Hubrecht studied zoology at Utrecht University with Harting and Donders, for periods joining Selenka in Leiden and later Erlangen, and Gegenbauer in Heidelberg.

In 1875–1882 he worked at the Rijksmuseum van Natuurlijke Historie in Leiden, where he was the curator of ichthyology and herpetology,[1] and in 1882 became professor at Utrecht.

In 1890–1891 he traveled in Java, Sumatra, and Borneo, where he made embryological studies, notably on the tarsier.

The Descent of the Primates (1897) is the title under which were published his lectures at the sesquicentennial celebration at Princeton.

[3] Hubrecht founded the Institut Internationale d'Embryologie, today known as the International Society of Developmental Biologists.