Zoological Survey of India#Regional Centers

{{Infobox organization

| name = Zoological Survey of India

| image = ZSI Logo.jpg

| image_border =

| size = 150px

| alt =

| caption =

| map =

| msize =

| malt =

| mcaption =

| abbreviation = ZSI

| motto =

| formation = {{Start date and years ago|df=yes|1916|07|01}}

| type = Government agency

| status =

| purpose = Animal taxonomy and conservation

| headquarters = Kolkata

| location = West Bengal, India

| coords =

| region_served = India

| membership =

| language =

| leader_title = Director

| leader_name = Dr. Dhriti Banerjee

| main_organ =

| parent_organisation = Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change

| affiliations =

| num_staff =

| num_volunteers =

| budget = {{INRConvert|129.35|c}} (2025{{ndash}}26){{Cite web |date=1 Feb 2025 |title=DEMAND NO. 28, Demands for Grants, 2025-2026, MINISTRY OF ENVIRONMENT, FORESTS AND CLIMATE CHANGE |url=https://www.indiabudget.gov.in/doc/eb/sbe28.pdf |access-date=1 Feb 2025 |website=IndiaBudget.gov.in |pages=5 |publication-place=New Delhi}}

| website = {{URL|http://zsi.gov.in/}}

| remarks =

}}

The Zoological Survey of India (ZSI), founded on 1 July 1916 by the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change of the Government of India as a premier Indian organisation in zoological research and studies to promote the survey, exploration and research of the Indian wildlife.

History

File:Painting of Indian Gaur by ZSI artist.jpg

The annals of (ZSI)Zoological Survey of India-History and Progress 1916-1990 (1990). Edited by Director, Zoological Survey of India. Published by ZSI, Kolkata.109pp. reflect an eventful beginning for the Survey even before its formal birth and growth.

The establishment of the Zoological Survey of India (ZSI) was the fulfillment of the dream{{Citation needed|date=March 2025}} of Sir William Jones, who in 1784 founded the Asiatic Society of Bengal, which was also the mother institution to the Indian Museum (1875). The Asiatic Society had started collecting zoological and geological specimens since 1796 and set up a museum in 1814. Nathaniel Wallich, the first Superintendent of the "Museum of the Asiatic Society", was in charge of the increasing collections of Geological and Zoological specimens; he had augmented the animal collections to the Zoological Galleries of the Museum.

The genesis of the ZSI was in 1875 with the opening of the Indian Museum. The new museum on its inception comprised only three sections: the Zoological, the Archaeological and the Geological. The zoological collections of the Asiatic Society of Bengal were formally handed over to the board of trustees of the Indian Museum in 1875.

Zoological Section of the Museum during the period from 1875 to 1916 steadily expanded, growing to the greatest collection of natural history in Asia. By the care and activity of the Curators of the Asiatic society of Bengal and the Superintendents of the Indian Museum, viz., John McClelland, Edward Blyth, John Anderson, James Wood-Mason, Alfred William Alcock and finally Thomas Nelson Annandale and his colleagues, the museum was richly endowed with a magnificent collection of animals, especially of the larger vertebrate groups. Further additions of both land and aquatic fauna to the valuable collections came through during several political and military expeditions, including a number of collections purchased, notably those of Francis Day of Indian Fishes, Lionel de Nicéville of butterflies, Dudgeon and Edward Ernest Green of moths, Jacob R. H. Neervoort van de Poll of beetles and Godwin Austen of mollusks.{{Cite book|last=India|first=Zoological Survey of|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8mVQAAAAYAAJ&q=Zoological+Survey+of+India|title=Newsletter - Zoological Survey of India|date=1977|publisher=Zoological Survey of India|language=en}}

The Zoological Gallery at the Asiatic society Museum under the care and charge of Nathaniel Wallich served the impetus for the formation of the Zoological Survey of India, which was later born as an independent organization on 1 July 1916. The excerpt from the ‘Constitution of the Zoological Survey of India’, released by the Government of India, Department of Education, Resolution no. 19-Museum, dated Shimla, 20 June 1916, states: "In March 1913, the Chairman of the Trustees of the Indian Museum forwarded a representation from the Superintendent of the Zoological and Anthropological Section of the Museum regarding the recognition of the Zoological Section as Zoological Survey. The Government of India, who had already under consideration the desirability of establishing on a sound basis a Zoological Survey of India, informed the Trustees of the Museum that they would be prepared to consider a scheme for such a survey on lines somewhat similar to the existing Botanical Survey of India and asked to furnish with the necessary details. The trustees accordingly submitted their proposals at the end of September 1913."

