What a privilege as a member of the ZSL team working in Fundraising to be welcomed into the world of wildlife health and pathology. The chance to view a dissection of a harbour porpoise was educational, fascinating and simply wonderful! There are so many experts in so many fields at ZSL all working together to protect wildlife. Their work is only made possible by the fabulous community of support. Thank you to you all - Members, Fellows, Patrons, Donors, Corporate partners, Fellows and Volunteers - for sharing in the mission to protect species and restore habitats.
The ZSL community storybook
Your Story: Our History
Together, we’re creating one giant global storybook that celebrates the many ways ZSL has been part of people’s lives over the past 200 years – and reflects how people have shaped our history. It’s also a way for those who can’t join an anniversary event in person to still be part of our historic anniversary year.
At the end of 2026, the Community Storybook will join the collection in the ZSL Library and Archives, preserved for future generations to explore. Add your story and help us make history together.
9 entries.
In the early 2000s I was an executive in the property sector in the West end and Kings Cross. I used to regularly run around Regent's Park enjoying the views of camels, giraffes and the Snowdon Aviary. Little did I know that I would actually work at London Zoo later in my career. What a great outcome!
Coming to London Zoo or Whipsnade Zoo was a birthday tradition throughout my 20s. I always came on a weekday, alone or with a friend, and spent a happy day exploring this historic place and the animals I'd only ever seen in books or on TV. It always made me happy and feel connected to nature, particularly living in a city. In my 30s I was lucky enough to come and work at ZSL, and it's been the best ten years of my working life. I still look at those pics of me in my 20s, at the Zoos - that girl never imagined she would be so lucky as to spend every day there.
London Zoo has been of huge significance to my family for close to 80 years. My Dad, John FitzGibbon, was obsessed with animals and visited the zoo monthly (or more!) as a child in the 1940s and 50s. He met his hero, Gerald Durrell, in the bird house as a teenager and went on to become a zoologist, working at the zoo, first as a holiday job in the early 1960s and again in the late 1960s and 1970s as a keeper in the primate section, (with a job in the mammal section at the Natural History Museum in between!). At the Zoo Dad worked with Guy the gorilla (giving him a bottle with a blob of jam in it, alongside other, more prosaic tasks) as well as chimps and baboons. He was once (briefly!) locked in an enclosure with a male Mandrill after a mishap in communication with a colleague. In spite of that hairy moment - perhaps even because of it - that time was one of the best of Dad's life.
Throughout my childhood in the late 1980s and 1990s we visited the zoo every school holiday. Dad was a Fellow so we'd have our packed lunch on the Fellows Lawn (or in the Elephant House if it was raining!), always with chips from the restaurant. We enjoyed visiting the apes, of course, but also spent ages in the bird house and the nocturnal exhibit under the Clore pavillion and we'd brave the old insect house, up a rickety metal staircase, while Mum watched the otters nearby.
Dad continued to visit the zoo library weekly up until ill health forced him to stop in his mid-70s. He died in December 2025 and when planning his funeral we knew the zoo had to be a part of it somehow. Our route took him past the gate one last time and the wonderful Library staff arranged a guard of honour. It was incredibly touching to have zoo staff who never knew Dad marking the life of a fellow animal enthusiast in this way.
The zoo is such an important and special place; seeing animals in the flesh, observing them, interacting with them and making a direct connection with them, is vital to understanding and caring for the species we share a planet with. Happy Birthday London Zoo! Here's to the next 200 years.
Throughout my childhood in the late 1980s and 1990s we visited the zoo every school holiday. Dad was a Fellow so we'd have our packed lunch on the Fellows Lawn (or in the Elephant House if it was raining!), always with chips from the restaurant. We enjoyed visiting the apes, of course, but also spent ages in the bird house and the nocturnal exhibit under the Clore pavillion and we'd brave the old insect house, up a rickety metal staircase, while Mum watched the otters nearby.
Dad continued to visit the zoo library weekly up until ill health forced him to stop in his mid-70s. He died in December 2025 and when planning his funeral we knew the zoo had to be a part of it somehow. Our route took him past the gate one last time and the wonderful Library staff arranged a guard of honour. It was incredibly touching to have zoo staff who never knew Dad marking the life of a fellow animal enthusiast in this way.
The zoo is such an important and special place; seeing animals in the flesh, observing them, interacting with them and making a direct connection with them, is vital to understanding and caring for the species we share a planet with. Happy Birthday London Zoo! Here's to the next 200 years.
