A Guidebook Library: TLD's year-long randomised walkthrough of zoo guides

[TinoPup]

It is indeed a bit of a shock revelation I mean, the avatar certainly didn't give it away, and nor did my collection of stamps, first-day covers and other commemorative material relating to the species......

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You never mentioned collecting that stuff, too! I NEED that last one, I don't think I've even seen those stamps before (watch, I probably own the stamps...)

I would love a poster of some of these, but I have no room for posters

 

[Dassie rat]

On my 50th birthday, I went to Tropical Wings Zoo. The main aim was to see a marbled polecat. I achieved that. The friendliest animal was a slender-billed cockatoo, one of the 'Bachelor Boys', which said 'Hello' to me.

 

[TeaLovingDave]

Day 48: Lowther Wildlife Park (1971) - Deer Fawn

Page count: 10 pages (including inner front and rear covers)
Photographs: 5 colour photographs
Illustrations/diagrams: 2 animal drawings
Layout: Introduction to collection, followed by summary of species held and further information on Lowther estates.
Map: Two maps; simplified map of collection on inside front cover, and map of southern Lake District on inside rear cover.

An interesting little oddity today, with a pretty brief guidebook released by Lowther Wildlife Park not long after it first opened in 1969; this collection would ultimately close down in 2000, and although I visited the Lake District with my family regularly throughout the 1990s it is a collection I never reached (largely due to the fact that, given the poverty I grew up in, we couldn't afford to visit zoos or other tourist attractions; before starting to visit zoological collections in earnest in 2010 I had literally visited only four zoological collections in my lifetime) and know little-to-nothing about barring that which is recorded within my zoo guidebooks.

The guidebook opens with a simplified map of the collection - which largely consisted, at the time of publication, of a large drive-through deer park supplemented by a handful of captive exhibit areas - and a list of visitor rules and guidelines, followed by a general introduction to the Wildlife Park; this discusses the general location of the collection within the Lowther Country Park estate, and summarises the layout and key features within.

Beyond here, the main body of the guidebook comprises a general summary of the species held within the collection at the time of publication, covering various key facts relating to each species and - in many cases - listing the full scientific name for the taxa in question; these species discussions are at their most detailed where the species displayed within the drive-through deer park are concerned, with the various waterfowl species present on the Decoy Pond dismissed within a single paragraph, and the collection of UK and European native wildlife and parrots displayed within the Woodland Walk granted only marginally more text space overall. As such this section is reasonably good in parts, but generally speaking feels a lot more patchy and sparse than the most-comparable guidebooks we have discussed thus from Riber Castle and Southampton Zoo; given the attention paid in the opening pages of the guidebook to promoting visits to Lowther Wildlife Park and discussing how it could be reached from surrounding population hubs, it feels more like a promotional item sold elsewhere in order to encourage visitors to the zoo rather than a guidebook sold *at* the zoo as a momento of a visit to the collection.

The guidebook closes with general information on how to reach the collection - further strengthening my above suspicions about the general purpose of this guidebook - and discussion of the joint owners of the collection; the Lowther family within whose estate the collection was located, and the private company Totalisator and Greyhound Holdings Limited, responsible for managing a variety of greyhound racing stadia and other sports venues around the country. A curious note about the latter segment is that the old Gosforth Greyhound Stadium is mentioned; this was demolished in 1988, but was located only a mile or so from where I am sitting at this very moment, with the site now being the home to an ASDA supermarket!

The inner rear cover of the guidebook contains a large map of the southeast Lake District - then extending across portions of the historical counties of Cumberland and Westmoreland - showing the location of Lowther Wildlife Park in relation to various of the key settlements and roads at the time of publication; this represents an interesting historical document in its own right, incidentally, showing as it does the M6 motorway whilst it was still in the process of being constructed, and possibly being one of the first guidebooks to a tourist location within the north of England to depict the A66 road which spans the Pennine mountains bisecting much of northern England. This road was largely built on the track-bed of the railway lines decommissioned a few years beforehand which had originally connected County Durham with the Lake District; as such, given the fact that myself and my family drove along the A66 on a near-monthly basis in order to visit the Lake District in my youth, this is a part of the world which I am rather familiar with, even if I never visited this particular collection.... ..... although due to the modern-day presence of the Lakeland Bird of Prey Centre elsewhere on the Lowther estate, I have subsequently achieved the next-best thing!

Overall, then, a somewhat lightweight item which is mostly of interest to a guidebook collector with an interest in closed UK collections, and the zoo-historical value of documents published by said collections, and perhaps less of interest to the casual zoo enthusiast. That said, I would be very interested to hear whether anyone reading this thread ever visited Lowther Wildlife Park during the thirty years or so it existed!

 

[TeaLovingDave]

Day 49: Brookfield Zoo (1948) - King Penguins

Page count: 108 pages
Photographs: c. 82 black-and-white photos
Illustrations/diagrams: N/A
Layout: Introduction to collection and visitor information, followed by a general walkthrough account of the species and exhibits within the zoo, divided by rough taxonomic groupings.
Map: Two maps; one within the introduction showing the location of the collection in Chicago, and a simplified map of the zoo on the back cover.

A request this time round - @pachyderm pro asked me if I had any guidebooks from Brookfield Zoo, and if so whether I'd be willing to discuss one of them. The answer to both of these questions being most certainly in the affirmative, I ran my random number generator on a restricted sample (that is to say, solely the Brookfield guidebooks in my collection) and ended up selecting this rather nice item.

The guidebook opens with the above contents page, which - in a move which may interest @Coelacanth18 and @MRJ - makes a point of specifying who was responsible for writing various segments of the guidebook, and moreover the individuals responsible for producing the cover art and the collection map on the rear cover ; the fact that the introductory segment detailing various key facts about the collection is credited to Edward H Bean, the first director of Brookfield Zoo who had been killed in an automobile accident in 1945, three years prior to the publication of this guidebook, rather betrays the fact that the text of the guidebook has doubtless been reproduced across multiple editions, with minor edits whenever required. It is, however, rather interesting and informative both to learn who was responsible for the production of this guidebook, to note the fact that the authors were senior members of the zoo management rather than out-of-house writers working on commission, and that the writing duties were divided between the relevant animal departments.

