Figure 1.--French illustrator Marcel Marlier provides us this view of children at a French zoo in the early 1960s. The boys wear short shorts. The younger boy knit shorts. The girls all wear dresses.

People have been fascinated by animals since pre-historic times. Notice how in the stone we begin to see increasingly accurate deopictions of animals. And we countless wall sculpturs nof anomals in antiuquity. The Egyptians seem paryocularly captivated bt animals. They even mumified cats and cricidiles. Abd we begin to see pepple keeping wild animals in antiquity. Many kings and queens had menanageries. Wild, exotic animals were especially prized. Modern zoological gardens grew out of the manageries, but are a very modern developmenbt--a creation of Western civilization. The first zoo was opened in London. It was first for scientific study (1828) and then opened to the public (1847). Cities all over Europe and American began opening zoos. Virtually every country had some sort of zoo in its capital city ot major cities. Important countries like England, France, Germany, and Italy have major zoos and no only in he capital. but other major cities as well. The zoos varied greatly in size and diversity of species as well as how well the animals were cared for. There are few important cities, however, that did not have some kind of zoo. Images of the children visiting the zoos provide wonderful views of national fashions as well as changing fashion trends over time. We also get to see the chnging nture of these zoos over time. Some country and chronolical trends are easy to identify, other scenes are more generic in character.

America

American zoos began to appear (1870s). The first American zoos were built in basic park style--they were knownn as zoolohical gardens like the zoos in Europe. There were a range o ways to obtain the animals: donations from the public, the commercial animal trade, and zoo-sponsored collecting expeditions. Thevprincipal purpose was public recrrationjal exhibition. And the zi=ools looked like jails for animals. Thebexhibitioins even had the lookof jail mcells with iron vars prominent for the animals. All of this followed the Europeamn pattern. The focus was on the visitor experience not the animal experiece. Over time we begin to see efforts being made to create more naturalistic enclosures. We begin to see this after world I. But we still see jail like enclosures for some time. Over time this all chganged/ Zoos began focusin more on the animals and creating inviting living spaces for them. Collecting expeditiins ended during Woirld war II and were never resumed. In effect, they have returned tothe otiginsl London Zoo oiurpose of scientific study. But now it us notvjust studung the animals. And as habitat began to disappera in the wild, zoos became involved with preventing wikd sopecies from goung extincr. Promoting reprduction becomes increasiungly important, both to expand genetic dversity and to expand wild populations. Along wuth recreation, mopublic educationbhas becomev important. Over 200 zoos have opened in America and all have findamentally changed. They have not forgotton the visitoir experience. Creatuing nturalistuc living spasces for the animals has enhanced the visuitior experiebces. Theu are becoming less and less like viusiting prisons which was actually rather depressing. All if this what modern zoos from menageries, circuses, and traveling exhibits of wild animals.

England

England has several major urban zoos and in recet years has also developed wildlife, often described as safari parks in the country side. Since ancient times, it had been popular for powerful rulers to maintain menageries of animals, commonly powerful preators like lions and tigers. A few European ruler began ooening their menageries to visitors (late-18th century). The first zoo in the modern sence was the London Zoo (1828). It was not the first zoo, but it was the World's oldest scientific zoo. Iwas situated in the northern edge of Regent's Park. The London Zoo has a current population of 755 different species and a total count of over 16,800 animals. It counts with many firsts desides being the oldest scientific zoo it is also the first zoo to open a Reptile house, Aquarium, Insect house and Children's zoo. The London Zoo is managed by the Zoological Society of London which also manages Whipsnade Zoo where many of the their larger animals have been moved. There are quite a number of other zoos and willife parks located throughout England. Most of the larger cities hve zoos, but not on the same scale of the London Zoo. A medium-size zoo of importance is the Chester zoo. They are olaying n inportant role in breeding enfangered species. Another zoo worth mentioning is the Whipsnade Zoo (1931). It is located near Dunstable in Bedfordshire. The collection includes nearly 230 different species with a population of over 6,400 animals. Whipsnade is a medium size zoo, but it is notble because of the herds of elephants that are allowed to freely roam within the grounds of the zoo. England also has some great Wildlife Park where visitors can enjoy wildlife in natural settings.

France

A French reader tell us that Marcel Marlier provides an accurate illustration of a zoo in southern France, perhaps Nice or Marseilles. He writes, "This was exactly the how French children dressed in 1960. Younger boys wore short pants and girls short dresses. Notice the boy placed to the left in the yellow shirt. He wears knit shorts. The knit shorts were made very short. This was common for boys 2-5 years old in early 1960s. These short knit shorts largely replaced the rompers that were popular through the 1950s."

Germany

Germany before World War I had some of the best zoos in Europe. The best German zoo was the Berlin Zoo, but other major cities like Hamburg had important zoos. I'm less sure about the German zoos after the War. We do know that there were several important zoos after the War. The photographic record provides us many images of children visiting the zoos. Surprisingly we note quite a number of images of children photographed holdiong the animals, including potentially dangerous animals. We have seen quite a number of photographs of boys with lion cubs. The number suggests that this was much more common than in other countries. We wonder if German zoos might have used such photographs as a means of generating additional revenue. During World War II most of the major zoos as they were located in the larger cities were heavily damaged or destroyed by the Allied bombing. I am not sure about the present status of German zoos.

Italy

Russia

We know very little about Russian zoos. We know that Moscow had a zoo, but we do not know about other cities. Nor do we know much about the quality of Russian zoos. Russian zoos before World War II look similar to western zoos. Of course there are limitatioins maintaining tropical species such as popular african species at cold northern latitudes. The Russians, however, have a lot of interesting speies such as Siberian tigers and snow leopards. Many American and European zoos in recent years have made huge changes in zoo displays, creasting natualistic enclosures as well as done important work in breeding to help preserve endangered species. We are not sure if Russian zoos have done the same. Financing may be a problem in modern Russia.

Tajikistan

A reader reports, "The Zoo in Dushambe is run down. You can be round it in 15 minutes. I think it has 3 horses, 1 camel, lots of moth eaten grey bears, 2 donkeys, and various water fowl. There is ice cream seller. Not surprising there is no money to run the place the entrance fee is 5 cents!"

Created: December 31, 2001
Last updated:2:55 PM 10/15/2020