0:00:25 > 0:00:27A day at the zoo.
0:00:28 > 0:00:30How could we have grown up without it?
0:00:31 > 0:00:33Ferocious lions...
0:00:34 > 0:00:36..playful elephants...
0:00:38 > 0:00:40..and funny monkeys.
0:00:41 > 0:00:43A family occasion,
0:00:43 > 0:00:45a part of our education...
0:00:48 > 0:00:49Perhaps even the facts of life -
0:00:49 > 0:00:52if you see something happening, that might be the moment.
0:00:52 > 0:00:55..and our entertainment.
0:00:55 > 0:00:58Gosh, there was an elephant, and you could ride on Rosie!
0:01:03 > 0:01:05Not everything always went to plan.
0:01:08 > 0:01:10Really, the keeper was very glad at the end of the day
0:01:10 > 0:01:14when the animals hadn't sort of consumed any of the visitors.
0:01:14 > 0:01:19And not everyone agrees with keeping animals in captivity.
0:01:19 > 0:01:22Quite simply, it's wrong to hold animals captive
0:01:22 > 0:01:24in order that people can go and look at them.
0:01:24 > 0:01:27So where did this love affair for the rest of us start?
0:01:27 > 0:01:30The first giraffe was walked from London Docks,
0:01:30 > 0:01:34and fancy seeing a giraffe! You don't know what a giraffe is.
0:01:35 > 0:01:37And how have zoos evolved?
0:01:39 > 0:01:41From Regency high science...
0:01:42 > 0:01:45..to 1930s showmanship...
0:01:47 > 0:01:50..post-war re-invention
0:01:50 > 0:01:53and the challenge of conservation.
0:01:56 > 0:02:00This is the story of Britain's day at the zoo.
0:02:00 > 0:02:04I'd seen pictures in books.
0:02:04 > 0:02:07But I'd never seen anything like this ever.
0:02:22 > 0:02:27Going to the zoo is something most of us take for granted.
0:02:27 > 0:02:30It's one of childhood's rites of passage.
0:02:33 > 0:02:36For a short while, we get up close with animals from another world,
0:02:36 > 0:02:40and they become etched in our memories for a lifetime.
0:02:41 > 0:02:45I mean, we used to bring things from home to feed the elephants.
0:02:45 > 0:02:48We'd buy a packet of biscuits to eat ourselves,
0:02:48 > 0:02:50and we'd give it all to the elephants.
0:02:52 > 0:02:54We'd break off branches and give it to the giraffes.
0:02:57 > 0:02:59Uh...
0:02:59 > 0:03:02Things that wouldn't be allowed today!
0:03:05 > 0:03:08I mean, I hope we never killed any of them,
0:03:08 > 0:03:10but I don't think we did.
0:03:13 > 0:03:16I think, certainly, there was a kind of an idea
0:03:16 > 0:03:18of what a zoo should contain,
0:03:18 > 0:03:21and you almost got your Ladybird book of zoo animals,
0:03:21 > 0:03:23your rhinos, giraffes, elephants, zebras,
0:03:23 > 0:03:26the kind of things you'd expect to see in a zoo.
0:03:28 > 0:03:31What have you got on the brown signs on the motorways around this country?
0:03:31 > 0:03:32It's elephants.
0:03:32 > 0:03:35Actually, very few zoos have elephants in the UK now,
0:03:35 > 0:03:38but it's still inextricably linked with the idea of what a zoo is,
0:03:38 > 0:03:40to have those big iconic animals.
0:03:42 > 0:03:48Perhaps we can think about zoos as places and spaces of nostalgia,
0:03:48 > 0:03:51that children are taken to zoos by their parents,
0:03:51 > 0:03:53and they see these wonderful creatures,
0:03:53 > 0:03:56and when they grow up and they're looking for family outings,
0:03:56 > 0:03:57they're taking their children.
0:03:57 > 0:04:00So the parents are telling the stories
0:04:00 > 0:04:03about the places they went to when they were children.
0:04:07 > 0:04:10It's more of a thrill
0:04:10 > 0:04:14to actually think you can hold something in your hand
0:04:14 > 0:04:16and give it them, erm...
0:04:16 > 0:04:20hoping your hand'd still be there when you brought it back!
0:04:20 > 0:04:21Oh, we didn't...
0:04:21 > 0:04:25we didn't feed lions and tigers, oh, no.
0:04:25 > 0:04:27We got the... No!
0:04:30 > 0:04:33There are important scientific things going on in zoos.
0:04:33 > 0:04:35They've got important breeding programmes,
0:04:35 > 0:04:39but the public space is about families
0:04:39 > 0:04:41and parents taking children.
0:04:41 > 0:04:45So I think they're important places of nostalgia
0:04:45 > 0:04:48and storytelling about wild animals.
0:04:48 > 0:04:52Our story takes us back to 1838,
0:04:52 > 0:04:55and a young scientist who was captivated
0:04:55 > 0:04:58by the weird and wonderful animals at the zoo,
0:04:58 > 0:05:01none other than Charles Darwin.
0:05:09 > 0:05:12"Two days since, when it was very warm,
0:05:12 > 0:05:15"I rode to the Zoological Society.
0:05:16 > 0:05:19"Such a sight has seldom been seen
0:05:19 > 0:05:23"as to behold the rhinoceros kicking and rearing.
0:05:24 > 0:05:27"The elephant was in the adjoining yard,
0:05:27 > 0:05:31"squealing and braying like half a dozen broken trumpets."
0:05:31 > 0:05:32ELEPHANT TRUMPETS
0:05:37 > 0:05:41London's Zoological Gardens in Regent's Park
0:05:41 > 0:05:43had been opened in 1828
0:05:43 > 0:05:45amidst an explosion of interest in science.
0:05:49 > 0:05:51The place was a living catalogue
0:05:51 > 0:05:54of all the known creatures in the animal kingdom,
0:05:54 > 0:05:57the very first scientific zoo.
0:05:59 > 0:06:02Entry was a members-only affair,
0:06:02 > 0:06:04for chaps like Darwin and guests,
0:06:04 > 0:06:07and it displayed creatures that were so exotic
0:06:07 > 0:06:10even Darwin had never seen them before.