After a brief foreword written by the President of the Chicago Zoological Society, providing a general introduction to Brookfield Zoo and recounting some of the events which led to the collection opening in 1934, a full list of the various officers, trustees and members of the society is presented prior to a map which - as can be seen above - shows the location and rough footprint of the zoo within suburban Chicago, alongside information on the various means by which visitors could reach the collection, the opening hours of the zoo and the regulations pertaining to admission charges. The latter of these is particularly interesting, as it indicates that at the time of publication a fairly complex system of free-entry and paid-entry days was in operation, with entrance costs also influenced by age, taxation and military status.

Beyond here, the aforementioned section written by the late director of the collection discusses various interesting and noteworthy points about the collection; along with discussion of the amenities and services available to visitors, there are also segments relating to the architectural style and enclosure design used within the zoo, plans for future expansion and development, the way in which the species collection was arranged and displayed, and the means by which species were obtained by the Zoological Society; this all represents precisely the sort of information which I feel is valuable within a zoo guidebook, and which is seldom presented in more modern-day items in my experience.

The main body of the guidebook comprises three separate walkthrough accounts discussing the species held within the collection at the time of publication, each focusing on a different grouping of animals and written by the zoo curator responsible for said group; as such the section discussing the mammal collection at Brookfield Zoo was written by Robert Bean, the curator for mammals and the Director of the zoo - and, incidentally, the son of the previous director. This section, as is the case for those which follow, contains a large amount of black-and-white photographs depicting various of the species, exhibits and buildings located within the collection, all illustrating detailed accounts relaying not merely taxonomic, behavioural and conservational information about the species themselves, but also the history of their presence at Brookfield Zoo, the exhibits in which they were displayed, and in many cases potted biographies of specific individuals. The species collection presented here contains few surprises; however, I was interested to note discussion of the "Vaughan's White-eared Cob", a local form ostensibly representing an intergrade between White-eared and Ugandan Kob - I have been unable to find any indication online of what precisely this may have been, whether a hybrid between the two taxa, a synonym for one or the other, or indeed a synonym for another taxon entirely.

Perhaps the most interesting point within this section - occupying the central pages of the guidebook as a whole - is a photographic montage depicting the process by which the pair of Indian Rhinoceros present at the zoo were captured in the Kaziranga Game Sanctuary in Assam, India and transported to the zoo in early 1948; even in earlier and more in-depth zoo guidebooks such as this one, detailed accounts of the process by which animals were captured for zoological collections are few and far between. As such, this provides a very interesting and valuable source of information as regards the history not only of this collection, but of zoological collections everywhere at the time this guidebook was published.

This section is followed by similar walkthrough accounts relating to birds - written by Karl Plath, the curator of birds at the time of publication - and reptiles, amphibians and invertebrates - written by Robert Snedigar, the curator responsible for these groups. As is the case for the preceding segment, these segments are well-illustrated and contain a vast amount of information on the species and exhibits concerned; for instance, when discussing the Aquatic Bird House, various details are provided relating to the design and - pivotally - the precise dimensions of the large "Flying Cage" which was located along one entire wall of the structure. Unlike the prior mammal segment, the section of the guidebook pertaining to the bird collection highlights several rather significant and unusual species which were held at Brookfield Zoo at the time of publication, or had been present within the recent past; perhaps the most unusual from the point of view of a modern-day zoo enthusiast are Galapagos Penguin,
Philippine Eagle and Resplendent Quetzal, the last of which was held intermittently at the collection for several years in the 1940s and 1950s.

Beyond here, the guidebook concludes with a very detailed and comprehensive index listing page references for more or less every single species mentioned within the main body of the text - whether present in the collection or not. Again, this is precisely the sort of information which I feel is valuable within a zoo guidebook, especially one which provides as much detail within the species accounts as is the case here.

The above black-and-white map of the collection is located on the rear of the guidebook; as can be seen, it is fairly plain and simplistic, which makes it very easy to reference even if it is not terribly attractive to look at, and gives a rather good impression of just how much of the collection footprint at the time of publication was taken up by open spaces and tree-lined avenues, striking me as somewhat reminiscent of a combination of Bristol Zoo and Warsaw Zoo in general feel and design - although I am certain that were I ever to visit Brookfield Zoo in person, I would find few if any similarities to the collections in question. Notably, the guidebook specifically states that a more detailed colour map was available for purchase at various points within the collection itself; I would be quite interested to see how the map in question differs from the one provided within the guidebook!

Overall, then, this is a rather interesting and appealing guidebook, managing a decent balance between providing detailed information about the species and exhibits present within the collection, and giving a more general and accessible overview of the collection as a whole, containing many of the key aspects which I feel are most important within a zoo guidebook - historical discussion, explanation of the design and architectural choices used within the exhibits and houses within the collection, discussion of the taxa and individual animals held, and copious high-quality illustration in the form of photographs. Moreover, as is the case for many of the earlier guidebooks published by Brookfield Zoo, the cover art is extremely attractive - another major plus point in my opinion!

I've definitely skipped over a lot of content, and as such there is plenty of scope for discussion and questions - but for now, it should suffice to say that this is definitely a guidebook which is worth picking up if one ever has the opportunity.

 

[TinoPup]

Another fantastic, detailed book. So many of the ones you've posted are like that. Given how large your collection is, has the random number generator just been randomly hitting on all of these great ones and there's a bunch that are fairly crap, or are most of this quality?

