The founder of the collection is A. Kots, the reknown scientist-evolutionist, museologist, founder and first director of the Darwinian museum. Since 1907 he was teaching classes on the evolutionary theory in Women’s Courses of Higher Education. He transferred his growing collection to WCHE exhibition halls in Merzlyakovsky Lane for educational purposes. In 1922 the WCHE Museum of Evolutionary History became an independent scientific and educational establishment – the Darwinian Museum, and separates from the educational establishment.
A part of Kots’s collection remained in MPGU after creation of the Darwinian museum. His manuals became the main part of the MPGU zoological and ecological collection. Currently the collection consists of more than 1000 exhibits.