0:06:12 > 0:06:18It was at London Zoo that Darwin first saw man's closest cousin.
0:06:18 > 0:06:21She was called Jenny, Jenny the orang.
0:06:21 > 0:06:25She was a young orang, three or four years old, they thought,
0:06:25 > 0:06:30and she'd come from the Far East, people weren't quite clear where.
0:06:30 > 0:06:35But she's given a woollen jacket and trousers,
0:06:35 > 0:06:38and he saw at once
0:06:38 > 0:06:42just how close this young orang was
0:06:42 > 0:06:45to a young human.
0:06:51 > 0:06:52What is that, Jenny?
0:06:54 > 0:06:56You know, it's historic.
0:06:56 > 0:06:59This is a human looking at an animal
0:06:59 > 0:07:03and for the first time thinking, clearly and positively,
0:07:03 > 0:07:07"How close may we be."
0:07:07 > 0:07:11Darwin's encounters may have helped lead to grand scientific theories,
0:07:11 > 0:07:15but the Zoological Society was strapped for cash.
0:07:15 > 0:07:19Its large collection of animals was costly to feed and maintain.
0:07:19 > 0:07:21The zoo needed a new source of income,
0:07:21 > 0:07:26and so, in 1847, the unthinkable happened.
0:07:26 > 0:07:29The gates were opened to the general public.
0:07:32 > 0:07:36It was transformed from an exclusive enclave in Regent's Park
0:07:36 > 0:07:39to a day out with a difference for ordinary citizens.
0:07:42 > 0:07:47So if you can imagine cages upon cages of lions and tigers,
0:07:47 > 0:07:50all quite small areas, the noise, the smell,
0:07:50 > 0:07:54plus, then, hundreds and thousands of people
0:07:54 > 0:07:57jammed into these houses as well, trying to see the animals,
0:07:57 > 0:07:59as the keepers were trying to feed them and...
0:07:59 > 0:08:01So there was smells of meat,
0:08:01 > 0:08:03the smells must have been quite incredible,
0:08:03 > 0:08:05the noise must have been quite incredible.
0:08:05 > 0:08:10But...one could say that it was a full sensory experience.
0:08:10 > 0:08:17It did give people the sights and smells of wild animals.
0:08:17 > 0:08:19CHIMPANZEES HOOT
0:08:19 > 0:08:22ELEPHANT TRUMPETS
0:08:22 > 0:08:24Even in these early years,
0:08:24 > 0:08:28there were already a few essentials needed for the full zoo experience,
0:08:28 > 0:08:33and possibly the most important of all was feeding time...
0:08:34 > 0:08:38..although knowledge of animal needs was a bit sketchy
0:08:38 > 0:08:41and sometimes odd things appeared on the menu.
0:08:43 > 0:08:46So, typically, in the early years, animals would be given carrots
0:08:46 > 0:08:52or kind of apples stewed in sugar or types of rice and flour maybe.
0:08:52 > 0:08:56Um... Rum and stout.
0:08:56 > 0:08:58All this sort of stuff was given to the animals,
0:08:58 > 0:09:00because it was thought to make them more hardy,
0:09:00 > 0:09:02particularly kind of stout and rum.
0:09:06 > 0:09:11But to really keep the public happy, you need a showcase animal.
0:09:11 > 0:09:15In order to get people to come, to pay, to the zoo,
0:09:15 > 0:09:17they need to have exotic novelties,
0:09:17 > 0:09:19strange animals that will attract people,
0:09:19 > 0:09:22and these are the kind of flagship animals, the event animals.
0:09:22 > 0:09:25It wasn't enough to have the same old stuff.
0:09:25 > 0:09:29The public could look forward to seeing the odd escapee
0:09:29 > 0:09:33or perhaps someone falling into the bear pit,
0:09:33 > 0:09:36but what zoos have always needed to keep the punters coming
0:09:36 > 0:09:39are new and exciting headline acts.
0:09:39 > 0:09:43London's first attempt was a hippo called Obaysch.
0:09:45 > 0:09:48"I have seen the hippo both asleep and awake,
0:09:48 > 0:09:51"and I can assure you that, asleep or awake,
0:09:51 > 0:09:54"he is the ugliest of the works of God."
0:09:56 > 0:09:57So Obaysch, a hippopotamus
0:09:57 > 0:10:02that was caught on the upper White Nile in 1849 as a calf.
0:10:02 > 0:10:05Its mother certainly was killed in the process of catching the animal.
0:10:05 > 0:10:09And it was brought to Southampton on the steamer Ripon,
0:10:09 > 0:10:14and there were many crowds there to greet the animal when it arrived.
0:10:14 > 0:10:16Now, the press really built this up,
0:10:16 > 0:10:19because the translation of hippopotamus,
0:10:19 > 0:10:21which is Latin, is "river horse",
0:10:21 > 0:10:24so there's this idea that this is a horse
0:10:24 > 0:10:25that lives in rivers, in water.
0:10:25 > 0:10:28And when people see the hippo, Obaysch,
0:10:28 > 0:10:30they're disappointed,
0:10:30 > 0:10:33because it looks more like a grey pig, essentially.
0:10:33 > 0:10:36This is not, to them, a horse - this is really disappointing.
0:10:36 > 0:10:38Why have we got this fat grey hippo?
0:10:38 > 0:10:41The sense that this is not other or exciting
0:10:41 > 0:10:44or novel or curious enough, it's just a bit dull.
0:10:46 > 0:10:48Despite the anticlimax,
0:10:48 > 0:10:51Obaysch doubled the number of visitors through the gates.
0:10:51 > 0:10:54For a short time, the hippo became part of popular culture
0:10:54 > 0:10:56as a figure of fun.
0:10:58 > 0:11:02Obaysch was missing one key ingredient for a fickle public.
0:11:02 > 0:11:05He just didn't have the personality.
0:11:06 > 0:11:09However, the zoo's next big acquisition
0:11:09 > 0:11:12would be a real character and became a British animal icon.
