ZSI's establishment was in fact a fulfillment of the dream of Sir William Jones, the founder of the Asiatic Society of Bengal, whose vision encompassed the entire range of human knowledge.

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.

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.