October 1958, an application to establish the Kunming Institute of Zoology (KIZ) was submitted to the Yunnan Provincial Committee of the Communist Party of China and Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS).

April 1959, National Science Committee approved to set up the Kunming Institute of Zoology based on the Laccifer Lacca Research Station of the Entomological Institute.

May 3rd, 1959, Chinese Academy of Sciences agreed to establish the Kunming Institute of Zoology, CAS.

February 1962, CAS combined branches in Yunnan, Sichuan and Guizhou to establish the Southwest Branch CAS in Chengdu, and renamed KIZ as the Southwest Institute of Zoology, CAS.

March 1970, Southwest Branch CAS was disbanded. KIZ then came under the authority of the Yunnan government and was renamed the Yunnan Institute of Zoology.

March 1978, the institute was returned to the Chinese Academy of Sciences and is known since then as the Kunming Institute of Zoology, CAS.