0:11:12 > 0:11:15ELEPHANT TRUMPETS
0:11:15 > 0:11:18Jumbo the elephant was the ultimate star attraction.
0:11:18 > 0:11:21Jumbo was an amazing elephant.
0:11:21 > 0:11:23But he was an extraordinarily sized elephant.
0:11:23 > 0:11:28He grew and he grew and he grew to literally being jumbo sized.
0:11:28 > 0:11:30Everybody came to the zoo to see Jumbo,
0:11:30 > 0:11:33he was almost worth the admission price by himself.
0:11:33 > 0:11:36He was a huge beast.
0:11:36 > 0:11:37Jumbo became a national emblem,
0:11:37 > 0:11:40so Jumbo became not only an event animal,
0:11:40 > 0:11:44but he had something about him which meant that his popularity endured,
0:11:44 > 0:11:46and that's quite different from Obaysch.
0:11:46 > 0:11:49Obaysch, his popularity was fleeting, just for a few years.
0:11:49 > 0:11:53But with Jumbo, there's something about the elephant as a species
0:11:53 > 0:11:57that makes it quite attractive, it means we can relate to it,
0:11:57 > 0:12:00it means we can turn it into a personality very easily.
0:12:00 > 0:12:04And that's the case with Jumbo, who becomes a personality in himself.
0:12:04 > 0:12:07He becomes a British elephant, a London elephant.
0:12:07 > 0:12:13Jumbo became so famous that he lent his name to anything supersized.
0:12:13 > 0:12:15But Jumbo was maturing,
0:12:15 > 0:12:18and older male elephants have a habit of getting cranky.
0:12:18 > 0:12:22Before long, their star animal was becoming a danger to the public,
0:12:22 > 0:12:25and something needed to be done.
0:12:25 > 0:12:27Then there was an opportunity
0:12:27 > 0:12:30from the great circus man Phineas T Barnum,
0:12:30 > 0:12:34who wanted to exhibit the most amazing animals,
0:12:34 > 0:12:36to offer to buy Jumbo...
0:12:37 > 0:12:40..which, to the council of the zoo, was a wonderful opportunity,
0:12:40 > 0:12:43a real solution to their problems, erm...
0:12:43 > 0:12:47To the people of London, it was the worst thing ever!
0:12:47 > 0:12:51There was Jumbo's wife, as she was called, Alice.
0:12:51 > 0:12:53Alice was going to be forlorn,
0:12:53 > 0:12:55because Jumbo was going to be moved away.
0:12:55 > 0:12:59There was questions asked at the highest levels of government,
0:12:59 > 0:13:02and inten...various petitions
0:13:02 > 0:13:07and everything possible to keep Jumbo back in London Zoo.
0:13:08 > 0:13:13"We can't possibly sell him to America, to a showman's affair."
0:13:13 > 0:13:15Despite the chorus of complaints,
0:13:15 > 0:13:20Jumbo was sold to Barnum for £2,000.
0:13:20 > 0:13:22And eventually he sailed
0:13:22 > 0:13:26and met a rather untimely end, crossing some railway tracks.
0:13:26 > 0:13:30He didn't move, and Matthew Scott, who'd gone with him,
0:13:30 > 0:13:33couldn't encourage him to move,
0:13:33 > 0:13:36and he was hit, sadly, by an unscheduled train.
0:13:39 > 0:13:41The outcry at Jumbo's departure
0:13:41 > 0:13:44showed how close the zoo was to the public's heart.
0:13:44 > 0:13:46That this British beast
0:13:46 > 0:13:50should be sold to an American was affront enough,
0:13:50 > 0:13:55but, even worse, Barnum's outfit had no scientific credentials.
0:13:57 > 0:13:59The zoo was not a circus!
0:14:01 > 0:14:04But whatever the lofty aims of the institution,
0:14:04 > 0:14:08visitors still demanded that they put on a good show.
0:14:08 > 0:14:10Bears were exhibited in pits,
0:14:10 > 0:14:12and in those pits there was a big tree or something
0:14:12 > 0:14:14that the bears could climb up.
0:14:14 > 0:14:17And you could buy a bear-prodding stick at the entrance,
0:14:17 > 0:14:20so you could just, to get this bear to move,
0:14:20 > 0:14:24you could just gently give it a nudge with this stick.
0:14:24 > 0:14:27You could...feed the animals, of course, in those days.
0:14:27 > 0:14:29You could actually bring in food,
0:14:29 > 0:14:32and some people were bringing in pilchards and things
0:14:32 > 0:14:34to feed to the penguins and sea lions.
0:14:34 > 0:14:36But in those days people were encouraged.
0:14:36 > 0:14:38They'd paid their admission fee to come in,
0:14:38 > 0:14:40and they considered it their right
0:14:40 > 0:14:45to go around the collection and, erm...cajole, if you like,
0:14:45 > 0:14:48the animals into moving or putting on some sort of a show for them.
0:14:50 > 0:14:51By the turn of the century,
0:14:51 > 0:14:54the zoo experience had become well established.
0:14:54 > 0:14:57London had competition from other animal collections
0:14:57 > 0:15:01and was beginning to struggle again financially.
0:15:01 > 0:15:04It was no longer enough to simply show beasts in cages.
0:15:04 > 0:15:08People wanted more from their day at the zoo.
0:15:08 > 0:15:11The whole act needed to be more spectacular,
0:15:11 > 0:15:15so the zoo turned to a German showman called Carl Hagenbeck
0:15:15 > 0:15:17for a big new idea.
0:15:17 > 0:15:20I think a revolutionary movement occurred with Hagenbeck,
0:15:20 > 0:15:23particularly in his zoo near Hamburg.
0:15:23 > 0:15:26Hagenbeck was an animal collector, he supplied animals to zoos,
0:15:26 > 0:15:28but he established his own zoo,
0:15:28 > 0:15:30and he wanted a different kind of theatre.
0:15:31 > 0:15:33Hagenbeck thought he could improve
0:15:33 > 0:15:36on the small cages that the Victorians had used.
0:15:36 > 0:15:38His revolutionary idea
0:15:38 > 0:15:41was to put the animals in naturalistic-looking panoramas
0:15:41 > 0:15:45that made it seem as if they could happily roam around together.