Thomas Nelson Annandale, who joined the Indian museum as Deputy Superintendent (1904), and later as the Superintendent (1907), after years-old struggle, achieved his aim in establishing the Zoological survey of India, and became its founder director and continued until his premature death in April 1924. Dr. Annandale was Honorary Secretary to the Trustees of the Indian Museum for several years; he was also the President of the Asiatic Society of Bengal in 1923.{{Cite book|last=India|first=Zoological Survey of|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=svTaAAAAMAAJ&q=Zoological+Survey+of+India|title=Annual Report on the Zoological Survey of India for the Year ...|date=1999|publisher=Manager of Publications, Civil Lines|language=en}}

In 2021, entomologist Dhriti Banerjee became the first woman director of the ZSI since its inception in 1916.{{cite web |title=Dhriti Banerjee becomes 1st woman director in 100 years of Zoological Survey of India history |url=https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/kolkata/1st-woman-director-in-100-yrs-of-zsi-history/articleshow/85049602.cms |website=The Times of India |date=5 August 2021}}

File:View of ZSI Headquarters, Kolkata in 1986.jpg

File:View of ZSI, Kolkata. The sculpture "Jeevandhara" in the foreground.jpg

File:View of Fire Proof Spirit Building, Indian Museum, Kolkata.jpg

File:View of ZSI corridor at Kolkata.jpg

File:View of Kolkata City from ZSI.jpg

Divisions and sections at headquarters

=Divisions & Sections=

=Regional Centers=

North Eastern Regional Centre (NERC), Shillong, Meghalaya (Estd. 1959).
Western Regional Centre (WRC), Pune, Maharashtra (Estd. 1959).
Central Zone Regional Centre (CZRC), Jabalpur, Madhya Pradesh (Estd. 1960).
Desert Regional Centre (DRC), Jodhpur, Rajasthan (Estd. 1960).
Northern Regional Centre (NRC), Dehra Dun, Uttarakhand (Estd. 1960).
Southern Regional Centre (SRC), Chennai, Tamil Nadu (Estd. 1961).
Gangetic Plains Regional Centre (GPRC), Patna, Bihar (Estd. 1965).
High Altitude Regional Centre (HARC), Solan, Himachal Pradesh (Estd. 1968).
Marine Biology Regional Centre (MBRC), Madras, Tamil Nadu (Estd. 1973).
Andaman and Nicobar Regional Centre (ANRC), Port Blair (Estd. 1977).
Freshwater Biology Regional Centre (FBRC), Hyderabad, Telangana (Estd. 1979).
Sunderbans Regional Centre (SRC), Canning, West Bengal (Estd. 1979).
Estuarine Biology Regional Centre (EBRC), Ganjam, Orissa (Estd. 1980).
Western Ghats Regional Centre (WGRC), Kozhikode, Kerala (Estd. 1980).
Arunachal Pradesh Regional Centre (APRC), Itanagar, Arunachal Pradesh (Estd. 1983).
Marine Aquarium Cum Regional Centre (MARC), Digha, West Bengal (Estd. 1989).

National zoological collections

The Survey acquired the zoological collections of more than a century old from the former museum of the Asiatic Society of Bengal and the zoological section of the Indian Museum (1814{{endash}}1875) in Calcutta.

