The Institute was established in 1934 on the basis of the Laboratory of Evolutionary Morphology, founded by the renowned Russian scientist and academician Alexei Nikolaevich Severtsov, who also served as its first director. In 1936, the Institute was divided into two institutes: the Paleontological Institute and the A.N. Severtsov Institute of Evolutionary Morphology.
After a series of transformations and renamings, in 1967 the Institute was called the A.N. Severtsov Institute of Evolutionary Morphology and Ecology of Animals. In 1994, due to a focus on fundamental research in ecology, evolution, and biodiversity, the Institute received its current name. The formation of the Institute in its current form is associated with the name of Academician Vladimir Evgenievich Sokolov, who served as the Institute's Director from 1967 to 1998. Thanks to his work, the Institute became one of Russia's leading biological research institutions.
In 1998, the Institute was headed by Academician Dmitry Sergeyevich Pavlov, a leading expert in the behavior of lower vertebrates, a Full Member of the Russian Academy of Sciences (1992), a Foreign Member of the Lithuanian Academy of Sciences (2004), and a Visiting Professor at the University of Montana (2002). He was also a laureate of the 2012 Russian Federation State Prize.
From 2015 to 2021, Academician Vyacheslav Vladimirovich Rozhnov served as the Institute's Director. He is an expert in the behavioral ecology of mammals and biodiversity. He has developed a number of new approaches and concepts, noninvasive and remote sensing research methods, satellite telemetry, and molecular diagnostics in behavioral ecology. Under his leadership and with his participation, unique material has been collected on the biology of large predators and marine mammals - tigers, leopards, snow leopards, polar bears, beluga whales, and gray whales.
In 2021, Sergei Valerievich Naidenko, Doctor of Biological Sciences and Professor of the Russian Academy of Sciences, became the director. He is a specialist in the behavior, physiology, and diseases of wild animals, he developed a number of methods for non-invasive monitoring of hormonal status in mammals. S.V. Naidenko is a laureate of the Alfred Toepfer Foundation Prize (Hamburg, Germany) and the first recipient of the V.E. Sokolov Prize for Young Scientists. He has led joint projects with scientists from the United States, Germany, Spain, Ethiopia, and Peru. In 2022, he was elected a Corresponding Member of the Russian Academy of Sciences.
The Institute studies issues of general and specific animal ecology, biodiversity, behavior, and evolutionary morphology, and develops recommendations for environmental conservation.
Anniversary Booklet for the Institute's 90th Anniversary
This booklet contains information about the Institute's history and areas of scientific activity. It describes all of the Institute's divisions, their areas of work, and their achievements. It is available in Russian and English.
Download the Anniversary Booklet for the Institute's 90th Anniversary at this link.