 

[Chlidonias]

The species collection presented here contains few surprises; however, I was interested to note discussion of the "Vaughan's White-eared Cob", a local form ostensibly representing an intergrade between White-eared and Ugandan Kob - I have been unable to find any indication online of what precisely this may have been, whether a hybrid between the two taxa, a synonym for one or the other, or indeed a synonym for another taxon entirely.

It was described by Lydekker in 1906 under the name Cobus vaughani based on a rufous-coloured specimen of White-eared Kob Kobus (kob) leucotis. The type specimen is in the BMNH. Even Groves treats it as a synonym of leucotis.

 

[Coelacanth18]

and gives a rather good impression of just how much of the collection footprint at the time of publication was taken up by open spaces and tree-lined avenues,

Still is, in fact. Maybe it's just the large size (200+ acres) or the fact that it's flat and rectangular, but I remember it feeling like it was lavishly built out with paths, trees and fountains but with lots of unused space. It might be a bit more developed now because of Tropic World, but otherwise not significantly so.

Another small weird detail on that map is that only two restrooms are labeled - one for men and one for women, located a considerable distance apart for some reason?

 

[TeaLovingDave]

Another fantastic, detailed book. So many of the ones you've posted are like that. Given how large your collection is, has the random number generator just been randomly hitting on all of these great ones and there's a bunch that are fairly crap, or are most of this quality?

I'd say the majority of my collection have at least a few redeeming features, yeah - there *are* a few significantly worse guidebooks, but if they were randomly selected it would probably be quite interesting to discuss them. The main issue would be if anything completely bland came up, I reckon! Given I already put my thumb on the scales once in order to select a Brookfield guidebook for @pachyderm pro , and have openly stated I am happy for other people to make general suggestions for the sort of content they would like to see, I'm certainly willing to draw up a list of some of the "bad" guidebooks and randomly select one sometime. The fact that more than a quarter of my collection is taken up with Zoo Berlin, Tierpark Berlin, Walsrode, Tierpark Hellabrunn and London Zoo guidebooks - all of which, barring the more recent London guidebooks, represent some of the very best in the entire guidebook pantheon - definitely helps with the random selection too

On a related note, given advice from yourself, @Coelacanth18 , @CGSwans and a few others, I'll be putting my thumb on the scale where Zoo Berlin guidebooks are concerned in a very specific manner going forward - given the fact I have previously discussed the consecutive 1899 and 1901 editions, and some reading this thread have expressed the desire to see the development of a zoo handled in a more coherent fashion without jumping around the timeline, going forward I'll continue to handle guidebooks from this collection consecutively.... so whenever *any* Zoo Berlin guidebook is randomly selected, the next one in my collection on the consecutive list will be discussed instead.

Still is, in fact. Maybe it's just the large size (200+ acres) or the fact that it's flat and rectangular, but I remember it feeling like it was lavishly built out with paths, trees and fountains but with lots of unused space. It might be a bit more developed now because of Tropic World, but otherwise not significantly so.

Very interesting - it might well be more reminiscent of a much larger and more-developed Zoo Warsaw or Wilhelma than I'd have initially guessed then!

 

[HOMIN96]

feel it is a distinct pity that although the updated guidebook released to mark the second exhibition is still available on the Zoo Praha web-shop, they do not ship outside of Czechia....

You know...maybe you could ask a certain Czech Zoochatter and maybe we could've figured something out

somewhat strangely - a segment promoting Tierpark Chemnitz across the border in southeast Germany; the presence of this latter item is somewhat less unexpected when one considers the fact that the two cities in question are only around 35 miles apart from one another, a fact made rather explicit by the fact that the rear cover of the guidebook comprises a detailed map of the Czech-German border.

This is actually very common in all our border regions - both countries promoting tourist attractions "on the other side," often, there are even official partnership programs.

 

[TeaLovingDave]

Day 50: Glasgow Zoo (1986) - Lioness

Page count: 26 pages (including interior front and rear covers)
Photographs: c. 14 colour photos
Illustrations/diagrams: c.24 drawings
Layout: General overview of species held in collection, arranged by rough taxonomic groupings, followed by brief section relating to Zoological Society of Glasgow and West Scotland.
Map: Located within interior rear cover.

A fairly short and simple one today, from a UK collection which we lost along the way; although I visited and passed through Glasgow many times during my childhood, on my way to and from the Scottish Highlands with my family, I never had the chance to visit Glasgow Zoo before it closed in August 2003. As I have noted in the past, I grew up in a rather poor family and visiting things like zoos and other such attractions was something we could not afford to do... although I must admit that even so, it was not until several years after the collection closed that I even learned there had *been* a zoo in Glasgow! Even now, given the fact it is seldom discussed on Zoochat other than as the origin for given animals, in lists of closed collections members of the forum have visited, and so forth, I know relatively little about the zoo and what it was actually like. This was certainly a major reason why I sought to obtain at least one or two guidebooks published by the collection; although it took me quite some time, I eventually managed to do so early last year.

Unfortunately, as I will now discuss, this guidebook really does not further this aim very much at all!

After a very brief introduction to the guidebook and a contents page, both presented above, the main body of the guidebook presents a general overview of some of the species held in the collection at the time of publication; this primarily comprises a paragraph or two covering random trivia about the species in question, interspersed with occasional remarks only vaguely connecting them to the zoo. The text is fairly lavishly illustrated with a variety of colour photographs and black-and-white drawings showing the various species discussed within, along with a small number of more informative diagrams; for instance, in the section pertaining to elephants there is a simplified drawing showing the difference in size and morphology between the African and Asian species. Throughout the majority of the guidebook, in fact, more of the page is occupied by these drawings than the surrounding text!

