The Department of Zoology came into being after the bifurcation of the Department of Zoology and Entomology in 1972. The Fisheries section of the Department was established as an independent Department of Fisheries in 1994, but was merged again in 2002 and the Department was renamed as the Department of Zoology and Fisheries. The Department then existed at three centres – on the ground floor of the Biological wing, Small Animal Colony and Fisheries Research Complex with modern facilities to work in the areas of Fisheries, Vertebrate Pest Management, Reproductive Biology and Parasitology. With the creation of the Guru Angad Dev Veterinary and Animal Sciences University in 2006, the Fisheries section and Small Animal Colony were shifted to that University and the Department was renamed as the Department of Zoology. At present, the Department of Zoology is on the ground floor of the Biological Wing and the second floor of the main building of the College of Basic Sciences & Humanities. The Resident Instruction Programme in Zoology comprises undergraduate instruction for the students of College of Agriculture and College of Community Science and post-graduation instruction leading to M.Sc. and Ph. D. degrees in Zoology. A 5 year Integrated M. Sc. (Hons) Programme is also being offered by the department.

The postgraduate students are trained in Agricultural Ornithology, Rodent Control, Ecology and Animal Physiology, Biosystematics & Faunal Biodiversity and Parasitology. At present, the emphasis is on (i) effective, efficient and eco-friendly methods of vertebrate pest management, (ii) Ecology and Animal physiology (fertility regulation and environmental biomarkers) (iii) Functional aspects of Faunal biodiversity and ( iv) Parasite and vector biology . The faculty of the Department is actively involved in several research projects sponsored by different funding agencies like ICAR, UGC, DST-PSCST and Punjab State Govt., besides providing outreach services. The Zoological Society, which is a corporate member of the International Society of Zoological Sciences, China, is actively involved in promoting academic and co-curricular activities for students. The department is the recipient of Level-I category grant by the DST-FIST.