The ten people who have most influenced the development of the modern zoo. Zoos have developed from the menageries of the 19th century, that were cabinets of living curiosities, to those of today that at their best fulfil roles in exhibition, education, science and conservation. Most readers on this forum would largely agree with a few I have selected, although there could be considerable debate over some of the others.
There are inspirational zoo directors who showed the way forward, but also those from outside the zoo community who have influenced thinking. For example Jane Goodall, due to her work with chimpanzees, has changed the way we think about, and care for them in captivity. Virginia McKenna has been a huge influence upon zoos in the late 20th and early 21st centuries due to her anti-zoo sentiments. The organisations she helped found, Zoo Check and the Born Free Foundation, have contributed to driving up standards of zoo animal care.
My top ten are:
Carl Hagenbeck, an animal dealer turned zoo director who brought performing animals into the zoo and developed new techniques of exhibiting animals in naturally landscaped enclosures separated from the public by moats.
Lutz and Heinz Heck, directors of Berlin and Munich zoos who pioneered the idea of back breeding old breeds of cattle to recreate the Auroch and the back breeding of horses to recreate the Tarpan. These back bred animals bear a superficial resemblance to the extinct species that are known as Heck Cattle and Heck Horses. Heinz Heck also established the first studbook for a wild animals when he set up a studbook for European Bison in 1923.
William Temple Hornaday, the first director of the National Zoo and the Bronx Zoo, and a visionary conservationist who is best known for his efforts to save the American Bison by implementing perhaps the first ever conservation-driven reintroduction effort.
Heini Hediger, director of Basel and Zurich zoos and universally accepted as the father of zoo biology who applied science to understanding the behaviour and needs of zoo animals and published important books on the care and behaviour of captive animals.
Desmond Morris, author, broadcaster, zoologist and artist, a former curator of mammals at the London Zoo, who popularised zoos and zoo biology with his children’s programme Zoo Time (1956-1968). Morris is an ethologist by training and wrote many important papers on animal behaviour including some on zoochosis and how it may be avoided.
John Aspinall, an unorthodox zoo owner, known for establishing captive populations of many endangered or challenging species, including gorillas. His philosophy often encouraged the close relationship between keeper and animal - sometimes with revolutionary success, sometimes with tragic results.
Peter Scott, the greatest conservationist of the late 20th century and the founder of the Wildfowl and Wetland Trust. A pioneer of a specialist animal collection (wildfowl) with a focus upon conservation.
David Hancocks, zoo director, architect and author of two influential books on zoos, with strident views on aesthetics and the quality of housing. Spearheaded the revolution within North American zoos, with emphasis on immersive exhibits that created contextual environments for both animal and visitor.
Gerald Durrell, the author and naturalist who considered that the primary role of zoos should be conservation and they should establish self-sustaining captive populations of the most endangered species. He founded the Jersey Zoo which specialises is conservation and education and has its own training school to train people in zoo conservation.
Others that could have made the list, if I was in a different mood: Jimmy Chipperfield for his work developing safari parks, Bill Conway the visionary director of the Bronx Zoo, Steve Martin from Natural Encounters, for his work developing bird shows and positive training techniques for managing zoo animals, and Steve Irwin a showman, herpetologist and zoo owner who advocated a hands on approach in his relationship with his animals, and of course there are many more that could be mentioned…..
