Zoological Institute RAS - Home (original) (raw)

The Zoological Institute of Russian Academy of Sciences is the leading zoological institution in Russia and one of the most significant zoological institutions in the world.

The Zoological Institute RAS (ZIN RAS) was established in 1832 as the Zoological Museum of the Imperial Academy of Sciences on the basis of zoological collections deposited at the Chamber of Curiosities (Kunstkammer) created by Peter I in 1714. The museum was renamed to the Zoological Institute in 1931 during reorganization of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR.
Zoological Institute is situated in the historical centre of St. Petersburg on the Spit of Vasilyesky Island (Universitetskaya Embankment 1). The second building of the institute is located at Angliysky Avenue 32. Furthermore, Zoological Institute has a storage of collections at Zapovednaya Street, 51-2.

The Institute conducts basic studies in fields of animal taxonomy, zoogeography, and ecology in the following main directions: animal taxonomy, faunistcs, biography, evolutionary morphology, and phylogeny; biological basis of parasitism; biological matter circulation patterns in water bodies; structure, functioning, and productivity of aquatic ecosystems; scientific basis of biomethod, biotechnology; ecology and behavior of animals; propaganda of zoological knowledge and environmental protection; rational management of animal world and genetic resources.

The largest in Russia and one of the largest in the world collection of the Zoological Institute comprises more than 60 million collection units of about 260 thousand animal species, constituting approximately one-fourth of the known world fauna. The largest zoological library in Russia (a department of the Library of the Academy of Sciences), comprising about 600 thousand items, is also situated at the Zoological Institute.