Welcome to the

Department of Zoology

University of Cape Town

UCT panorama

The Zoology Department at UCT was founded in 1903.  It is the oldest university department in South Africa, and is situated in a historical building on the Upper Campus. We have 25 academic staff, 10 research officers, 13 research associates, and 14 support staff. In addition there are several post-doctoral research fellows, more than 100 postgraduate, as well as, 16 Honours and about 500 undergraduate students. The Department houses the Marine Biology Research Centre (MBRC), the Percy FitzPatrick Institute, DST/NRF Centre of Excellence (PFIAO), the Freshwater Research Unit (FRU), and the Animal Demography Unit. Other smaller groups coordinate research on mammals, palaeobiology, entomology and physiology.  We also host South African Research Chairs in Evolution and Systematics and in Marine Ecology and Fisheries.  Our department is highly productive and the major portion of the research publications produced by UCT originate in Zoology.