Honors Zoology

Students in this challenging upper level Biology course will be introduced to core concepts of Zoology. They will examine the diversity, phylogenetic relationships, cladistic analysis, physiological, anatomical, behavioral, and ecological relationships of the Animal Kingdom. In the first semester this class will be cover Classification, Phylogeny, Phylum Porifera, Cnidaria, Ctenophora, Platyhelminthes, Nemertea, Gastrotricha, Molluscian success, Annelids, Hexapods, and the Myriapods. The second semester students will examine the Fishes Amphibia Aves, and finally the Mammalians.  Each chapter will have a laboratory exercise in which a representative species will be dissected. In addition to material provided in the textbook we will discuss scientific papers and recent discoveries in the animal world.