[ame=http://www.amazon.com/Tower-Menagerie-600-Year-Collection-Ferocious/dp/B000H2MY0K/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1312906642&sr=1-1]Amazon.com: The Tower Menagerie: The Amazing 600-Year History of the Royal Collection of Wild and Ferocious Beasts Kept at the Tower of London: Daniel Hahn: Books[/ame]
Just finished reading this book: The Tower Menagerie by Daniel Hahn (first published 2003). It is about the wild animal collection housed in the Tower Of London, which lasted from the early 1200's to the early 1800's. (I mean the animal collection lasted that long, not the tower, which of course is still there).
The information is of course interesting to any ZooChatter, but I think especially to those of you who live in the UK (and especially in London). The book itself is fair - not bad by any means and not difficult or technical, just a bit dry in the writing style. The book jacket says it is the author's first book and I suspect he is a history teacher or the like who decided he needed to write a book finally. A more seasoned author may have made it a bit more lively, but I still enjoyed it.
The most interesting anectdote comes from the 1250's, when the king of Norway gifted England a "pale" or "white" bear, which the author presumes to mean a polar bear. (In my own mind, it could also have been a pale brown bear, though the idea of a polar bear is more fun). In either case, this bear came with a chain and muzzle and in order to save on food bills was taken regularly down to the nearby Thames River to catch fish for itself! What a sight that must have been for ship crews coming up the river!
The end of the book very briefly touches on the formation of the London Zoo and even more briefly the Dublin Zoo. There is also a decent and interesting section on Exeter Exchange (the infamous English menagerie housed on the second floor of a commercial building).
As I said, a bit dry in spots but still enjoyable for anyone interested in the history of zoos and especially for anyone living in London or other parts of England.
Just finished reading this book: The Tower Menagerie by Daniel Hahn (first published 2003). It is about the wild animal collection housed in the Tower Of London, which lasted from the early 1200's to the early 1800's. (I mean the animal collection lasted that long, not the tower, which of course is still there).
The information is of course interesting to any ZooChatter, but I think especially to those of you who live in the UK (and especially in London). The book itself is fair - not bad by any means and not difficult or technical, just a bit dry in the writing style. The book jacket says it is the author's first book and I suspect he is a history teacher or the like who decided he needed to write a book finally. A more seasoned author may have made it a bit more lively, but I still enjoyed it.
The most interesting anectdote comes from the 1250's, when the king of Norway gifted England a "pale" or "white" bear, which the author presumes to mean a polar bear. (In my own mind, it could also have been a pale brown bear, though the idea of a polar bear is more fun). In either case, this bear came with a chain and muzzle and in order to save on food bills was taken regularly down to the nearby Thames River to catch fish for itself! What a sight that must have been for ship crews coming up the river!
The end of the book very briefly touches on the formation of the London Zoo and even more briefly the Dublin Zoo. There is also a decent and interesting section on Exeter Exchange (the infamous English menagerie housed on the second floor of a commercial building).
As I said, a bit dry in spots but still enjoyable for anyone interested in the history of zoos and especially for anyone living in London or other parts of England.
