The Institute was established in 1947 after the unification of the Zoology and Entomology Departments of the former Royal Institutes of Natural Sciences. The first director was Dr Ivan Buresh, Member of the Academy. Currently it consists of five departments: Taxonomy, Faunology and Zoogeography, Hydrobiology, Biology and Ecology of Terrestrial Animals, Experimental Zoology, and Protozoology. The Institute also includes the Bulgarian Ornithological Centre and the Biological Experimental Station ‘Kalimok.’ Main tasks comprise: — Investigation of the composition, evolution, taxonomy and distribution of the fauna of Bulgaria and the Balkan Peninsula; — Investigation of the population biology and ecology of the animals; — Investigation of the sensitivity of the animals and their populations to the changes in the environment (zoomonitoring); — Investigation of the animal resources and conservation of the Bulgarian fauna. |