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London Zoo
London Zoo
Regent's Park,
London NW1 4RY
Tel: 020 7722 3333
About ZSL London Zoo
London Zoo is the world’s oldest scientific, rather than private, zoological institution and one of the leading wildlife family attractions anywhere on the planet. With some 180 years of experience behind it, ZSL London Zoo’s key functions continue to be worldwide animal conservation and preservation, along with furnishing ticket holders with an informative and enthralling family day out. In fact, ZSL London Zoo gives ticket holders the opportunity to encounter some of Earth’s most bewitching creatures face to face. With 650+ species of animal and thousands of specimens on display, ZSL London Zoo’s impressive panoply of rare species, housed in naturalistic surroundings, makes it a unique family day.
Founded in 1828, ZSL London Zoo operated first as a collection for scientific studies by naturalists, and it opened up to the Great British public in 1847 – just one of a many other family attractions springing up around the country at the time, diverting the attention of the populace during a period of pan-European political and social unrest. ZSL London Zoo served to spotlight popular interest on the stunning species maintained within its enclosures, and the Zoological Society of London built on its success to eventually expand with the creation of its sister site, Whipsnade Zoo, in Bedfordshire.
ZSL London Zoo’s renown soon extended beyond its environs in the north London Regents Park, not far from Baker Street and Primrose Hill. And given that the Regents Canal coursed right through the family attraction, it was both easily accessible and offered a spacious natural environment in which a thriving animal population could grow in the city. In time, a number of ZSL London Zoo’s weightier specimens, including elephant and rhinoceros, were moved out to the 600-acre Whipsnade park, but ZSL London Zoo continued to breed a whole range of mammals and contribute to their expansion to other zoos across the UK and beyond.
A family day out at ZSL London Zoo can be a packed one, as ticket holders can take in the world’s first reptile house and first insect house, as well as the first ever public aquarium and the first children’s zoo. In addition, the family attraction has an continuing programme of refurbishment of the animal enclosures in order to make them even more like their original homes, and ticket holders can view the progress made, such as the intimate walk-through facilities in the monkey and African bird sections.
Other notable aspects of an educational and delightful family day out at ZSL London Zoo include the Into Africa and Butterfly Paradise zones, not to mention some of the most recently opened facilities, the Gorilla Kingdom, inhabited by the biggest of the great apes, and the Rainforest Lookout, with its cacophonous canopy of exotic flora and fauna.
Other breathtaking elements of ZSL London Zoo are the ornate Clock Tower, erected in 1828 as an abode for the llamas, and the Giraffe House, which is another piece of startling Regency period architecture. Both are Grade II listed buildings designed by Decimus Burton, while the Round House – put up in 1932 to house the gorillas – was designed by Tecton; all uniquely magnificent features for a zoological garden.
As for the inhabitants, there are all sorts of friendly and furry creatures to see, from sloth bears and langurs in the Mappin Terraces, to the natural-born comedians that are the penguins in the Penguin Pool. Feeding time is a must-do on a family day out at ZSL London Zoo. Other areas that will enthrall ticket holders on a family day out include the Snowdon aviary, and the Elephant and Rhinoceros House, with its sitting camel and bearded pig tenants.
Furthermore, ZSL London Zoo possesses some stunning examples of rare and endangered species from around the world, and in previous years it had the only quagga (a type of zebra) ever known to have been housed at a zoo. ZSL London Zoo additionally nurtured several thylacine, a tiger-like marsupial, which also became extinct. However, the ground-breaking work of ZSL London Zoo meant that it has contributed over time to many conservation successes, as well as making pioneering moves like having the first hippopotamus in Europe since the Roman era, as well as a giant late 19th century elephant that broke all records for its size, aptly named Jumbo. Besides all that, Winnie the black bear captivated novelist A.A. Milne and inspired his Winnie The Pooh stories. More recently, Guy the Gorilla resided at ZSL London Zoo from 1947 until 1978.
The oldest resident of ZSL London Zoo for a long period was a Great Indian hornbill, Josephine, who strutted about the Bird House until 1998, when she went to push up the daisies in her 50s. Another popular exhibit was a polar bear, Brumas, which won fame in the 1950s and catalysed annual attendance figures to the three million plus mark, a record that stands to this day.
Another notable presence at the family attraction was a snowy owl that dropped onto the deck of HMS Eros during a storm off the Azores. Clearly unharmed, he produced some 57 chicks during his time at ZSL London Zoo, which was until 1993.
Equally popular with the public was the giant panda, Chi Chi, which was one of the first examples of its kind to reside in a European zoo, from 1958. However, a golden eagle, Goldie, grabbed the limelight in 1965 by flying out of its enclosure and holidaying for a fortnight in the skies over Regents Park. Perhaps the most eye-opening exhibit at the family attraction, however, were a number of homo sapiens sapiens dressed in fig leaves in 2005! ZSL London Zoo certainly has a lot to keep ticket holders on a family day out on their toes - you never know what you might see round the corner!
ZSL London Zoo has featured for numerous TV programmes and films over the decades, including Absolutely Fabulous and the famous scene in 1981’s An American Werewolf In London when the lead wakes up naked in the wolf enclosure and escapes by taking a bunch of balloons from a visiting schoolboy! Other highlights include Hugh Grant and his surrogate son knocking out a duck with a loaf of stale bread in About A Boy, while a Burmese python was filmed in the reptile house for Harry Potter And The Philosopher’s Stone. With disabled access throughout, ZSL London Zoo is a magical family day that everyone can enjoy. Spell-binding!