0:15:45 > 0:15:50It was a dramatic spectacle based on an optical illusion.
0:15:50 > 0:15:54So he was creating landscape designs for animals,
0:15:54 > 0:15:58where you could have animals on mountains behind other animals.
0:15:58 > 0:16:01You might have predator and prey together,
0:16:01 > 0:16:02and it looked like they could interact,
0:16:02 > 0:16:06but they couldn't, there were moats between them.
0:16:06 > 0:16:09Fundamentally, it was about impact.
0:16:09 > 0:16:12Seeing these animals with zebra in the front,
0:16:12 > 0:16:14lions in the back, birds behind
0:16:14 > 0:16:17gave an incredible impact and display.
0:16:17 > 0:16:21It was time for London Zoo to pull up its socks
0:16:21 > 0:16:23and embrace the 20th century.
0:16:23 > 0:16:25They commissioned a new enclosure
0:16:25 > 0:16:28that recreated a panoramic mountain vista
0:16:28 > 0:16:31out of reinforced concrete.
0:16:31 > 0:16:33It was named the Mappin Terraces,
0:16:33 > 0:16:36after the crown jewellers Mappin & Webb,
0:16:36 > 0:16:38whose glittering profits had paid for it.
0:16:40 > 0:16:43Oh, how I wish at times I could have seen that,
0:16:43 > 0:16:45with all of these animals,
0:16:45 > 0:16:48with all of the mountain goats on top of the Mappin Terraces,
0:16:48 > 0:16:52with polar bears, with black bears, with grizzly bears, Kodiak bears,
0:16:52 > 0:16:55with then all the pigs and the different various beasts,
0:16:55 > 0:16:57and then penguins in the front.
0:17:02 > 0:17:05It was undescribable in terms of the amount of animals
0:17:05 > 0:17:07that were on those Mappin Terraces,
0:17:07 > 0:17:11and the impact and the visual display.
0:17:11 > 0:17:13Suddenly, people could see all these animals
0:17:13 > 0:17:17against what they considered to be a natural setting.
0:17:17 > 0:17:19Most people hadn't been abroad, of course,
0:17:19 > 0:17:21and people didn't have TV,
0:17:21 > 0:17:24so they couldn't see what the animals' natural habitat was like,
0:17:24 > 0:17:27so they imagined that this is what the Arctic must look like
0:17:27 > 0:17:28for the polar bears,
0:17:28 > 0:17:31this is what the South American pampas must look like
0:17:31 > 0:17:33for the peccaries.
0:17:34 > 0:17:40However, welfare, was it the best display?
0:17:40 > 0:17:42It was of its time.
0:17:43 > 0:17:45The vast concrete mountains
0:17:45 > 0:17:47may not have been the best for its inhabitants,
0:17:47 > 0:17:50but they certainly looked the part.
0:17:50 > 0:17:52This naturalistic new world,
0:17:52 > 0:17:55where the beasts appeared to roam free,
0:17:55 > 0:17:58caught the imagination of one particular family.
0:17:58 > 0:18:02Out on a day at the zoo with his son Christopher,
0:18:02 > 0:18:06AA Milne came across a black bear called Winnie.
0:18:06 > 0:18:10Christopher was smitten by the uniquely friendly bear,
0:18:10 > 0:18:13and Winnie-the-Pooh was born.
0:18:14 > 0:18:16It was a sign of the times.
0:18:18 > 0:18:22Over the years, attitudes towards animals had gradually been changing.
0:18:23 > 0:18:26We'd become a nation of pet owners,
0:18:26 > 0:18:30industry was replacing beasts of burden with combustion engines,
0:18:30 > 0:18:33and we read animal stories to our children.
0:18:33 > 0:18:36There's an increasing sense of anthropomorphism,
0:18:36 > 0:18:39which is turning animals into humans, essentially,
0:18:39 > 0:18:41or giving them human characteristics,
0:18:41 > 0:18:45and increasing ways in which that's done
0:18:45 > 0:18:48through films and various kind of books.
0:18:48 > 0:18:52It means that people are relating to animals more as little people,
0:18:52 > 0:18:55little furry people - you know, less animal, more human -
0:18:55 > 0:18:59and this means that when they see them in cramped spaces,
0:18:59 > 0:19:03they can more easily envisage themselves in those spaces.
0:19:03 > 0:19:06And I think that's what's kind of going on, it's about empathising.
0:19:06 > 0:19:09It's about thinking, "I wouldn't want to be in those spaces.
0:19:09 > 0:19:11"Those creatures, I can see they're a bit like me,
0:19:11 > 0:19:14"so therefore they must hate it there."
0:19:14 > 0:19:16And I think that's what's kind of informing it,
0:19:16 > 0:19:19this sense of an increasing kind of proximity,
0:19:19 > 0:19:22emotional and experiential proximity, between the human and the animal.
0:19:23 > 0:19:27The views about animals were getting more sentimental,
0:19:27 > 0:19:28and zoos had to take note.
0:19:32 > 0:19:35Entertainment was blurring the boundaries
0:19:35 > 0:19:37between humans and zoo creatures.
0:19:37 > 0:19:41Our little furry friends were made to act like little people,
0:19:41 > 0:19:44and chimps' tea parties were a result.
0:19:50 > 0:19:53The chimps were out of their enclosure
0:19:53 > 0:19:57and now really acting like humans, you know,
0:19:57 > 0:19:59pouring tea for each other, drinking out of cups,
0:19:59 > 0:20:01but making a mess of it.
0:20:01 > 0:20:04They're naughty, they're misbehaved but slightly behaved.
0:20:06 > 0:20:11They were popular because they were basically like little children.
0:20:11 > 0:20:13Children loved them because the chimps were misbehaving,
0:20:13 > 0:20:18they were throwing the jelly around, cramming stuff into their mouth,
0:20:18 > 0:20:20um...had no manners whatsoever,
0:20:20 > 0:20:23all the things the children would have loved to have done at home
0:20:23 > 0:20:25but were prevented from doing so.