Publications

Records of the Zoological Survey of India{{Cite web|url=http://faunaofindia.nic.in/php/records/volumes.php|title=Zoological Survey of India | Digital archives of their Publications|website=faunaofindia.nic.in}}
Memoirs of Zoological Survey of India{{Cite web|url=http://faunaofindia.nic.in/php/memoirs/volumes.php|title=Zoological Survey of India | Digital archives of their Publications|website=faunaofindia.nic.in}}
Occasional Papers{{Cite web|url=http://faunaofindia.nic.in/php/occpapers/papers.php|title=Zoological Survey of India | Digital archives of their Publications|website=faunaofindia.nic.in}}
Fauna of British India{{Cite web|url=http://faunaofindia.nic.in/php/fbi_books_list.php|title=Zoological Survey of India | Digital archives of their Publications|website=faunaofindia.nic.in}}
Fauna of India{{Cite web|url=http://faunaofindia.nic.in/php/fi_books_list.php|title=Zoological Survey of India | Digital archives of their Publications|website=faunaofindia.nic.in}}
Annual Report since 1961–62
State Fauna Series (20 States){{Cite web|url=http://faunaofindia.nic.in/php/sfs_books_list.php|title=Zoological Survey of India | Digital archives of their Publications|website=faunaofindia.nic.in}}
Conservation Area Series{{Cite web|url=http://faunaofindia.nic.in/php/cas_books_list.php|title=Zoological Survey of India | Digital archives of their Publications|website=faunaofindia.nic.in}}
Ecosystem Series{{Cite web|url=http://faunaofindia.nic.in/php/ess_books_list.php|title=Zoological Survey of India | Digital archives of their Publications|website=faunaofindia.nic.in}}
Wetland Series
Estuarine Series
Marine Series
Himalayan Series
Animal Discoveries (New species and New records)
Handbooks/Pictorial Guides{{Cite web|url=http://faunaofindia.nic.in/php/hpg_books_list.php|title=Zoological Survey of India | Digital archives of their Publications|website=faunaofindia.nic.in}}
Special Publication Series{{Cite web|url=http://faunaofindia.nic.in/php/spb_books_list.php|title=Zoological Survey of India | Digital archives of their Publications|website=faunaofindia.nic.in}}
Status Survey of Threatened Animals{{Cite web|url=http://faunaofindia.nic.in/php/sse_books_list.php|title=Zoological Survey of India | Digital archives of their Publications|website=faunaofindia.nic.in}}
Bibliography of India Zoology (Discontinued)
Zoologiana (Discontinued) Vol. 1–5{{Cite web|url=http://faunaofindia.nic.in/php/zlg_books_list.php|title=Zoological Survey of India | Digital archives of their Publications|website=faunaofindia.nic.in}}
Technical Monograph (Discontinued) Vol. 1–17{{Cite web|url=http://faunaofindia.nic.in/php/tcm_books_list.php|title=Zoological Survey of India | Digital archives of their Publications|website=faunaofindia.nic.in}}
Bulletin of ZSI Vol. (Discontinued) Vo. 1–8{{Cite web|url=http://faunaofindia.nic.in/php/bulletin/volumes.php|title=Zoological Survey of India | Digital archives of their Publications|website=faunaofindia.nic.in}}

ZSI library

The library in Kolkata and regional centers have a total collection of approximately 1,35,000 volumes, which includes books, journals, monographs, reports of expeditions and fauna surveys, periodicals and other archaic literature on Zoology.{{Cite web|url=http://faunaofindia.nic.in/php/about2.php|title=Zoological Survey of India | Digital archives of their Publications|website=faunaofindia.nic.in}} The Kolkata library has around 400 titles of rare books. Some of the notable documents include the original publications of Carl Linnaeus and Fabricius, original paintings and drawings of renowned scientists, biogeographers and naturalists.[https://web.archive.org/web/20170614142307/http://www.wbpublibnet.gov.in/node/234 WB Publinet]

==Gallery==

File:Sir William Jones.jpg|Sir William Jones

File:Anderson John 1833-1900.png|John Anderson

File:Anderson Bust.jpg|Bust of John Anderson at Indian Museum

File:AlfredAlcock.jpg|Alfred Alcock

File:Thomas Nelson Annandale.jpg|Portrait of Nelson Annandale by ZSI Artist

File:Coleoptra specimen.jpg|Beetle specimens at Coleoptera Section, Kolkata

File:Idea sula sula.JPG|Idea sula sula specimen at Central Entomology Laboratory, ZSI, Kolkata

File:Coral at Marine Museum, ZSI, Chennai.jpg|Coral at Marine Museum, ZSI, Chennai

File:Painting of Jerdon's Courser by ZSI artist.jpg|ZSI Library collection:Painting of Jerdon's Courser (Rhinoptilus bitorquatus) by ZSI artist

File:A view of manuscript collection.JPG|ZSI Library collection: A view of manuscript collection