As such, it is very much apparent that the guidebook is solidly aimed at a child audience, given the general level of content and reading complexity within; this is no bad thing per se, but the fact that the guidebook barely even mentions the zoological collection to which it pertains, containing little to no content relating to the zoo itself, and feels a little inconsistent in tone all act to the detriment of the whole in my opinion. Furthermore, the overall presentation and layout of this section in a somewhat difficult-to-read column format is another distinct negative; due to the fact that the text is often broken up by photographs or drawings, sentences which start in the upper right-hand column of the guidebook are cut off and resume in the lower left-hand column, and title bars marking a new subject of discussion often appear *above* whole swathes of text pertaining to the previous subject. All of these points - the positive and the negative - are rather well-demonstrated by the below image showing the section of the guidebook pertaining to some of the cat collection at the zoo; note, for instance, the presence of a large title bar for "Bears" which appears above a photograph and several paragraphs belonging to the prior segment, and which applies solely to a single paragraph appearing beyond these.

Beyond the species accounts, the guidebook proper concludes with a small number of brief paragraphs promoting membership of the Zoological Society, along with animal adoptions and education programmes available at the zoo; other than the aforementioned very brief introduction to the guidebook, this comprises more or less the only content relating to the zoo itself within the guidebook barring the (admittedly rather attractive and well-labelled, if simplistic) collection map present within the interior rear cover.

In conclusion, this guidebook is a little bit of a damp squib in many ways - it certainly has elements which can be recommended, such as the photographs and drawings presented alongside the main body of the text, and the information presented within some of the individual species accounts, but it otherwise feels like something of a wasted opportunity, conveying little to nothing about the collection to which it pertains and often feeling like something which could theoretically have the name of *any* collection attached to the front cover with only minor edits to the content within. Although this is not the first guidebook we have discussed which presents little information about the collection at hand, the previously-discussed guidebook to Parc des Felins having also contained relatively little of this nature, the overall quality of what *was* presented in the latter guidebook went some way to counteracting any shortfall. When one considers that, a few short years later, another Scottish collection in a far more remote location and seeing far lower visitor numbers managed to produce a guidebook like the one we recently discussed for Highland Wildlife Park, the feeling of a missed opportunity is only increased.

I actually thought, when starting this post, that I'd end up being a little more positive about this one than I actually have been - so @TinoPup has ended up getting her look at a less-impressive guidebook from my collection a little earlier than I indicated!

 

[TinoPup]

Day 50: Glasgow Zoo (1986) - Lioness

Page count: 26 pages (including interior front and rear covers)
Photographs: c. 14 colour photos
Illustrations/diagrams: c.24 drawings
Layout: General overview of species held in collection, arranged by rough taxonomic groupings, followed by brief section relating to Zoological Society of Glasgow and West Scotland.
Map: Located within interior rear cover.

A fairly short and simple one today, from a UK collection which we lost along the way; although I visited and passed through Glasgow many times during my childhood, on my way to and from the Scottish Highlands with my family, I never had the chance to visit Glasgow Zoo before it closed in August 2003. As I have noted in the past, I grew up in a rather poor family and visiting things like zoos and other such attractions was something we could not afford to do... although I must admit that even so, it was not until several years after the collection closed that I even learned there had *been* a zoo in Glasgow! Even now, given the fact it is seldom discussed on Zoochat other than as the origin for given animals, in lists of closed collections members of the forum have visited, and so forth, I know relatively little about the zoo and what it was actually like. This was certainly a major reason why I sought to obtain at least one or two guidebooks published by the collection; although it took me quite some time, I eventually managed to do so early last year.

Unfortunately, as I will now discuss, this guidebook really does not further this aim very much at all!

After a very brief introduction to the guidebook and a contents page, both presented above, the main body of the guidebook presents a general overview of some of the species held in the collection at the time of publication; this primarily comprises a paragraph or two covering random trivia about the species in question, interspersed with occasional remarks only vaguely connecting them to the zoo. The text is fairly lavishly illustrated with a variety of colour photographs and black-and-white drawings showing the various species discussed within, along with a small number of more informative diagrams; for instance, in the section pertaining to elephants there is a simplified drawing showing the difference in size and morphology between the African and Asian species. Throughout the majority of the guidebook, in fact, more of the page is occupied by these drawings than the surrounding text!

As such, it is very much apparent that the guidebook is solidly aimed at a child audience, given the general level of content and reading complexity within; this is no bad thing per se, but the fact that the guidebook barely even mentions the zoological collection to which it pertains, containing little to no content relating to the zoo itself, and feels a little inconsistent in tone all act to the detriment of the whole in my opinion. Furthermore, the overall presentation and layout of this section in a somewhat difficult-to-read column format is another distinct negative; due to the fact that the text is often broken up by photographs or drawings, sentences which start in the upper right-hand column of the guidebook are cut off and resume in the lower left-hand column, and title bars marking a new subject of discussion often appear *above* whole swathes of text pertaining to the previous subject. All of these points - the positive and the negative - are rather well-demonstrated by the below image showing the section of the guidebook pertaining to some of the cat collection at the zoo; note, for instance, the presence of a large title bar for "Bears" which appears above a photograph and several paragraphs belonging to the prior segment, and which applies solely to a single paragraph appearing beyond these.

Beyond the species accounts, the guidebook proper concludes with a small number of brief paragraphs promoting membership of the Zoological Society, along with animal adoptions and education programmes available at the zoo; other than the aforementioned very brief introduction to the guidebook, this comprises more or less the only content relating to the zoo itself within the guidebook barring the (admittedly rather attractive and well-labelled, if simplistic) collection map present within the interior rear cover.

In conclusion, this guidebook is a little bit of a damp squib in many ways - it certainly has elements which can be recommended, such as the photographs and drawings presented alongside the main body of the text, and the information presented within some of the individual species accounts, but it otherwise feels like something of a wasted opportunity, conveying little to nothing about the collection to which it pertains and often feeling like something which could theoretically have the name of *any* collection attached to the front cover with only minor edits to the content within. Although this is not the first guidebook we have discussed which presents little information about the collection at hand, the previously-discussed guidebook to Parc des Felins having also contained relatively little of this nature, the overall quality of what *was* presented in the latter guidebook went some way to counteracting any shortfall. When one considers that, a few short years later, another Scottish collection in a far more remote location and seeing far lower visitor numbers managed to produce a guidebook like the one we recently discussed for Highland Wildlife Park, the feeling of a missed opportunity is only increased.

