School of Animal Science

A panel of judges at BBC Wildlife Magazine has named the greatest zoological discoveries of all time. Do you agree with their choices? Ian Sample , science correspondent   @iansample Fri 19 Nov 2010  09.23 GMT First published on Fri 19 Nov 2010 Mid-way through the 4th century BC   the Greek philosopher Aristotle   turned his great mind to the wildlife around him and documented the behaviour and characteristics of hundreds of species in nine books that together became   The History of Animals . The work is impressive for its sheer scope and ambition. In 130,000 words, the author divides and categorises animal life every which way: by basic physiology and anatomy; by habitat and mode of movement; by how and what these creatures ate. Humans are not excluded from examination, but are woven throughout the text, giving Aristotle the opportunity to compare and contrast the essence of other species with that of our own. There are some gems. He observes that eleph