0:20:34 > 0:20:38By the 1930s, the bars and cages of the old-school zoo
0:20:38 > 0:20:41had fallen firmly out of favour.
0:20:41 > 0:20:45No-one wanted places that looked like animal jails any more.
0:20:50 > 0:20:53In 1937, a brand-new zoo
0:20:53 > 0:20:57would blow the bars off the British zoo establishment.
0:20:57 > 0:21:01An entire zoo picked up where the Mappin Terraces had left off,
0:21:01 > 0:21:03but went a step further,
0:21:03 > 0:21:07adding futuristic enclosures with no attempt to look natural.
0:21:08 > 0:21:13At Dudley, the gates of Britain's first barless zoo were opened,
0:21:13 > 0:21:16and a quarter of a million people clamoured to get in.
0:21:18 > 0:21:20As we were only young,
0:21:20 > 0:21:24it seemed as if we were walking and walking and walking.
0:21:30 > 0:21:33And then we saw the crowds.
0:21:35 > 0:21:38Not hundreds, thousands.
0:21:40 > 0:21:42Absolutely!
0:21:44 > 0:21:47And I said, "We're going to get in, you know."
0:21:47 > 0:21:52And Mum... Mum hummed and harred, because I thought,
0:21:52 > 0:21:56"Oh, we're going to have to wait for hours and hours,"
0:21:56 > 0:21:58which we did.
0:21:58 > 0:22:02Building an entire zoo without the Victorian bars
0:22:02 > 0:22:06was the perfect way to make the public feel closer to the animals
0:22:06 > 0:22:09and less troubled about their captivity.
0:22:11 > 0:22:14So losing the bars is about presenting the animal
0:22:14 > 0:22:17in a happy state, in a less distressed state,
0:22:17 > 0:22:19in a less captive state.
0:22:19 > 0:22:23So people going to the zoo are becoming progressively less inclined
0:22:23 > 0:22:29to want to see animals visibly restrained by small spaces and bars.
0:22:29 > 0:22:33So removing the bars allows them to see the illusion of freedom,
0:22:33 > 0:22:36and it is an illusion, because they're in on the joke.
0:22:36 > 0:22:38They know this, people aren't thinking,
0:22:38 > 0:22:40"Wow, these animals are actually free."
0:22:40 > 0:22:42They know they're not, but it's presenting them as such,
0:22:42 > 0:22:46and so I think it alleviates this kind of sense of...of disquiet.
0:22:48 > 0:22:51One of the reasons for that, also, because people go to the zoo,
0:22:51 > 0:22:53they want to take photographs,
0:22:53 > 0:22:56and bars don't make good photographs.
0:22:56 > 0:22:58People could get a better view of the animals,
0:22:58 > 0:23:00it was a more pleasant viewing experience,
0:23:00 > 0:23:02and of course that psychological idea
0:23:02 > 0:23:05of animals being behind bars was taken away.
0:23:05 > 0:23:07I mean, the bars have a lot of connotations to them,
0:23:07 > 0:23:08the sense of the prison,
0:23:08 > 0:23:11but also the sense of the madhouse, the asylum,
0:23:11 > 0:23:13so people would, in the 19th century, go to asylums
0:23:13 > 0:23:16to see the inmates as a spectacle.
0:23:16 > 0:23:20And I think all of this adds up to a sense of disquiet
0:23:20 > 0:23:22and unease at animal captivity.
0:23:23 > 0:23:27Dudley was the work of Russian architect Berthold Lubetkin,
0:23:27 > 0:23:31who had some radical notions about designing a zoo.
0:23:31 > 0:23:33His enclosures weren't just barless.
0:23:33 > 0:23:36They were also modernist masterpieces
0:23:36 > 0:23:39that made the animal perform for the public.
0:23:39 > 0:23:44It was an idea he first tried out on enclosures at London Zoo.
0:23:44 > 0:23:45In the penguin pool,
0:23:45 > 0:23:49it's constructed in such a way as to make the penguins be penguin.
0:23:49 > 0:23:52You have the ramp that goes up from the pool to go up a level,
0:23:52 > 0:23:58and that's intended to make the penguins waddle, be penguins.
0:23:58 > 0:24:00I've come to see the penguins be penguins,
0:24:00 > 0:24:03I really like penguins, they're funny, they walk amusingly,
0:24:03 > 0:24:06and now I can see that at the Lubetkin penguin pool.
0:24:08 > 0:24:11But at Dudley, Lubetkin had an entire zoo to play with,
0:24:11 > 0:24:13and he perfected his craft.
0:24:16 > 0:24:20Polar bears would jump off a stylised concrete iceberg
0:24:20 > 0:24:21into their pool.
0:24:23 > 0:24:26And sea lions climbed modernist ramps
0:24:26 > 0:24:29to be face to face with the visitors.
0:24:29 > 0:24:33For a ten-year-old Muriel, the wait to get inside was worth it.
0:24:34 > 0:24:38When we did manage to get inside,
0:24:38 > 0:24:41almost pushing our way,
0:24:41 > 0:24:44pushing the people aside to get in...
0:24:46 > 0:24:48..and when we did get inside...
0:24:51 > 0:24:53..oh, it was wonderful.
0:24:54 > 0:24:57There was a cage...
0:24:57 > 0:25:02Well, I can't say it was a cage, it was too big for a cage.
0:25:02 > 0:25:04It was like this room,
0:25:04 > 0:25:07and it was absolutely full of monkeys.
0:25:07 > 0:25:10Absolutely!
0:25:10 > 0:25:13And we were pushing our way to get to them,
0:25:13 > 0:25:15we couldn't get close enough.
0:25:15 > 0:25:18I thought I'd died and gone to heaven.
0:25:18 > 0:25:22I'd never seen anything like it! Never seen anything like it.
0:25:24 > 0:25:27Lubetkin's zoo was a modernist theatre,
0:25:27 > 0:25:30with wild beasts placed at the centre of the show.
0:25:30 > 0:25:32His enclosures were like amphitheatres
0:25:32 > 0:25:36that offered a close-up and unrestricted view of the animals.