I actually thought, when starting this post, that I'd end up being a little more positive about this one than I actually have been - so @TinoPup has ended up getting her look at a less-impressive guidebook from my collection a little earlier than I indicated!

Less important but still has cheetahs It's more of a guide to the species at the zoo, vs a guide for the zoo itself. Helpful to kids and their parents, I imagine, so they remember things about the species they hadn't heard of before, but not so helpful to people like us.

 

[Coelacanth18]

Shame that the guidebook you obtained wasn't very helpful from a historical standpoint. I've been curious about Glasgow Zoo since I noticed it browsing on ZTL, wondering about how a major zoo in one of the UK's largest cities could fail (although it seems like this has been more of a phenomenon in the UK than in the US). At least the map provides a little bit of information.

Out of curiosity, have you done any successful searching for books or other literature about the history and evolution of this place? Do you know generally or in detail about why it closed?

 

[Shirokuma]

I am also interested in Glasgow zoo. I like the map as it gives an impression of the physical appearance of the zoo but I dislike its lack of comprehensive labelling.

Out of curiosity, have you done any successful searching for books or other literature about the history and evolution of this place? Do you know generally or in detail about why it closed?

Here is a BBC news story from the time of the closure:

A financial crisis has led to the closure of Glasgow Zoo and the transfer of its animals to new homes.

Calderpark Zoo opened just after World War Two and had been popular with generations of visitors.

A loss of public funding, though, in recent years has forced the attraction to close its gates for the last time. It stopped receiving public cash in 2000 and has been swamped with debts of £3.5m.

As buildings and enclosures deteriorated and visitor numbers fell, a decision was taken in 1999 to sell off part of the land for housing.

Concern

The attraction has come under fire from animal welfare organisations, which highlighted concerns about conditions and public safety - and called for the park to be closed down.

Staff at the zoo are now working with the SSPCA to relocate the collection, which includes two lions and three Bengal tigers - as well as Bongo the Black Asian bear.

Homes have been found for most of the animals, but there are worries about two female Asiatic black bears, which may not be fit to move elsewhere.

Spokeswoman, Alicia McGrewer, said: "The lions and tigers have homes but the bears are the animals causing most concern.

"Because of their age, a full medical examination will have to be carried out to see if they are fit to travel before we can talk about where the best place for them to go is."

Criticism

She added: "All the other animals, the SSPCA and the zoo are confident, will be found suitable homes."

Defending the zoo against its critics, Ms McGrewer said: "The animals have always been fine.

"It is the humans who have not liked the aesthetics of Glasgow Zoo but animal welfare has never been compromised."

If the Zoological Society, which is a charity, manages to sell off land to repay debts, it will investigate the commercial viability of opening a new animal-based visitor attraction in the east end of the city.

Some notes on the zoo's development.

The 1977 book “Animals on View” by Anthony Smith says:

Considerable building has been achieved recently: a primate house, an elephant and rhino house, and a camel and zebra house. An aquarium is being built. But Calderpark fell on bad times in recent years and the new management is struggling to improve the place. Unfortunately, there is much to be done.

Fifteen years later, 1992’s “The Good Zoo Guide” by John Ironmonger has a more detailed write up of the zoo and notes

“Today, according to the guidebook, Glasgow Zoo is a ‘fast developing and forward-looking zoo” and it does seem as if the zoo in recent years has been virtually rebuilt, starting with basic services - drains, water, electricity and new tarmac pathways, and extending to large new paddock areas and new animal houses. The rebuilding is sorely needed in many places, where some rather old-fashioned cages no longer really represent the new mood of the zoo.

In 1988 a new enclosure for Asiatic black bears was opened and won the Zoo Animal Welfare Award from the Universities Federation for Animal Welfare in 1989 which the author says “must be one of the finest in Europe”

Ironmonger concludes:

…there seems to be a positive mood of regeneration about the place… All things considered, it looks as if the Glasgow and West of Scotland Zoological Society are at last providing for the people of Glasgow an exciting and developing zoological garden.

 

[MRJ]

wondering about how a major zoo in one of the UK's largest cities could fail

An interesting contrast between UK and US zoos is that most major zoos in the US seem to have some degree of support from some level of government, there is very little government support for zoos in the UK. Even in the case where the city of Detroit went broke, provision was made for the Zoo to receive benefit from a special tax. I get the feeling most governments in the UK are ok with zoos just disappearing. This contrasts starkly with other areas of government.

 

[Shirokuma]

I think part of it relates to them being seen as “attractions” rather than “institutions” with a civic, charitable and scientific basis.

 

[TeaLovingDave]

Day 51: Tynemouth Aquarium (2019) - The North East's Aquarium

Page count: 30 pages (including interior front and rear covers)
Photographs: 35 colour photos
Illustrations/diagrams: c.34 colour drawings and 4 pages of children's puzzles
Layout: General overview of exhibits within collection, and associated information on collection.
Map: N/A

This time round, we cover the current guidebook for what is, for all intents and purposes, my de-facto local collection; I have not managed to visit the collection in several years, and as such my last visit dates to the days when it was still known as Blue Reef Aquarium Tynemouth. At the time it was a reasonably good collection, albeit somewhat generic and commercialised as one would imagine given the branding; although it is still owned by the Aspro Parks group, certain features of this guidebook tend to indicate that since being rebranded to Tynemouth Aquarium the collection may well have become somewhat more distinct from its peers, as I hope this discussion will demonstrate.

