 After being a member on the Eastern Front (World War II) he started his scientific career at the Moscow State University.In 1947 he graduated from the Faculty of Biology, also in that year, he started to work at the Paleontological Institute, Russian Academy of Sciences.In 1950 Maleev presented his PhD thesis, "Morphofunctional analysis of the occipital region of the skull and skeleton of the neck of mammals", being awarded the Candidate of Sciences.