Paleozoology

Paleozoology is the branch of paleontology that studies ancient animal life through the fossil record. It covers both invertebrate and vertebrate animals and aims to understand the evolution, diversity, morphology, and ecology of animals from the earliest fossilized remains to the more recent prehistoric faunas.

Researchers examine preserved skeletons and, when possible, soft tissues; analyze bone structure, dentition, and other anatomical features; and use trace fossils such as tracks and burrows to infer behavior. They employ comparative anatomy, phylogenetics and cladistics to reconstruct evolutionary relationships, and use modern imaging techniques, morphometrics, and isotopic analysis to infer diet and climate. Fieldwork places fossils in stratigraphic context, and dating methods such as radiometric dating and biostratigraphy establish temporal frameworks.

The scope includes early metazoans, arthropods, mollusks, echinoderms, and other invertebrates, as well as fish, amphibians, reptiles, birds, and mammals. Palaeozoic, Mesozoic, and Cenozoic faunas reveal major transitions, such as the origin of flight, the rise of terrestrial ecosystems, and mass extinctions that reshaped biodiversity, including the end-Permian and end-Cretaceous events, followed by diversification during the Cenozoic.

Paleozoology is interdisciplinary, overlapping with geology, geochronology, taphonomy, paleoecology, and evolutionary biology. It faces challenges from preservation biases, incomplete fossil records, and dating uncertainties, which require careful interpretation and multiple lines of evidence.

Overall, paleozoology contributes to understanding the history of animal life, patterns of biodiversity through deep time, and the responses of ecosystems to environmental change.