The first key point that should be made is that - although the guidebooks published by the various Blue Reef aquariums have always been somewhat more detailed and high-quality when compared to those found at the rival SeaLIfe chain, in my experience the previous guidebooks published at this collection differed very little from those published at other aquariums within the chain, with only token gestures made to indicate the differences between the various collections. Conversely, from the opening pages of this particular guidebook - comprising a list of visitor rules and guidelines, and a contents page listing the various segments found within the main body of the text - the format and presentation is very different from those which preceded it; moreover, several of the references made in the aforementioned contents page demonstrate a shift in focus towards the unique and more localised features of the collection.

For instance, the guidebook section relating to the rockpool exhibits and other areas of the collection displaying native marine life found around the British coastline suggests that this portion of the aquarium - which, from memory, used to bear a fairly generic name - has been renamed to "St Mary's Island". This is extremely appropriate and ties the exhibit, and the collection as a whole, a lot more closely to the area in which it is located; the eponymous island is located a few miles north of Tynemouth Aquarium, just outside the town of Whitley Bay, and is accessible at low tide via a causeway. This island represents a major hauling-out point for the local seal population, and also one of the best locations in this immediate area for sea-watching, rock-pooling, observing the local coastal bird population and a variety of related activities, and as such has doubtless been responsible for promoting an interest in wildlife within many generations of the local population. In fact, when @ThylacineAlive first visited the United Kingdom in August 2016 and stayed with myself and Helly for a short stretch of his overall travels, this is one of the various locations where I took him in order to boost his wild seabird life-list!

The general level of content within this guidebook is pretty strong - although the vast majority of material published by collections such as this one tends to be very much produced with a younger audience in mind, and this guidebook is no exception, it nonetheless serves the purpose of being a guide *to* Tynemouth Aquarium rather than using the collection as a vague framing device rather well; the text describes the various distinct exhibits and areas within the aquarium in an interesting and appealing fashion, whilst remaining accessible to children, and the text regularly relates specifically to the collection in question rather than speaking in more broad generalities. Moreover, throughout the guidebook there are segments discussing a variety of wider subjects, including a general overview of the day-to-day routine of the aquarium staff, ways in which people can change their lifestyle to have a beneficial impact on the environment and help to conserve marine ecosystems, and a discussion of the difference between seals and sea-lions. Therefore, although the fact that this guidebook is primarily intended for a younger audience - even including, as most guidebooks of this sort do, several pages of puzzles and children's games in the central pages - it nonetheless contains much that is of wider value and appeal.

Without visiting the collection again, of course, I cannot say for certain that the aforementioned rock-pool and British coastal exhibits *have* been rebranded to a more region-specific name as this guidebook implies. However, one segment within this guidebook discusses an aspect of Tynemouth Aquarium which (even before the collection was renamed and distanced itself from the Blue Reef brand) significantly differentiated it from its peers, and which in prior guidebooks to the collection was only mentioned in passing, if at all; the rehabilitation and rescue unit for seals and other stranded or injured coastal wildlife. This has operated at the aquarium for over a decade, and regularly rescues and re-releases seal pups which have been abandoned or injured throughout the coastline of northeast England, with adult seals and seabirds having also been rehabilitated here at several points in the past. The relevant section of this guidebook, as demonstrated in the below screenshot, uses this as an educational opportunity to discuss the correct behaviour and conduct around any wild seals which a visitor to the area may encounter; this is, regrettably, one of the most important points which the guidebook as a whole can make, as the aforementioned hauling-out area for seals at St Mary's Island has seen several deaths and injuries in recent years due to the inconsiderate and abhorrent behaviour of certain members of the public, up to and including people deliberately allowing their dogs to attack the seals present there.

To conclude; this is a rather interesting and appealing guidebook to a collection which, although definitely rather pleasant and worth visiting if one ever finds themselves in this part of the world, I have seldom found myself inclined to revisit given the fact that it has been rather slow to change in the past. However, given the contents of this guidebook and the distinct upgrade it represents in both quality and distinctiveness when compared to prior editions, and the potential this holds for changes within the collection itself, I rather think that the time is long overdue for a return visit.

 

[aardvark250]

Day 49: Brookfield Zoo (1948) - King Penguins

Page count: 108 pages
Photographs: c. 82 black-and-white photos
Illustrations/diagrams: N/A
Layout: Introduction to collection and visitor information, followed by a general walkthrough account of the species and exhibits within the zoo, divided by rough taxonomic groupings.
Map: Two maps; one within the introduction showing the location of the collection in Chicago, and a simplified map of the zoo on the back cover.

A request this time round - @pachyderm pro asked me if I had any guidebooks from Brookfield Zoo, and if so whether I'd be willing to discuss one of them. The answer to both of these questions being most certainly in the affirmative, I ran my random number generator on a restricted sample (that is to say, solely the Brookfield guidebooks in my collection) and ended up selecting this rather nice item.

The guidebook opens with the above contents page, which - in a move which may interest @Coelacanth18 and @MRJ - makes a point of specifying who was responsible for writing various segments of the guidebook, and moreover the individuals responsible for producing the cover art and the collection map on the rear cover ; the fact that the introductory segment detailing various key facts about the collection is credited to Edward H Bean, the first director of Brookfield Zoo who had been killed in an automobile accident in 1945, three years prior to the publication of this guidebook, rather betrays the fact that the text of the guidebook has doubtless been reproduced across multiple editions, with minor edits whenever required. It is, however, rather interesting and informative both to learn who was responsible for the production of this guidebook, to note the fact that the authors were senior members of the zoo management rather than out-of-house writers working on commission, and that the writing duties were divided between the relevant animal departments.

After a brief foreword written by the President of the Chicago Zoological Society, providing a general introduction to Brookfield Zoo and recounting some of the events which led to the collection opening in 1934, a full list of the various officers, trustees and members of the society is presented prior to a map which - as can be seen above - shows the location and rough footprint of the zoo within suburban Chicago, alongside information on the various means by which visitors could reach the collection, the opening hours of the zoo and the regulations pertaining to admission charges. The latter of these is particularly interesting, as it indicates that at the time of publication a fairly complex system of free-entry and paid-entry days was in operation, with entrance costs also influenced by age, taxation and military status.