0:25:40 > 0:25:43Looking at something you didn't expect to see...
0:25:43 > 0:25:46you didn't expect to see.
0:25:46 > 0:25:50Don't ask me the man's name, I've got the book about him,
0:25:50 > 0:25:54but don't ask me the... cos I couldn't pronounce it!
0:25:54 > 0:25:56We thought we were with it!
0:25:56 > 0:26:00I don't know all the modern names you'd say today,
0:26:00 > 0:26:02but we were with it.
0:26:02 > 0:26:04My word!
0:26:04 > 0:26:08But of course there was no health and safety there,
0:26:08 > 0:26:11so you just climbed anywhere.
0:26:14 > 0:26:16Not so many fences then!
0:26:18 > 0:26:22Though the concrete designs lacked a natural surface
0:26:22 > 0:26:24and there was often little for the animals to do,
0:26:24 > 0:26:26Lubetkin had created
0:26:26 > 0:26:29a barless, immersive and playful experience for visitors,
0:26:29 > 0:26:33ideas that all zoos would one day aspire to.
0:26:35 > 0:26:38He'd achieved something that was at the heart
0:26:38 > 0:26:40of every successful day at the zoo.
0:26:40 > 0:26:43Dudley was a playground for the imagination.
0:26:45 > 0:26:47My favourite film at the time
0:26:47 > 0:26:50was Johnny Weissmuller...
0:26:52 > 0:26:54..the world-famous swimmer
0:26:54 > 0:26:56and film star.
0:26:57 > 0:27:00And it was like Tarzan.
0:27:00 > 0:27:06I expected Johnny Weissmuller to come jumping through the trees.
0:27:06 > 0:27:09In Tarzan And His Mate,
0:27:09 > 0:27:11Johnny Weissmuller found himself in a jungle
0:27:11 > 0:27:14that was more Californian than African,
0:27:14 > 0:27:17but the film did make use of live animals,
0:27:17 > 0:27:21capturing some realistic wildlife behaviour on camera in a way
0:27:21 > 0:27:26unusual for the era - one reason for the success of the Tarzan franchise.
0:27:29 > 0:27:31Perhaps other people had seen places
0:27:31 > 0:27:34but it was the first zoo I had seen.
0:27:34 > 0:27:38So I thought it was almost like Africa.
0:27:38 > 0:27:41And Johnny Weissmuller, my favourite film star,
0:27:41 > 0:27:44I expected to see him jumping through the trees.
0:27:44 > 0:27:46I knew he wouldn't.
0:27:47 > 0:27:49But I thought, you never know!
0:27:52 > 0:27:57That was it. And the love affair started then with the zoo!
0:27:57 > 0:27:59And it never went away.
0:28:01 > 0:28:04In the 1930s, Hollywood was in full swing
0:28:04 > 0:28:08and the movies turned the spotlight onto one particular animal.
0:28:14 > 0:28:17King Kong was one of the biggest hits of the day
0:28:17 > 0:28:19and 100 miles south-west of Dudley,
0:28:19 > 0:28:24the second-oldest zoo in the country had something just like him.
0:28:25 > 0:28:29Bristol Zoo had its very own superstar ape.
0:28:37 > 0:28:38First time I went,
0:28:38 > 0:28:41I would think it was 1946.
0:28:41 > 0:28:45Went with the Sunday school from Clarence Barr Baptist Church
0:28:45 > 0:28:50in Weston-super-Mare and we got a green double-decker bus
0:28:50 > 0:28:53and children sat three to a seat
0:28:53 > 0:28:56and then there was a row of chairs down the middle of the aisle.
0:28:56 > 0:28:58No health and safety in those days!
0:28:58 > 0:29:03It was so exciting, with the war just finished.
0:29:03 > 0:29:06This was a real treat, to be going to Bristol Zoo.
0:29:06 > 0:29:11Maureen and her friends had all come to see major animal attraction
0:29:11 > 0:29:12Alfred the Gorilla.
0:29:12 > 0:29:15# Mr Big Stuff
0:29:15 > 0:29:17# Who do you think you are... #
0:29:17 > 0:29:19Scary and yet lovable,
0:29:19 > 0:29:22which sounds ridiculous but it's true.
0:29:22 > 0:29:26He was. He was special.
0:29:26 > 0:29:29I wouldn't have liked to have been in the cage with him,
0:29:29 > 0:29:31I have to admit. But...!
0:29:33 > 0:29:38He was a great animal. He was almost human.
0:29:38 > 0:29:40He almost knew that you were going to be there
0:29:40 > 0:29:43to watch his antics
0:29:43 > 0:29:48and his spitting and his urinating at you, all the things
0:29:48 > 0:29:50that he shouldn't do, and yet he knew,
0:29:50 > 0:29:52he seemed to know he shouldn't do.
0:29:52 > 0:29:57Alfred had arrived at Bristol Zoo as a youngster in 1930.
0:29:57 > 0:30:02He was one of only two gorillas in Europe and was an instant sensation.
0:30:02 > 0:30:06In the 1930s, King Kong is a Hollywood film
0:30:06 > 0:30:10and because this is the same sort of time you have Alfred here,
0:30:10 > 0:30:13it all heightens the hype surrounding the animal.
0:30:13 > 0:30:15It's about going to see this animal
0:30:15 > 0:30:18that could almost be the gorilla that was in King Kong.
0:30:18 > 0:30:22It's all about creating this kind of cultural excitement
0:30:22 > 0:30:26surrounding the species, I think, and Alfred is emblematic of the species.
0:30:26 > 0:30:30Alfred was the biggest and longest-lived gorilla in Britain
0:30:30 > 0:30:33and visitors felt a sense of connection to him
0:30:33 > 0:30:35that only a great ape could offer.
0:30:37 > 0:30:39Well, he was this big, great
0:30:39 > 0:30:40brute of a chap
0:30:40 > 0:30:44and he used to sulk most of the time, so he just sat!
0:30:46 > 0:30:49Well, it was daunting, really, cos he was an enormous great chap,
0:30:49 > 0:30:55so you stood and looked in awe, really. That's it, yes.