ZSL has played a significant part in my life. London Zoo was one of the first zoos I visited as a child, and continued to do so with my grandparents during the school holidays on the dedicated TFL “Zoo Bus!” When I passed my Driving Test, Whipsnade was the first place I visited, and was also the destination I took my wife on our first date! I was also a Learning Volunteer at Whipsnade for 10 years, eventually giving it up when our first child was born (who we named after one of the zoo’s giraffes!)
There is nowhere quite as special and as unique as London Zoo, it's probably my favourite animal collection to go to whenever I have the chance. I simply love being surrounded by the history and the amazing life contained within the zoo. I'm constantly fascinated and in awe of the rich and diverse history of the site, it's many varied inhabitants, the tireless and wonderful keepers, it's bold and one of a kind architecture, and the fantastic conservation work which is carried out to ensure the survival and biodiversity of species across the planet.
I can't even remember the first time I visited, but I've been coming to see the animals for pretty much my entire life. My lifelong obsession with Aye-Ayes is thanks in part to seeing them for the first time tucked away in the Roundhouse, and being able to see them in their new home by the other lemurs is always such a treat. There's always something new to see and explore, especially with the other rare and unusual animals still at the zoo, and with the membership it's great to help contribute to the welfare and conservation of these species.
I also really enjoy seeing all the elaborate and ground-breaking buildings (even if a lot of them are now considered outdated for animal housing) and their history, boasting so many species over the years. From Javan and Sumatran Rhinoceros, and the now extinct Thylacine amongst others, to the world's first Insect House, Aquarium and Reptile House. This zoo has it all. Enclosure design has always interested me, and to see it put to use at its fullest in the new Reptile House is fabulous.
Collecting the numerous old guide books, maps and supplementary ZSL branded material from either online or directly from the zoo's gift shop has become a big hobby of mine to be able to study and compare the changes and additions to the zoo over its 200 year existence. Any and every bit of content about this place intrigues me. I will forever enjoy a visit to the zoo.
I can't even remember the first time I visited, but I've been coming to see the animals for pretty much my entire life. My lifelong obsession with Aye-Ayes is thanks in part to seeing them for the first time tucked away in the Roundhouse, and being able to see them in their new home by the other lemurs is always such a treat. There's always something new to see and explore, especially with the other rare and unusual animals still at the zoo, and with the membership it's great to help contribute to the welfare and conservation of these species.
I also really enjoy seeing all the elaborate and ground-breaking buildings (even if a lot of them are now considered outdated for animal housing) and their history, boasting so many species over the years. From Javan and Sumatran Rhinoceros, and the now extinct Thylacine amongst others, to the world's first Insect House, Aquarium and Reptile House. This zoo has it all. Enclosure design has always interested me, and to see it put to use at its fullest in the new Reptile House is fabulous.
Collecting the numerous old guide books, maps and supplementary ZSL branded material from either online or directly from the zoo's gift shop has become a big hobby of mine to be able to study and compare the changes and additions to the zoo over its 200 year existence. Any and every bit of content about this place intrigues me. I will forever enjoy a visit to the zoo.
Whipsnade Zoo has always been ‘my zoo’, a place where my love for animals and zoos would have been born and nurtured throughout many visits; initially with family and then on my own with the start of my membership and through my volunteering at the zoo, to taking friends, opening them to the ‘Wonder of Whipsnade’ too.
Unfortunately, I’m not of an age where I was able to partake in elephant rides* but, through my first venture into volunteering in zoos, I was able to get up close to the historical howdah, the wooden seat affixed on an Elephant for seating purposes, used in the elephant rides at Whipsnade.
It would have been 1991 or 1992, either just before I went off to university or during my university holidays, when I first started volunteering at Whipsnade. I volunteered on both the visitor side, interacting with visitors around the zoo and providing commentary on the steam train as it made its way through the paddocks. I remember regularly getting my left and right sides mixed up as I pointed out animals from the moving train, as we sat facing the visitors on the train and so all was in reverse to us.
As I was at university training to be a teacher, I then offered to volunteer within the Education Department at Whipsnade during holidays and this is where I encountered the howdah. The Head of Education wanted to put the howdah on display and so asked me to clean it. I’m not too sure where the howdah would have been stored since being used 30 years previously, as it was in the Education Department when I saw it, but I would say that it wasn’t in too bad a condition and, not being a trained conservator, my input to cleaning it up involved removing the years of dust that had accumulated upon it with brushes and cloths, maybe even a touch of water.
