Herpetology is the branch of zoology that studies amphibians and reptiles. That covers a enormous range of animals: frogs, toads, salamanders, newts, caecilians, snakes, lizards, turtles, tortoises, crocodilians, and the tuatara. Together, these two classes account for more than 20,000 known species worldwide, and new ones are still being described every year.
Why Amphibians and Reptiles Are Grouped Together
Amphibians and reptiles are not actually close relatives on the tree of life. They ended up studied under one umbrella largely for practical reasons: both are ectothermic, meaning they rely on their environment to regulate body temperature rather than generating their own internal heat the way mammals and birds do. Early naturalists noticed this shared trait, along with some superficial similarities in body shape and habitat, and lumped them into a single field of study.
The differences between the two groups are significant. Reptiles have tough, scaly skin made of the same protein found in mammalian hair and bird feathers. Amphibians have soft, permeable skin that often needs to stay moist. Reptiles lay eggs with hard or leathery shells and can reproduce on dry land. Amphibian eggs have no shell at all and typically must be laid in water or wet substrate. All reptiles breathe with lungs, while many amphibian species are actually lungless, absorbing oxygen directly through their skin.
What Herpetology Covers
The reptile side of herpetology includes snakes, lizards, turtles and tortoises, crocodilians, amphisbaenians (legless burrowing reptiles sometimes called worm lizards), and the tuatara, a single surviving species from an ancient lineage found only in New Zealand. The current Reptile Database lists over 12,000 recognized species.
On the amphibian side, AmphibiaWeb’s database tracks over 9,000 species. Frogs and toads dominate, making up about 88% of all amphibians with nearly 7,950 species. Newts and salamanders account for roughly 9% (about 830 species), and caecilians, which are limbless amphibians that look somewhat like large worms or small snakes, make up the remaining 3% with around 230 species.
Herpetology also has its own sub-disciplines. Batrachology focuses specifically on amphibians. Ophiology (sometimes called ophidiology) is the study of snakes. Cheloniology deals with turtles and tortoises. Paleoherpetology examines extinct reptiles and amphibians through the fossil record.
Ecological Roles of Reptiles and Amphibians
Reptiles and amphibians sit in the middle of food webs, serving as both predators and prey. Many species move between aquatic and terrestrial habitats over the course of their lives, transferring energy between those two ecosystems in the process. Snakes, for instance, can play a measurable role in regulating prey populations, particularly when those prey populations are already low. Frogs consume enormous quantities of insects, and lizards help control pest species in many tropical and temperate environments.
Amphibians are especially valued as biological indicators of ecosystem health. Their permeable skin makes them sensitive to pollution, disease, ultraviolet radiation, and changes in water quality. When amphibian populations start declining at a site, it often signals broader environmental problems like habitat degradation, drought, or the introduction of invasive species. These changes have cascading effects on predator and prey populations, energy flow, and nutrient cycling throughout the ecosystem. The National Park Service considers long-term monitoring of amphibian populations one of the most effective early warning systems for wetland ecosystem change.
Amphibians Are Among the Most Threatened Animals on Earth
The second Global Amphibian Assessment, completed in 2022 and published in Nature, evaluated over 8,000 species for the IUCN Red List. The findings confirmed that amphibians remain the most threatened vertebrate class on the planet. They are the second most threatened group overall among all comprehensively assessed organisms, behind only cycads (a type of plant). For context, about 26.5% of mammal species and 12.9% of bird species are considered threatened. Among reptiles, the figure is 21.4%. Amphibians far exceed all of these.
The main drivers of amphibian decline include habitat destruction, pollution, climate change, disease (particularly chytrid fungus, which has devastated frog populations on multiple continents), and introduced predators. Researchers tracking these declines have documented measurable drops in site occupancy, species richness, and overall abundance, alongside increases in disease and physical malformations. This ongoing crisis is one of the reasons herpetological research has taken on greater urgency in recent decades.
Medical Discoveries From Herpetology
Studying reptiles and amphibians has produced direct benefits for human medicine. Snake venom, in particular, has been a surprisingly productive source of pharmaceutical compounds. Captopril, one of the most widely prescribed blood pressure medications in history, was developed from a compound found in the venom of a Brazilian pit viper. Eptifibatide and tirofiban, both used to prevent dangerous blood clots, were also designed based on snake venom components. All three drugs received FDA approval and are used in hospitals worldwide.
Beyond approved drugs, venom research continues to yield promising leads. Compounds isolated from certain South American snake venoms have shown significant activity against parasites responsible for leishmaniasis, malaria, and Chagas disease. Amphibian skin secretions are another active area of pharmaceutical research, as many frog species produce potent antimicrobial and painkilling substances.
Becoming a Herpetologist
There is no undergraduate major in herpetology. It is too narrow a specialization for that. Instead, aspiring herpetologists major in biology, typically in a program emphasizing organismic or whole-animal biology rather than cellular and molecular tracks. Many colleges offer one or two herpetology courses, but the field is fundamentally a sub-discipline of biology, and that is how universities treat it.
A bachelor’s degree in biology can open doors to entry-level positions in museums, zoos, or parks, where graduates work with live animal collections, manage exhibits, or interact with the public. Some find roles as environmental specialists with government agencies or private companies. But for specialized research or academic positions, an advanced degree is almost always necessary. Most working herpetologists hold a master’s or doctorate in biology, anatomy, physiology, ecology, or a related field.
The Society for the Study of Amphibians and Reptiles notes that it is rare to find a job where someone is considered a herpetologist first. The reality is that most professionals in the field are employed as biologists, ecologists, or professors who happen to focus their research on reptiles and amphibians. Those with a Ph.D. typically work at universities, splitting their time between teaching and conducting research in their area of specialization. Others work in government agencies (state wildlife departments, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the National Park Service), research laboratories, or natural history museums. Students with broader interests in natural history sometimes become park naturalists, where herpetological knowledge is a useful asset even if it is not the primary job description.