Paleontology
Paleontology was the study of the developing history of life. A scientist specialized in this branch was known as a paleontologist.

Starfleet vessels carried a paleontological database containing information such as the genetic information of prehistoric life on Earth. ()

Commander Chakotay of the starship  had a passion for paleontology since the age of six, and considered becoming a paleontologist himself. He was occasionally able to use his skills and knowledge of the subject matter on Voyager: in 2373, while examining the Distant Origin Theory and in 2376 while searching for a lost Mars spacecraft, Ares IV. ()

In 2378, Chakotay taught a class on paleontology aboard Voyager, where Naomi Wildman was one of his students. That year, she was working on a report on proto-humanoids for his class. ()

Related disciplines
 Micropaleontology
 Molecular paleontology

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Academic disciplines