From Ancient Eygpt to Ancient Greece (History of zoos pt. 1)

Egypt:

          The history of zoos is a long story with the first known records, of exotic animals being kept in captivity, dating back to 2500BC. These records were of pictures and hieroglyphs, found at Saqqara cemetery near Memphis, which depicted the Egyptians keeping many species of antelopes, baboons, hyenas, cheetahs, cranes, storks and falcons in captivity (Lauer, 1976). Other records also show that Tutmosis III kept wild animals in the gardens of the Karnak temple (Strouhal, 1992). From 1298 – 1235 BC the Pharaoh Rameses II kept giraffes and a pet lion which was also recorded accompanying him into battle (Kisling, 2001). It was also during this time, in the 2^nd millennium BCE, that a menagerie existed in Hierakonpolis and was likey owned by the local ruler of the time (National Geographic 2009).

Mesopotamia:

          At the same time as the Egyptians, Royalty of Mesopotamia started to keep wild animals with carvings of monkeys, elephants and antelopes being found on the walls of Assyrian royal palaces. It has also being found that the earliest recordings of animals being kept were that of lions being kept by the royalty more than 2000 years BC (Kisling, 2001).

          In modern times, one of the more recent exhibits that we use in zoos today is the ecosystem exhibit which is where you don't just see the animals, but also see the environment in which they would live in, in the wild. These are very important enclosures, not just for the public to see how the animals live in the wild, but also for the animal as it allows it to show its natural behaviours thus reducing its stress levels and sometimes provides it with vital environmental factors needed for it to survive. The earliest know versions of these ecosystem exhibits is thought to date back to ancient Mesopotamia. Some records show that Sennacherib, king of Assyria from 704 – 682 BC (Who is thought to have been the creator of, the ancient wonder, the Hanging Gardens of Babylon) created artificial wetland environments in order to exhibit marsh plants and animals (Dalley, 1993).

China:

          From c. 1000 – 2000 BC during the Zhou dynasty in china walled in parks were created to house many different animals. Later during the Han dynasty, from c. 200 BC, many private menageries were created to house birds, bears, tigers, alligators, rhinoceroses, deer and elephants (Schafer, 1968).

Greece:

 

          In ancient Greece animals played a huge part in the lives of people as many were depicted in tales of gods from the Hydra to to Pegasus. To many they were revered creatures and to others they were to be sacrificed as offerings to the gods (Lloyd, 2013). In either case this meant that the ancient Greeks had many private menageries for study and even for show (Hosey, Melfi and Pankhurst, 2011). The ancient Greeks were also very well know for there advancements in science and mathematics, one such person was Aristotle (384 – 322 BC). Aristotle was one of the greatest minds to have existed and helped to start many fields of science including zoology (Wikipedia, 2015) as he owned his own private menagerie where he wrote the earliest known zoological encyclopedia, The History of Animals (Hosey, Melfi and Pankhurst, 2011).

Overview:

 

          From what we have looked over in these ancient collections of animals we can see that none of the ancient collections really came close to what we would call a zoo. This is because, excluding ancient Greece, many of the collections were private and were used to intimidate visitors by showing them that the owner was “powerful” enough to tame these wild animals. They also showed power because many of the animals were offerings to show that the subjects providing them were loyal. However, without these early collections of animals the modern zoo may not have existed or may only have been in these early stages and with it our knowledge of animals would be more limited.

References:

Dallay, S., 1993. Ancient Mesopotamian Gardens and the Identification of the Hanging Gardens of Babylon Resolved. Garden History, 21, pp. 1 – 13.

Hosey, G., Melfi, V., and Pankhurst, S., 2011. Zoo Animals Behaviour, Management, and Welfare. 4^th ed. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Kisling, V.N., 2001. Zoo and Aquarium History: Ancient Animal Collections to Zoological Gardens. New York, NY/London: CRC Press.

Lauer, J., 1976. Saqqara: The Royal Cemetery of Memphis, Excavations and Discoveries since 1850. London: Thames & Hudson.

Lloyd, G.E R., 2013. The Greek Menagerie. The Sciences, 22(1), pp. 11 – 14.

National Geographic, 2009. EGYPT PICTURES: Ancient Animal Graves from Private Zoo? [Online] Available At: <http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2009/09/photogalleries/animal-tombs-ancient-egypt-missions/index.html> [Accessed: 14/02/2015]

Schafer, E.H., 1968. Hunting Parks and Animal Enclosures in Ancient China. Journal of the Economic and Social History of the Orient, 11, pp. 318 – 343.

Strouhal, E., 1992. Life in Ancient Eygpt, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Wikipedia, 2015. Aristotle. [Online] Available At: <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aristotle> [Accessed: 14/02/2015]

The Modern Zoo

          Zoos, they play a part in almost everyone’s lives. Most people in their lives will have visited at least one zoo and the majority will visit others as well. This makes them an important part of our lives and also important to the lives of animals in the zoos but also, to the lives of animals in the wild.

          From the very early beginnings of zoos the modern zoos we visit nowadays have changed a great deal which is, in the most part, due to people understanding more about animals and science. This has led to people seeing zoos as both good and bad places however, these perceptions of good an bad are often based on peoples personal opinions and the zoos that they have visited. This is unfortunately due to the fact that not every zoo cares about that animals that they have in captivity. Even with this though, the average zoo does try to keep to high standards of animal welfare whilst helping to fund and promote wildlife conservation.

          Most modern zoos these days are charities that rely on the public funding them ad all of the work they do with conservation, as such they have to show people what they do which can be seen in the zoos mission statement. Chester zoos mission statement:

“Our vision is for a diverse, thriving and sustainable natural world

Our mission is to be a major force in conserving biodiversity worldwide”

          This is a very generalised mission statement that is given by most zoos in the UK and by many across the world. This is because zoos are tightly controlled by government legislation, such as the Secretary of State's Standards of Modern Zoo Practice (SSSMZP) which sets rules and guidelines for zoos in the UK. These rules and guides set how much conservation work and education have to be done in order for zoos to be allowed to stay open along with the minimum requirements for animals to be kept in. Various other organisations also help to ensure that zoos keep to high standards of animal welfare, such as The British and Irish Association of Zoos and Aquariums (BIAZA) which is a charity that formed to help zoos with animal welfare, conservation work and education. Across the world there are other organisations just like BIAZA that do the same job.

          With all of these institutions setting many rules and guidelines some zoos still manage to slip through them and unfortunately do mistreat animals and do not offer any education or help with conservation efforts and are purely open for public “entertainment”. Most of these kinds of zoos are described as “roadside zoos” as the are often not open in any one place permanently as they are breaking the law. These zoos are however in the minority in countries that have set standards for zoos.

          With this what we can see is that the modern zoo is a place for people to visit to see animals in an environment that is similar to their natural habitat, that educates people about animals in zoos and in the wild whilst also helping to support conservation efforts around the world.