The Department of Zoology, Patna University was established in August 1948 to meet the demands and needs of higher education in the field of Zoology in Bihar including today's Jharkhand. Initially, it was a part of Patna Science College, Patna. Professor S. S. Chaudhury, the then Head of the Department of Zoology, Patna Science College, and Professor M. M. Majeed did their best to impart M.Sc. teaching in Zoology. The Department of Zoology got the status of University Department under Patna University in July 1952. Late Professor Suresh Keshava was appointed as the first Head of the Department of Zoology who served the Department up to April 1972. A big achievement and landmark in the growth of the Department of Zoology was the installation of Transmission Electron Microscope of Tesla model in 1968. Dr M. P. Jamuar joined the Department as Reader in Electron Microscopy. In 1985, Late Prof. R. K. Sharan was made the principal co-ordinator of the prestigious Ganga Basin Research Project under Ganga Action Plan launched by the Government of India. In 2006, the Department of Zoology was selected for financial support under FIST program of the Department of Science and Technology, Government of India. Prof. R.K.Sinha, who got international recognition for the conservation of the Gangetic River Dolphin, has been awarded the Order of The Golden Ark ( Netherlands) in 1999 and Padma Shri in 2016. He has also been elected as Fellow of the Linnean Society of London and Chairman of the Asian River Dolphin Committee (IUCN) in 1996. In recent years, the Department of Zoology has earned good name and recognition in the research arena of cellular, molecular, biochemical, genetic and reproductive toxicology as well as environmental biology. Dr G. B. Chand and Dr D. K. Paul are the recipients of ZSI Gold Medals for their contributions in the field of research. Dr P. K. Khan has been elected as a member of the Executive Committee of All India Congress of Cytology and Genetics in the year 2015. Recently, Dr Arbind Kumar has found vital description as Kumar's Hypothesis in a multidisciplinary book (edition 2017) entitled Investigating Seafloors and Oceans authored by Dr Antony Joseph and published by Elsevier Inc., New York, USA. Prof. P. Nath, the present Head of the Department has been an author of National repute who has authored books namely NET Life sciences and Physical Anthropology for IAS. In the early years of its inception, the Department of Zoology offered Cytology as the only branch in which students could specialize and Prof. Suresh Keshava was the initiator and promoter of this specialization. Gradually, the Department modernized its curriculum with the addition of three more special papers in 1965, namely Entomology, Parasitology, Biochemistry & Physiology. The Department has introduced semester system in 2012. Presently, the students are being offered specialized teaching in four different fields of Zoology namely, Cell and Molecular Biology, Environmental Biology, Fish and Fisheries and Entomology. The self financing post graduate course in Environmental Science and Management is also running in the Department of Zoology since 2007 and Dr D.K. Paul is the present course coordinator.

First Head: Prof S. S. Chaudhury

Present Head: Dr. Arbind Kumar