This was in the days before mobile phones being ever present and my interest in zoo history and so, as I cleaned it, I didn’t even think about taking any photographs, not that I can remember anyhow, and so I have scant memories of what it looked like, apart from the postcard images on the web reminding me that it was wooden in construction for the seat and feet support and had a burgundy material, possibly with a gold/yellow braid on its edge. It also had a metal rail at either end of the seat for visitors to use to climb on / off and hold onto throughout the ride if they were sat next to it.
The howdah was then on display in the then Education Centre, meaning that it was probably only visible to those using the rooms within and possibly those attending functions in the zoo’s main restaurant (next door at the time) who used the toilets at the end of the building. Nowadays, Whipsnade’s Butterfly House and Aquarium use some of the space that the Education Centre once used. From memory the howdah would have been on display in what is now the main entrance to this visitor space, where you turn right for the toilets and left to enter the shop / aquarium, but the configuration of the space has slightly changed. I’m not too sure where the howdah moved to once off display but would hope that it is still somewhere at Whipsnade, maybe even being brought out again as ZSL celebrates its 200th year if so, with 2026 also being 100 years since the Whipsnade site was purchased.
As well as lightly cleaning the howdah, I created a display on the howdah - what it was, how it was used at Whipsnade – and so I had access to the archive at Whipsnade, which at that time was held within the main admin building. I also had access to another area within the old Children’s Zoo which, at the time, held Whipsnade’s specimen collection where I clearly remember seeing lots of pickled animals in jars. As mentioned, I’m guessing that having access to the archive at Whipsnade may have helped to develop my interest in zoo history, something which was firmly cemented after staying in Hampshire after university and beginning my volunteering at Marwell Zoo. This is where I attended my first Bartlett Society (Zoo History) meeting, which was the 20th Anniversary Meeting. Looking back, I definitely remember disappearing in to the Whipsnade archive for hours at a time.
*Although I said that I was unfortunate not to be of an age where I was able to partake in elephant rides, I was offered the chance to take a ride on one of Whipsnade’s young Asian elephants (Anna?) when I carried out my Year 11 School Work Experience in 1989, when the elephants were still in the Tecton Elephant House / outside enclosure opposite the entrance to the zoo (now disused / the lemur walkthrough). I clearly remember my week of Work Experience - being up a ladder within the Elephant House washing / brushing elephant dung off the walls, sweeping up leaves in the vulture enclosure, helping keepers in the sealion house / at the seal pond – encountering Snoopy the seal in her retirement at Gweek Seal Sanctuary many years later – and being behind the scenes within the old Children’s Zoo (unsure if it had already changed to the Bird Garden by then) working with the penguin keepers. Something within told me not to accept an elephant ride, would I still decline if offered to me (which in our changing world it wouldn’t be) today? At least I think I remember being able to join in and walk alongside the elephants on their daily walk to the Downs with their keepers.
Happy 200th Birthday ZSL.
Unfortunately, I’m not of an age where I was able to partake in elephant rides* but, through my first venture into volunteering in zoos, I was able to get up close to the historical howdah, the wooden seat affixed on an Elephant for seating purposes, used in the elephant rides at Whipsnade.
It would have been 1991 or 1992, either just before I went off to university or during my university holidays, when I first started volunteering at Whipsnade. I volunteered on both the visitor side, interacting with visitors around the zoo and providing commentary on the steam train as it made its way through the paddocks. I remember regularly getting my left and right sides mixed up as I pointed out animals from the moving train, as we sat facing the visitors on the train and so all was in reverse to us.
As I was at university training to be a teacher, I then offered to volunteer within the Education Department at Whipsnade during holidays and this is where I encountered the howdah. The Head of Education wanted to put the howdah on display and so asked me to clean it. I’m not too sure where the howdah would have been stored since being used 30 years previously, as it was in the Education Department when I saw it, but I would say that it wasn’t in too bad a condition and, not being a trained conservator, my input to cleaning it up involved removing the years of dust that had accumulated upon it with brushes and cloths, maybe even a touch of water.
This was in the days before mobile phones being ever present and my interest in zoo history and so, as I cleaned it, I didn’t even think about taking any photographs, not that I can remember anyhow, and so I have scant memories of what it looked like, apart from the postcard images on the web reminding me that it was wooden in construction for the seat and feet support and had a burgundy material, possibly with a gold/yellow braid on its edge. It also had a metal rail at either end of the seat for visitors to use to climb on / off and hold onto throughout the ride if they were sat next to it.
