Introduction

This thematic volume follows on from the international symposium Zoological observation, experience and experimentation on animals in Antiquity and the Middle Ages, organised by the Zoomathia research network and held in Nice on 21 and 22 October 2022. The aim of the colloquium was to study the links between rigorous and objective empirical knowledge of animals and practical, regulated and possibly instrumented investigative activities during the two periods concerned.