Beyond here, the aforementioned section written by the late director of the collection discusses various interesting and noteworthy points about the collection; along with discussion of the amenities and services available to visitors, there are also segments relating to the architectural style and enclosure design used within the zoo, plans for future expansion and development, the way in which the species collection was arranged and displayed, and the means by which species were obtained by the Zoological Society; this all represents precisely the sort of information which I feel is valuable within a zoo guidebook, and which is seldom presented in more modern-day items in my experience.

The main body of the guidebook comprises three separate walkthrough accounts discussing the species held within the collection at the time of publication, each focusing on a different grouping of animals and written by the zoo curator responsible for said group; as such the section discussing the mammal collection at Brookfield Zoo was written by Robert Bean, the curator for mammals and the Director of the zoo - and, incidentally, the son of the previous director. This section, as is the case for those which follow, contains a large amount of black-and-white photographs depicting various of the species, exhibits and buildings located within the collection, all illustrating detailed accounts relaying not merely taxonomic, behavioural and conservational information about the species themselves, but also the history of their presence at Brookfield Zoo, the exhibits in which they were displayed, and in many cases potted biographies of specific individuals. The species collection presented here contains few surprises; however, I was interested to note discussion of the "Vaughan's White-eared Cob", a local form ostensibly representing an intergrade between White-eared and Ugandan Kob - I have been unable to find any indication online of what precisely this may have been, whether a hybrid between the two taxa, a synonym for one or the other, or indeed a synonym for another taxon entirely.

Perhaps the most interesting point within this section - occupying the central pages of the guidebook as a whole - is a photographic montage depicting the process by which the pair of Indian Rhinoceros present at the zoo were captured in the Kaziranga Game Sanctuary in Assam, India and transported to the zoo in early 1948; even in earlier and more in-depth zoo guidebooks such as this one, detailed accounts of the process by which animals were captured for zoological collections are few and far between. As such, this provides a very interesting and valuable source of information as regards the history not only of this collection, but of zoological collections everywhere at the time this guidebook was published.

This section is followed by similar walkthrough accounts relating to birds - written by Karl Plath, the curator of birds at the time of publication - and reptiles, amphibians and invertebrates - written by Robert Snedigar, the curator responsible for these groups. As is the case for the preceding segment, these segments are well-illustrated and contain a vast amount of information on the species and exhibits concerned; for instance, when discussing the Aquatic Bird House, various details are provided relating to the design and - pivotally - the precise dimensions of the large "Flying Cage" which was located along one entire wall of the structure. Unlike the prior mammal segment, the section of the guidebook pertaining to the bird collection highlights several rather significant and unusual species which were held at Brookfield Zoo at the time of publication, or had been present within the recent past; perhaps the most unusual from the point of view of a modern-day zoo enthusiast are Galapagos Penguin,
Philippine Eagle and Resplendent Quetzal, the last of which was held intermittently at the collection for several years in the 1940s and 1950s.

Beyond here, the guidebook concludes with a very detailed and comprehensive index listing page references for more or less every single species mentioned within the main body of the text - whether present in the collection or not. Again, this is precisely the sort of information which I feel is valuable within a zoo guidebook, especially one which provides as much detail within the species accounts as is the case here.

The above black-and-white map of the collection is located on the rear of the guidebook; as can be seen, it is fairly plain and simplistic, which makes it very easy to reference even if it is not terribly attractive to look at, and gives a rather good impression of just how much of the collection footprint at the time of publication was taken up by open spaces and tree-lined avenues, striking me as somewhat reminiscent of a combination of Bristol Zoo and Warsaw Zoo in general feel and design - although I am certain that were I ever to visit Brookfield Zoo in person, I would find few if any similarities to the collections in question. Notably, the guidebook specifically states that a more detailed colour map was available for purchase at various points within the collection itself; I would be quite interested to see how the map in question differs from the one provided within the guidebook!

Overall, then, this is a rather interesting and appealing guidebook, managing a decent balance between providing detailed information about the species and exhibits present within the collection, and giving a more general and accessible overview of the collection as a whole, containing many of the key aspects which I feel are most important within a zoo guidebook - historical discussion, explanation of the design and architectural choices used within the exhibits and houses within the collection, discussion of the taxa and individual animals held, and copious high-quality illustration in the form of photographs. Moreover, as is the case for many of the earlier guidebooks published by Brookfield Zoo, the cover art is extremely attractive - another major plus point in my opinion!

I've definitely skipped over a lot of content, and as such there is plenty of scope for discussion and questions - but for now, it should suffice to say that this is definitely a guidebook which is worth picking up if one ever has the opportunity.

From what I've seen in the guidebook the zoo is just refer to "Chicago zoo/zoological park" and not "Brookfield"? I thought LPZ is the older zoo though?

 

[TeaLovingDave]

Another of my occasional breather posts, this time showcasing my collection of guidebooks issued by Zoo Berlin in the years leading towards the Great War; as I have already demonstrated to some extent with my post discussing the 1901 edition, and intend to further demonstrate over the coming months, these represent interesting and high-quality items containing much of note.... and are incredibly attractive on an aesthetic level, too!

One notable reason for my choice of how many guidebooks to highlight in this image - quite apart from the historical relevance of the Great War - is the fact that the 1914 edition of the Zoo Berlin guidebook represented the last to be published for over a decade; the severe poverty and hardship experienced in Germany in the latter years of the Great War, and the hyperinflation crisis which followed, meant that it was not until 1925 that another guidebook was published.

 

[Coelacanth18]

From what I've seen in the guidebook the zoo is just refer to "Chicago zoo/zoological park" and not "Brookfield"? I thought LPZ is the older zoo though?

Brookfield Zoo is also called the Chicago Zoological Park and is managed by the Chicago Zoological Society. As far as I know Lincoln Park Zoo has always just been called Lincoln Park Zoo. But yes, it is a bit confusing given that LPZ is both older and actually located within the city itself while Brookfield is younger and located in an adjacent suburb.

