Introduction
In late January of 1984 I travelled to Europe to see some of the more famous zoos I had heard about. Over the next five weeks I travelled through seven different countries and visited a total of eighteen different zoos in the UK, Belgium, Netherlands, Germany and Switzerland. Almost a year later I intended to give a slide presentation to zookeepers at the Australasian Society of Zoo Keepers annual conference and wrote a commentary, the title of which I have used for the name of this thread, which reviewed most of the zoos I visited, and I supplemented the presentation with lots of slides I had taken while visiting the zoos. One of the things that I noticed time and again was the use of animal houses (like Monkey House, Bird House etc.) where many of the inhabitants spend much of the day inside. This is quite different to Australia, but as it was the middle of the European winter, I understood why this method of display was necessary. However, I found that in many of the zoos photography indoors was either not ideal or just impossible, and so in these instances I made notes, but as I was pushed for time in some places, the notes at some zoos were brief. And at some zoos I made no notes at all.
In 2010 I posted the review of my visit to Bristol Zoo on ZooChat, and many members found it interesting from an historical perspective; I always planned on doing the same for the remaining zoos but just haven’t got around to it until now.
The text for each review was written several months afterwards and was based upon my notes and from what I could remember. As I said, it was to be delivered to zoo keepers in Australia so there is a slight emphasis on enclosure design/construction, and occasional references or comparisons to Taronga Zoo or its exhibits. At this point in time zoos were starting to evolve from sterile, spartan cages to naturalistic enclosures, and the idea of enrichment, both behavioural and environmental, was a new concept. So much of my notes reflect the construction of the enclosures, the size, and the furnishings.
I have copied the text verbatim, and resisted the temptation to correct my grammar, to re-word or rephrase sentences and paragraphs. I was 21 at the time and my writing skills were underdeveloped (by my current standards). However, if for the sake of clarity I feel the need to add words or phrases (or entire paragraphs), I have done so in [brackets]. The scientific names are recorded from labels on exhibits at the time, and I have not updated them to current usage for posterity’s sake. Measurements are all estimates, illustrations are not to scale.
I’ll be posting the individual reviews in the appropriate forums, with this thread linking to them. Some zoos I only have a few paragraphs written (and no notes), so those reviews will be posted in this thread only.
The zoos visited were: Bristol, Whipsnade, London, Jersey, Antwerp, Planckendael, Artis (Amsterdam), Blijdorp (Rotterdam), Köln, Hagenbecks’s in Hamburg, Hannover, Munich, Zolli Basle, Zürich, Dählhölzli in Berne, Frankfurt, Nürnberg and Wilhelma in Stuttgart. I also visited the Berne Bear Pits and some ****** little menagerie in the basement of a department store in Brussels.
Just recently I found my daily holiday journal which I will include with each review in this thread, if that day’s entry contains anything of interest related to the zoo.
Finally, the opinions expressed here are mine and often reflect the views of the day. Some reviews are not complimentary, and apart from a visit to London and Jersey in 1988 I have not visited any of these zoos in the intervening 35 years but I’m hoping that these zoos have improved.
Hix
In late January of 1984 I travelled to Europe to see some of the more famous zoos I had heard about. Over the next five weeks I travelled through seven different countries and visited a total of eighteen different zoos in the UK, Belgium, Netherlands, Germany and Switzerland. Almost a year later I intended to give a slide presentation to zookeepers at the Australasian Society of Zoo Keepers annual conference and wrote a commentary, the title of which I have used for the name of this thread, which reviewed most of the zoos I visited, and I supplemented the presentation with lots of slides I had taken while visiting the zoos. One of the things that I noticed time and again was the use of animal houses (like Monkey House, Bird House etc.) where many of the inhabitants spend much of the day inside. This is quite different to Australia, but as it was the middle of the European winter, I understood why this method of display was necessary. However, I found that in many of the zoos photography indoors was either not ideal or just impossible, and so in these instances I made notes, but as I was pushed for time in some places, the notes at some zoos were brief. And at some zoos I made no notes at all.
In 2010 I posted the review of my visit to Bristol Zoo on ZooChat, and many members found it interesting from an historical perspective; I always planned on doing the same for the remaining zoos but just haven’t got around to it until now.
The text for each review was written several months afterwards and was based upon my notes and from what I could remember. As I said, it was to be delivered to zoo keepers in Australia so there is a slight emphasis on enclosure design/construction, and occasional references or comparisons to Taronga Zoo or its exhibits. At this point in time zoos were starting to evolve from sterile, spartan cages to naturalistic enclosures, and the idea of enrichment, both behavioural and environmental, was a new concept. So much of my notes reflect the construction of the enclosures, the size, and the furnishings.
I have copied the text verbatim, and resisted the temptation to correct my grammar, to re-word or rephrase sentences and paragraphs. I was 21 at the time and my writing skills were underdeveloped (by my current standards). However, if for the sake of clarity I feel the need to add words or phrases (or entire paragraphs), I have done so in [brackets]. The scientific names are recorded from labels on exhibits at the time, and I have not updated them to current usage for posterity’s sake. Measurements are all estimates, illustrations are not to scale.
I’ll be posting the individual reviews in the appropriate forums, with this thread linking to them. Some zoos I only have a few paragraphs written (and no notes), so those reviews will be posted in this thread only.
The zoos visited were: Bristol, Whipsnade, London, Jersey, Antwerp, Planckendael, Artis (Amsterdam), Blijdorp (Rotterdam), Köln, Hagenbecks’s in Hamburg, Hannover, Munich, Zolli Basle, Zürich, Dählhölzli in Berne, Frankfurt, Nürnberg and Wilhelma in Stuttgart. I also visited the Berne Bear Pits and some ****** little menagerie in the basement of a department store in Brussels.
Just recently I found my daily holiday journal which I will include with each review in this thread, if that day’s entry contains anything of interest related to the zoo.
Finally, the opinions expressed here are mine and often reflect the views of the day. Some reviews are not complimentary, and apart from a visit to London and Jersey in 1988 I have not visited any of these zoos in the intervening 35 years but I’m hoping that these zoos have improved.
Hix