Historiae animalium ("History of the Animals") published at
Zurich in 1551–58 and 1587, is an encyclopedic work of "an inventory of renaissance zoology" by
Conrad Gessner, a medical doctor and professor at the
Carolinum in Zürich, the precursor of the
University of Zurich. It is the first modern
zoological work that attempts to describe all the animals known, and the first
bibliography of natural history writings. The five volumes of
natural history of animals cover more than 4500 pages.