Congresses of Zoology started in 1889 on the initiative of the Société zoologique de France on the occasion of the International Exposition in Paris.

A gallant effort was made in 1972 by Vaissiere and French colleagues to convene a XVII International Congress of Zoology in Monte Carlo.

The concept of an integrative zoology, synthesizing data and results ranging from molecular biology to behavior, gained wide acceptance.

The symposium program of the Congress presented a cross-zoological picture of the many levels of zoological inquiry, both horizontal and vertical.

Subsequently, the IUBS approved the (re)formation of an international zoological body (the ISZS) as proposed by Zhibin Zhang, John Buckeridge and Francis Dov Por in Beijing in 2004, and an executive committee was elected and charged with organizing International Congresses of Zoology and providing a global voice for zoologists."

Immediate Past Presidents include: Jean-Marc Jallon (France), John Buckeridge (Australia) and Dov Por (Israel).

The Secretariat of the ISZS is located at C-506, Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 1 Beichen West Road, Chaoyang District, Beijing 100101, China.

It is a quarterly, peer-reviewed and multidisciplinary journal publishing original research, reviews, essays and opinion pieces on the zoological sciences.

Focus The focus of the BCGC program is to organize a diverse group of international experts, with expertise in many scientific disciplines, and develop an understanding of the consequences of global change and human activity on evolutionary mechanisms, biological structures, endangered species and biological disasters.