History of the Institute for Forest Zoology

The cornerstone of the Institute for Forest Zoology was laid in 1868 with the foundation of the Forestal Academy in Hannoversch-Münden.
The regulation of the Royal Forest Academy in Neustadt/Eberswalde and Münden from March 1st, 1868 specifies in §6 the following topics of teaching: "Zoology, in particular ornithology and entomology". The first position as a lecturer was assigned to Bernard Borggreve on April 1st, 1868. The field of teaching comprised "the whole field of botany and zoology, generally the natural history as an auxillary science."

The schedule for the winter semester 1868/69 comprised per week 4 hours of entomology, 3 hours of general zoology and ornithology, and 1 hour of natural history of mammals and lower animals.
In 1921 the Forest Academy was transformed into a Forestal University with a rectoral constitution and the right for conferral of doctorate and state doctorate degrees. 1939 it was assigned as a faculty of the University of Göttingen. In 1970 the institute moved from Hann. Münden to Göttingen.

Lecturers of Forest Zoology:
Bernard Borggreve 1868 - 1872
August Metzger 1873 - 1904
Richard Heymons 1904 - 1906
Ludwig Rhumbler 1906 - 1929
Hermann Eidmann 1929 - 1950
Erwin Schimitschek 1954 - 1966
Siegfried Bombosch 1967 - 1988
Jörg Lunderstädt 1989 - 1999
Stefan Schütz since 2001

Anecdote: The hobby of the first lecturer, Bernard Borggreve, was forestal botany and not zoology. When the courses in botany were to be delegated to a private lecturer Borggreve took his leave and wrote the following lines: "Starting with the coming semester and probably for the rest of my life I would be reduced to the lost position of a zoologist in which I see for the future only a throughfare post for young lecturers or a refuge for the unaccepted …"