=">Naked mole rat Social system like social insects Do not age"> Голый землекоп Социальная система наподобие общественных насекомых Не стареют Не болеют раком!}

Drunken loris, a long-lived shark, flying snails, antibiotics from the nose, and several more strange biological discoveries that surprised us last year.

Just the other day we talked about the strangest medical research of the past year, according to the portal LiveScience. But, firstly, there were only seven of these studies - a beautiful number, but a round ten would have been even more beautiful, and secondly, they were precisely medical. And we decided to compile our own list of the strangest and most amazing facts that relate, so to speak, to biology in general, and not just to medicine. Generally speaking, most of our “Fact of the Day” column falls into the category of “strange and surprising”, and other news over the past year did not disappoint in this sense, but still, through an effort of will, we tried to limit ourselves to only ten.

Even peas are willing to take risks sometimes. (Photo by qtree / pixabay.com.)

Flying snail from the genus Limacina. (Photo by Alexander Semenov / Flickr.com.)

Having ceased to perform its purely physiological function, the female orgasm could acquire another, purely psychological one. (Photo by SplitShire / pixabay.com.

Male Brazilian treefrogs Hylodes japi actively gesticulate in front of females. (Photo by Fábio de Sá / Universidade Estadual Paulista.)

Hydro company (Photo by Albert Lleal/Minden Pictures/Corbis.)

King penguin with baby. (Photo by Frans Lanting/Corbis.)

1. And number one we have are those whose activity increases after death. In fact, criminologists have known for a long time that some genes continue to function even after the death of an organism; they just recently decided to count them more accurately, and at the same time find out how long they work. In the preprint of the article on the website bioRxiv it is said that there are more than a thousand such genes, and that hundreds of them remain in working order even several days after the death of the “owners” (for example, in mice “post-mortem genes” worked for another two days, and in fish – as many as four). Probably, the whole point here is that in a dying organism the configuration of the genetic network is naturally destroyed: the system of molecular cellular prohibitions and permissions that forced some genes to work and others to remain silent ceases to operate. In order to maintain the gene “schedule” in working order, you need to spend energy, but after death, energy and other resources quickly melt away, so some genes have the opportunity to finally express themselves.

2. At number “two” we have the Greenland shark, which last year became the generally recognized long-lived champion: of all vertebrates, these sharks live up to 500 years. It is also worth adding that they grow extremely slowly, only a centimeter per year, although they can reach more than six meters in length, and females become sexually mature only by 150 years.

3. Not only people and animals, but also plants are capable of taking risks. Researchers from Oxford found that if peas are not satisfied with the established stability in the environment, they are willing to take risks, preferring to grow in unpredictable conditions in which, at least from time to time, they can live, as they say, in abundance. The risky nature of peas was discovered in a rather ingenious experiment, which you can also read about in our last year.

4. We are accustomed to consider snails to be slow, passive and very cautious creatures that, as soon as possible, immediately hide in their shell. Everything is true, but there are exceptions among them: for example, the sea snail Limacina helicina does not crawl along the bottom at all, as one might assume, but literally flies in the water, waving its leg. L. helicina, by the way, is called a sea butterfly, and in general the group of snails to which it and some other species belong is called pteropods.

Another example of active snails are two Far Eastern species, Karaftohelix gainesi And Karaftohelix selskii. Predatory ground beetles are not averse to feasting on them, however, when faced with a predator, these snails do not hide in the shell at all, but begin to wave it, trying. Having received a hit on the head, the ground beetle crawls away in hopes of finding a less obstinate meal.

5. The famous Madagascar monkeys, nicknamed aye-ayes, and lemurs called slow lorises are not averse to it: experiments have shown that they not only distinguish a one-percent alcohol solution from a three-percent solution, and a three-percent solution from a five-percent solution, but also prefer the one with the most alcohol. Moreover, the ai-ai, after drinking a five percent sample, did not get drunk at all, and then they also examined the vessel where it was, as if in the hope that an additive would appear there.

Trying to get lemurs to drink is not an idle game. It is believed that the evolution of great apes was accompanied by improvements in the enzyme alcohol dehydrogenase 4, which helps process and detoxify alcohol, and that an improved version of the enzyme appeared in the common ancestor of humans, chimpanzees and gorillas. However, as it turned out, “fast” alcohol dehydrogenase is also present in more evolutionarily ancient lemurs - that’s why they did not show signs of intoxication in the experiment - which means that the “human” attitude towards alcohol arose in primates even before the appearance of great apes.

6. Let's continue the conversation about evolution. At the beginning of August, an article appeared in which the authors argued that the female orgasm had long lost its physiological significance, turning into an evolutionary relic - this happened because some mammals (including primates) switched from induced ovulation to “automatic”. As you know, for conception it is necessary for the egg to be released from the ovary into the oviduct, and if earlier this happened under the influence of external factors (for example, in the presence of a male or during mating, like in rabbits), then ovulation has its own internal schedule, and there was no need for external stimulation.

7. During the mating season, male frogs try to attract females not only with their voices, but also with gestures. But if mating croaking is familiar to more or less everyone, then only zoologists know about mating gesticulations. However, most frogs have a small vocabulary of body language: they either walk around in a special way in front of the females, or jump up “meaningfully.” in this sense, she is an outstanding exception - she has as many as eighteen forms of gesture messages, sometimes quite complex: for example, males can stretch out their hind leg, or raise their front paw while swinging it, move their fingers in a special way, etc. Some of the gestures are intended for a potential partner, some are intended for a competing male, and some are intended for both at once.

8. To do a completely serious and original study, it is not at all necessary to take stem cells or insert electrodes into the brain of a monkey. So, biologists from the University of California at San Diego decided to find out how the freshwater hydra opens its mouth. We all know the hydra from biology textbooks - its structure is quite simple, so it is not clear what other science can be done with it, and the formulation of the problem looks completely strange: “how does a hydra open its mouth?” - Yes, he just takes it and opens it. However, the trick here is that it does not have a mouth as a specialized structure - the hydra's mouth appears when it comes time for it to have lunch. We will not describe the process of “mouth formation” in detail now; we will only say that it is as if our mouth, after each meal, is overgrown with skin, which then would have to be pulled apart with special muscles. The authors of the work believe that in the example of Hydra we are observing an analogue of how in the distant past primitive organisms that did not yet have organs and specialized tissues gradually acquired both.

9. Drug resistance of bacteria has long become a general headache, and researchers around the world are looking for where to get new antibiotics that modern microbes have not yet adapted to. One of these antibiotics was found not just anywhere, but right in our nose: it turned out that one of the bacteria that lives in the nasal mucosa gets rid of its competing neighbors with the help of a special one, against which even the famous MRSA, a super-resistant strain of Staphylococcus aureus, is powerless.

10. Our latest strange fact from the world of biology could qualify for an Ig Nobel Prize: zoologists from the University of Roehampton and the University of Strasbourg have discovered why penguins waddle as they walk. Answer - . The connection between body weight and penguin gait is especially noticeable in penguins that have eaten heavily: in order not to fall while walking, they willy-nilly have to sway more and bend towards the ground.