The Department of Zoology was initially established in 1932 as the Biological-Pedagogical Institute, and was one of the first institutions that formed Tel-Aviv University in its early days. Over the years, the department has become the largest academic center for zoological research in Israel and some of its members have played key roles in establishing the various nature conservation institutions and organizations in the country.

Today, the Department of Zoology is still one of the largest departments in the Faculty of Life Sciences. It comprises about forty faculty members and about eighty graduate students. Research in the department covers a wide spectrum of subjects, including Physiology, Endocrinology, Developmental Biology, Ecology, Evolutionary Biology, Animal Behavior and Marine Biology.

The department also encompasses the I. Meier Segals Garden for Zoological Research , the only one of its type in the country, offering unique research and teaching facilities, as well as the zoological collections of the National Museum of Natural History at Tel-Aviv University. The Department of Zoology offers a wide variety of courses for graduate and undergraduate students, as well as educational activities designed for schoolchildren and the general public,organized through the Nature Campus program and the Animals & Society Project.