The collection of the first Zoological Museum was opened in 1837 by the first Chair of Zoology, Eduard Friedrich Poeppig. From 1907, the taxidermist Hermanus Hendrikus ter Meer from Leiden made a decisive contribution with the dermoplastic technique: this made it possible to prepare vertebrates in a proportionate and therefore lifelike manner. In the 1960s a large part of the collection was transferred to other museums, in particular the Leipzig Natural History Museum.