The howdah was then on display in the then Education Centre, meaning that it was probably only visible to those using the rooms within and possibly those attending functions in the zoo’s main restaurant (next door at the time) who used the toilets at the end of the building. Nowadays, Whipsnade’s Butterfly House and Aquarium use some of the space that the Education Centre once used. From memory the howdah would have been on display in what is now the main entrance to this visitor space, where you turn right for the toilets and left to enter the shop / aquarium, but the configuration of the space has slightly changed. I’m not too sure where the howdah moved to once off display but would hope that it is still somewhere at Whipsnade, maybe even being brought out again as ZSL celebrates its 200th year if so, with 2026 also being 100 years since the Whipsnade site was purchased.
As well as lightly cleaning the howdah, I created a display on the howdah - what it was, how it was used at Whipsnade – and so I had access to the archive at Whipsnade, which at that time was held within the main admin building. I also had access to another area within the old Children’s Zoo which, at the time, held Whipsnade’s specimen collection where I clearly remember seeing lots of pickled animals in jars. As mentioned, I’m guessing that having access to the archive at Whipsnade may have helped to develop my interest in zoo history, something which was firmly cemented after staying in Hampshire after university and beginning my volunteering at Marwell Zoo. This is where I attended my first Bartlett Society (Zoo History) meeting, which was the 20th Anniversary Meeting. Looking back, I definitely remember disappearing in to the Whipsnade archive for hours at a time.
*Although I said that I was unfortunate not to be of an age where I was able to partake in elephant rides, I was offered the chance to take a ride on one of Whipsnade’s young Asian elephants (Anna?) when I carried out my Year 11 School Work Experience in 1989, when the elephants were still in the Tecton Elephant House / outside enclosure opposite the entrance to the zoo (now disused / the lemur walkthrough). I clearly remember my week of Work Experience - being up a ladder within the Elephant House washing / brushing elephant dung off the walls, sweeping up leaves in the vulture enclosure, helping keepers in the sealion house / at the seal pond – encountering Snoopy the seal in her retirement at Gweek Seal Sanctuary many years later – and being behind the scenes within the old Children’s Zoo (unsure if it had already changed to the Bird Garden by then) working with the penguin keepers. Something within told me not to accept an elephant ride, would I still decline if offered to me (which in our changing world it wouldn’t be) today? At least I think I remember being able to join in and walk alongside the elephants on their daily walk to the Downs with their keepers.
Happy 200th Birthday ZSL.
I’ve been a London volunteer for 9 years: a couple of memorable anecdotes I thought you may like to hear…
I was at the Komodo dragon exhibit and a man approached me with a beaming smile:
“My daughter had a question for you!” A little girl about 4 years old stepped up and asked:
“Why hasn’t your dragon got any wings?” As her father tried to hide his hysteria in the background!
A little child was looking for the meerkats, when they were next to the otters. I suggested he looked through the front window as it was late in the day minding his head as he got down. He looked, turned around and went back to his family and got a book from his buggy.
“What are you doing?” Asked his mum.
“They’re going to sleep so I’m going to read them a bedtime story!”
I was at the Komodo dragon exhibit and a man approached me with a beaming smile:
“My daughter had a question for you!” A little girl about 4 years old stepped up and asked:
“Why hasn’t your dragon got any wings?” As her father tried to hide his hysteria in the background!
A little child was looking for the meerkats, when they were next to the otters. I suggested he looked through the front window as it was late in the day minding his head as he got down. He looked, turned around and went back to his family and got a book from his buggy.
“What are you doing?” Asked his mum.
“They’re going to sleep so I’m going to read them a bedtime story!”
My grandson must have been about 4 (he is now 14) when we came to visit (as we did regularly) and unusually all the elephants were at the back enclosure where the bull is normally kept now. We were watching them when all of a sudden all the elephants facing outwards, backed around one of the females, and the bull mounted the female in the middle and after the deed was done they all trumpeted and then dispersed! It was like a flash mob mating event and only my grandson Ethan and I were around to witness it. Because I was holding Ethan I couldn't get me phone out to take a picture of it but it is etched on my memory. I think that Elizabeth was born in 2016 and I always wondered if that was the moment of conception????