 

[TeaLovingDave]

Day 52: Weltvogelpark Walsrode (1963) - Wood Duck

Page count: 64 pages
Photographs: c.90 black and white photos
Illustrations/diagrams: 26 illustrations within advertisements
Layout: Introduction, followed by discussion of the various bird species held in the collection classified by family or order, and chart showing wild breeding statistics and habitat of select species.
Map: Located within central pages of guidebook

Today, the guidebook under discussion is a rather interesting and historically-significant one; as only the second guidebook published by Walsrode, it provides a rather valuable look at the first few years of a collection which has become rather well-known among the zoo enthusiast community over the decades. Moreover, as I intend to demonstrate, it shows that the strong record held by the collection in question for the publication of extremely-good guidebook material can be traced back to the very earliest days of its operation.

After a brief introduction to the collection, the guidebook opens with a contents page presenting the various bird groups held at the collection at the time of publication, and which are discussed within the main body of the text; this is followed by a variety of important items of visitor information including opening hours, entrance fees, and visitor rules and regulations. Beyond here we come to the main body of the guidebook, comprising a discussion of the various species displayed at the collection at the time of publication, arranged by taxonomic grouping. These species accounts are well-illustrated throughout with a wide range of black-and-white photographs, depicting a wide range of the species cited within the text. The only real negative in terms of this section is the fact that, like the majority of the guidebooks published by the collection, the species cited are only mentioned by common name - with no use of taxonomic names occurring throughout the guidebook. This renders the guidebook slightly harder to reference for one unfamiliar with the common names of species in German.

The collection map printed within the central pages of this guidebook is highly interesting in its own right; although nowhere near as aesthetically-pleasing as later maps published by Walsrode, it is nonetheless quite pleasing to the eye and easy to reference, being well-labelled and showing the general position, layout and size of the various aviaries and paddocks rather well. Moreover, it demonstrates very well just how small the collection physically was at the time of publication, covering significantly less area even than the 1982 guidebook we previously discussed several weeks ago; the supplementary note provided here stating that the collection comprised around 90 aviaries and a further 40 paddocks and ponds is rather informative in this regard.

Perhaps one of the most obvious indicators of the fact that, at this point in time, the collection at Walsrode was rather simpler and more humble than it would eventually become is the heavy focus within the pages of this guidebook on waterfowl and pheasants; quite literally one-third of the total length of this guidebook comprises a discussion of the sizable collection of ducks, geese and swans held at Walsrode at the time of publication. However, whilst this guidebook largely lacks the massive oddities cited throughout later publications at Walsrode, it most certainly does not fall short in terms of the detail and attention paid to discussing the captive and wild behaviour of the species displayed within the collection, or indeed the provision of more specialist information when and where required. For instance, one of the most interesting portions of this guidebook - and something entirely absent from later Walsrode guidebooks found within my collection - is a table discussing several of the waterfowl and pheasants present within the collection, detailing their native range, clutch size and incubation period . Although the native range of species displayed comprises information which one might reasonably expect to find within a zoo guidebook, or indeed the informational signage at the zoological collection itself, the other two aspects are rather less commonplace.

As such, given how unusual this section is - and the fact that much of it may well only be readily-accessible within the technical literature - I have chosen to present this section verbatim above. As one can see, the latter of these images gives a reasonably good impression of the overall style and format of the species accounts; the section on pheasants opens with a general discussion of the wider group at hand, moving onto discussion of the domestic and wild variants of Ring-necked and Green Pheasant displayed at the collection, and with a black-and-white photograph providing illustration of the general form and appearance of the species at hand.

Similarly, the section of the guidebook discussing the covids and starlings displayed at the collection - which contains discussion of a few true oddities, such as Rufous Treepie and Black-headed Jay - presents discussion of a variety of the species held within the Walsrode collection at the time of publication, alongside photographic depictions of select species. As such, the content within this guidebook is both aesthetically-appealing and informative - something which future editions of the Walsrode guidebook would continue to achieve, in my opinion.

It is, I feel, worth mentioning here that the guidebook is liberally-scattered with a variety of small advertisements for various products and services available within the immediate Walsrode area, along with several products which - insofar as much as I have been able to tell - were nationally-available in West Germany at the time of publication. These do not take up an excessive amount of space within the guidebook, and as such do not distract from the main body of the text, but nonetheless they provide an interesting look at the commercial and social history of the region at the time of publication; something which, as I suspect I have made clear in the past, I often feel is an added bonus to collecting and reading old zoo guidebooks whether they are from the United Kingdom or further afield.

Beyond the species accounts, the main body of the guidebook concludes with an interesting little segment listing estimated prices for the sale of various species bred at the collection; this rather demonstrates the fact that at the time of publication, Walsrode was very much in its infancy and was still reliant on subsidiary sources of income such as the breeding-for-sale of their more commonplace and surplus taxa. This sort of thing can and does still occur in the present day - including at the collection we are discussing - however it is certainly vanishingly unusual for open advertisements of this sort to occur within the zoo guidebooks one would purchase at a zoological collection in the present day.

This is, then, a very interesting and informative guidebook which provides a valuable look at the humble origins of a collection which, I rather suspect, many of those reading this thread are inclined to regard as one of *the* major zoological collections within Germany, if not Europe as a whole; moreover, it is a rather pleasant and appealling item to own in its own right, given the easily-accessible layout, the attractive use of photographic illusration, and (to be honest) the general visual and tactile aesthetics of the guidebook as a whole.... although this latter point is far more subjective!

I feel that there is a lot of scope for further discussion and questions here, particularly given the fact that I have the distinct sense that this post has not been written to the best of my abilities - I have not slept well in recent days, and it has definitely impacted my level of focus and speed-typing abilities! As such, I would very much welcome any and all questions about this item to provide prompts for further discussion!