0:30:55 > 0:30:59There's certainly more empathy with Alfred than there is
0:30:59 > 0:31:04with other animals, because he is so, almost, human.
0:31:04 > 0:31:08There are records of people looking at Alfred and seeing in his eyes
0:31:08 > 0:31:11that he understands what it is to be human.
0:31:11 > 0:31:14And they write this. There's this sense that, when they go to the zoo,
0:31:14 > 0:31:19he loves seeing them, he waits for them to come to see him annually.
0:31:19 > 0:31:23There is a sense that he remembers particular people as his friends.
0:31:23 > 0:31:27When people come to the zoos, they bring their own stories,
0:31:27 > 0:31:30their own imaginations, their own ideas about animals, with them.
0:31:30 > 0:31:34So, they might not be thinking about ethology, animal behaviour -
0:31:34 > 0:31:38scientific stuff. They'll be bringing stories that they've learnt
0:31:38 > 0:31:42from children's books, from films, and they start attributing
0:31:42 > 0:31:45human characteristics, immediately, to animals.
0:31:45 > 0:31:47"Oh, that animal looks sad."
0:31:47 > 0:31:50"Those two monkeys are hugging, they must be in love."
0:31:50 > 0:31:51"Oh, look, they're kissing."
0:31:51 > 0:31:55Or "The big gorilla over there is just like Dad -
0:31:55 > 0:31:57"sitting on his backside and doing nothing."
0:32:01 > 0:32:04But the feeling of a link with Alfred would get even deeper
0:32:04 > 0:32:07for the public as, just like them,
0:32:07 > 0:32:09he endured the burdens of the Second World War.
0:32:14 > 0:32:17The war brought tough times for zoos.
0:32:17 > 0:32:19Rationing meant food was scarce,
0:32:19 > 0:32:23money was tight and no-one wanted dangerous animals
0:32:23 > 0:32:26escaping from their enclosures.
0:32:26 > 0:32:30If a bomb hits, these animals are going to get out.
0:32:30 > 0:32:32The polar bears at Bristol were shot
0:32:32 > 0:32:35and the polar bear enclosure, which was quite new at that time,
0:32:35 > 0:32:37was turned into an air-raid shelter.
0:32:37 > 0:32:41This was a very difficult time for animals. If they weren't shot,
0:32:41 > 0:32:44then many of them starved. They didn't have the sort of food
0:32:44 > 0:32:47they had before, so it's not just a human tragedy here,
0:32:47 > 0:32:50in terms of war, there is an animal one, as well.
0:32:50 > 0:32:52Despite the hardship, the Second World War
0:32:52 > 0:32:56propelled Alfred to international fame.
0:32:57 > 0:33:00In 1937, it's said that he's the most famous animal in Europe.
0:33:00 > 0:33:02By the end of the Second World War,
0:33:02 > 0:33:05it's said he is the most famous animal in the world.
0:33:05 > 0:33:08Alfred is seen as sharing the plight of Bristolians during the war.
0:33:08 > 0:33:11So, his food is rationed,
0:33:11 > 0:33:17he's living in a war-torn city that was bombed on a number of occasions.
0:33:17 > 0:33:18And so, there is this sense
0:33:18 > 0:33:21that he is a symbol of life lived in the shadow of war,
0:33:21 > 0:33:24just as normal Bristolians are.
0:33:26 > 0:33:31But also, you have garrisons, battalions of GIs, American GIs,
0:33:31 > 0:33:35posted here and they are told, "Go to see Alfred.
0:33:35 > 0:33:38"He's the great attraction of Bristol, go and see him."
0:33:38 > 0:33:40They go and see him and, allegedly, they send some thousands
0:33:40 > 0:33:44of postcards back to their families back home and this spreads
0:33:44 > 0:33:47the message of Alfred. Alfred's story appears in newspapers
0:33:47 > 0:33:51in Australia, New Zealand and America. So his story is global.
0:33:52 > 0:33:55From being a simple animal attraction,
0:33:55 > 0:33:59he became a hero to the people of Bristol.
0:33:59 > 0:34:02There is a poem about Alfred, in which he's referred to
0:34:02 > 0:34:03as "Bristol's glamour boy".
0:34:03 > 0:34:07And this is a Hollywood reference. So he is, you know, he's a star.
0:34:07 > 0:34:10He's Bristol's star, he's Bristol's glamour boy.
0:34:10 > 0:34:13The spotlights are firmly positioned on this animal.
0:34:13 > 0:34:16Everyone knows about his life, what he's doing every day.
0:34:16 > 0:34:18People go to see him, specifically, to see HIM,
0:34:18 > 0:34:22as you would go to a movie premiere to see a particular star,
0:34:22 > 0:34:23for instance.
0:34:23 > 0:34:26Alfred was there through thick and thin
0:34:26 > 0:34:31and his death in 1948 hit his fellow Bristolians hard.
0:34:32 > 0:34:35Alfred died of TB
0:34:35 > 0:34:38in 1948. For a while, it was suggested he died from fright,
0:34:38 > 0:34:43because an aeroplane flew quite low over the zoo.
0:34:43 > 0:34:46That was later disproved, when they found tuberculosis in his body.
0:34:47 > 0:34:51His death was a great sadness for the zoo.
0:34:51 > 0:34:54The zoo had lost its main animal,
0:34:54 > 0:34:57its star attraction. For a great deal of time before his death,
0:34:57 > 0:35:00Bristol Zoo was Alfred and Alfred was Bristol Zoo.
0:35:00 > 0:35:04It was also a great sadness for the people who went to go to see him,
0:35:04 > 0:35:07because they thought of him as a friend. They thought they'd go
0:35:07 > 0:35:09to see him and that he understood them,
0:35:09 > 0:35:12so they were losing a person - a family member, a pet.
0:35:12 > 0:35:17Although the loss of Alfred, the cantankerous family friend,
0:35:17 > 0:35:19would cast a shadow over the place,
0:35:19 > 0:35:22it would soon be boom time for Bristol Zoo.
0:35:33 > 0:35:37Rising disposable income, skyrocketing car ownership
0:35:37 > 0:35:39and a new bridge over the River Severn
0:35:39 > 0:35:42would see the zoo become more popular than ever,
0:35:42 > 0:35:43as visitors flooded in.
