Department of Zoology was established in 1952 with a B.Sc. degree programme
under the Madras University. The M. Sc. programme was launched in 1959. The
first batch itself achieved a remarkable record securing the 1st and
2nd ranks in the University. Since then, the department has
maintained this good academic tradition. The courses offered are
B.Sc in Zoology and M.Sc in Zoology with Environmental Science as
specialization. As part of the Golden jubilee celebration of the College, the
Department introduced a one-year P.G. diploma course in Aquaculture and it was one of the pioneering attempts of this kind
in the State. Now it has grown into an autonomous division. Another important
event in the history of the Department was its recognition as a Research Centre
by the Mahatma Gandhi University in 1994. Five faculty members and five from
other colleges are approved research guides. Advanced research in the field of
Neurobiology of Ageing, Arachnology and Marine Biotechnology are going on here.
Research projects are being supported by external funding agencies such as UGC
- New Delhi, MoEF - New Delhi, ICAR - New Delhi, KSCSTE – Trivandrum and
International Foundation for Science (IFS), Stockholm, Sweden. In 2001 the
Department was selected for a special funding under FIST programme of the
Department of Science and Technology (FIST) New Delhi.
The Department has to its credit a well-equipped
air-conditioned instrumentation room, computer lab, etc. Some of the important
instruments currently in use are Phase contrast microscope, Dark field
microscope, Binocular stereo microscope, Trinocular Compound microscope with
Digital Camera, UV-Vis Spectrophotometer, PCR machine, Water Analyzer,
Electrophoretic Unit, High speed Centrifuge, etc. A library with a
collection of over 3000 books and an animal house are attached to the
department. The zoology museum, with over 3000 specimens collected from various
parts of the world, is one of its invaluable assets. Established in 1952, it is
the largest and the most spectacular one of its kind in Kerala.