Product Description

Wild animals have fascinated human observers since time immemorial. The story of our interest in collecting, classifying and dominating Nature looms large; thus it is surprising that the history of menageries, zoological gardens and zoos as we know them today has been so poorly documented. Zoo aims to address this gap. In the Renaissance, wealthy aristocrats showcased exotic beasts in private menageries. Safely caged, animals inspired the interest of naturalists and fed the curiosity of the masses. By the 19th century, increased urbanization and colonization aided the expansion of zoos in which animals were tamed to serve as domesticated livestock. Nowadays, with many natural habitats under threat of extinction, the social function of zoos is less clear. Such institutions both present the illusion of wild animals in a natural state to a nostalgic public and find themselves justifying their existence as saviours of endangered species

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #380344 in Books
• Published on: 2003-12-16
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 400 pages

Independent Magazine, 01/06/02
'an excellent history of a strange and strangely important sub-theme of civilisation ... beautifully produced and illustrated'

New Scientist
'an absolute must for those interested in zoo history - or anyone fascinated by Homo Sapiens's changing relationship with our fellow creatures'

Desmond Morris, RIBA Journal
"[a] wonderfully researched study providing many insights into what has become an increasingly controversial subject"

Customer Reviews

Useful history of zoos, but lacking on modern day practices
I bought this book as part of research into zoos. It was the only book I could find on the history of zoos and how attitudes have changed towards them over the last 2 centuries. It covers zoos from the 1800's up to the modern day, and gives an idea of how zoos originally started out as private collections, was then linked to fashion, showing the most exotic, used for circus entertainment and finally up to the conservation of species. The text is generally good, but in places is quite long winded and jumpy, and often it is not clear what the author is trying to say! There are several places where the author is discussing zoos in the 1800's and within a few lines has moved on to the 1900's without any clear links as to why. However, it is a very useble book, and a nice size. It has some good pictures, though there is rather too much zoo art, and not enough of different cage designs and exhibits, for my liking.

Despit these few shortcoming, as the only book on the market I could find covering zoo history, it successfully acheives its aims of depicting changing zoos through the ages.