0:35:47 > 0:35:51You felt it was a magical place. When you walked in,
0:35:51 > 0:35:56there were lovely flowerbeds and grass and the animals were always
0:35:56 > 0:35:59along in a straight row, then.
0:35:59 > 0:36:05And when you got to the end of the path, there used to be
0:36:05 > 0:36:09a bear, a big brown bear, there, with a pool in the centre.
0:36:11 > 0:36:16That used to smell just a little bit, but bear-like, you know.
0:36:16 > 0:36:19It was wonderful. We used to spend lots of time there, actually.
0:36:20 > 0:36:25You went in and there was a tree there, that lovely tree.
0:36:25 > 0:36:27And all the flowers you looked at.
0:36:27 > 0:36:30You were in another world, really. I thought it was
0:36:30 > 0:36:33lovely. And it was always sunny. The sun was always shining.
0:36:35 > 0:36:38Whenever you went to the zoo, it was always shining, yes.
0:36:38 > 0:36:41You looked forward to the outing, going to the zoo.
0:36:41 > 0:36:43Yes, a big day in your life.
0:36:47 > 0:36:52In this golden age, zoos had got it spot-on for the visitors.
0:36:53 > 0:36:55Lots of exciting animals, intriguing displays
0:36:55 > 0:37:00but most important of all, plenty of interaction.
0:37:01 > 0:37:05The ever-expanding numbers of visitors kept one young keeper
0:37:05 > 0:37:09on his toes. Don Packham was in charge of the monkey temple,
0:37:09 > 0:37:11where it wasn't just the animals who made a mess.
0:37:11 > 0:37:13In those days,
0:37:13 > 0:37:15the public were allowed to feed.
0:37:15 > 0:37:18And peanuts, of course, were not loose peanuts,
0:37:18 > 0:37:19they were peanuts in shells.
0:37:21 > 0:37:23And the monkeys ate the peanuts inside the shells,
0:37:23 > 0:37:27but didn't eat the shells, so the monkey temple would be covered
0:37:27 > 0:37:32in monkey shells, which, of course, if it rained, they would then stick
0:37:32 > 0:37:35to the floor and it would be an awful job trying to clean that up.
0:37:35 > 0:37:38Innocent enough behaviour could become a real problem
0:37:38 > 0:37:42on a busy day, especially when everyone had the same idea.
0:37:42 > 0:37:45People always brought a bun for the elephant.
0:37:45 > 0:37:49The number of times when you said, "Please don't feed the elephants."
0:37:49 > 0:37:51"It's only a bun." What they don't realise is,
0:37:51 > 0:37:5620,000 people in the zoo, if only a quarter of those brought buns,
0:37:56 > 0:38:01that's 5,000 buns you're going to offer to an elephant!
0:38:01 > 0:38:04The public wanted to get ever closer to the inmates
0:38:04 > 0:38:05and monkey around themselves -
0:38:05 > 0:38:08a constant source of worry for keepers.
0:38:10 > 0:38:13I'm afraid the one thing that used to worry keepers
0:38:13 > 0:38:15probably more than anything else -
0:38:15 > 0:38:18one, obviously, animals being given unsuitable objects
0:38:18 > 0:38:23and the other was people climbing on fences. The monkey temple
0:38:23 > 0:38:26was one where my heart was in my mouth several times there,
0:38:26 > 0:38:30where children would want to climb onto a wall
0:38:30 > 0:38:33and sit on the wall, with their feet dangling over into the temple.
0:38:33 > 0:38:35And as they lean forward to look at the monkeys,
0:38:35 > 0:38:37you could see the next stage was that
0:38:37 > 0:38:41they were going to go over there. The same thing applied to the bear.
0:38:41 > 0:38:44It was something which, really, the keeper was very glad at the end
0:38:44 > 0:38:49of the day, when the animals hadn't consumed any of the visitors!
0:38:49 > 0:38:52But it wasn't just visitors getting eaten that keepers
0:38:52 > 0:38:55had to watch out for. There were monkey escape plots,
0:38:55 > 0:38:59aided and abetted by members of the public.
0:38:59 > 0:39:03I went home on the Saturday evening, everything was fine.
0:39:03 > 0:39:05No problems at all. Fed them the usual way.
0:39:05 > 0:39:09Came in in the morning and the monkey temple was empty,
0:39:09 > 0:39:12except for something that hadn't been there the night before,
0:39:12 > 0:39:15and that was that a ladder had been put over.
0:39:15 > 0:39:18Somebody had broken into the zoo at night, put the ladder
0:39:18 > 0:39:21over into the temple and, of course, needless to say,
0:39:21 > 0:39:24all the monkeys had escaped. 36 monkeys roaming around.
0:39:24 > 0:39:27Although it might sound a humorous story, in fact, it was not,
0:39:27 > 0:39:31because those monkeys were potentially very dangerous
0:39:31 > 0:39:34and it took us three weeks, actually, before we finally
0:39:34 > 0:39:36captured the very last monkey.
0:39:36 > 0:39:40We had to take over a flat, actually, so we could set a trap
0:39:40 > 0:39:43inside the flat there and then we used to have to wait
0:39:43 > 0:39:47for hours outside, hoping that the monkey would go in for the food. Eventually, we did get him.
0:39:47 > 0:39:51But it was a very serious business and obviously whoever did it
0:39:51 > 0:39:54thought they were being very, very funny, but they certainly weren't.
0:39:54 > 0:39:57Even if you didn't have the cheek to bust out the animals,
0:39:57 > 0:40:00there was still one thing that could be enjoyed.
0:40:00 > 0:40:05It was perfectly acceptable to ride on the back of an elephant.
0:40:06 > 0:40:12You got here and, gosh, there was an elephant and you could ride on Rosie
0:40:12 > 0:40:16and from that time onwards, Rosie was my favourite.
0:40:16 > 0:40:20Whenever I went to the zoo, and we went every year with Sunday school,
0:40:20 > 0:40:22I might have gone with my parents in-between,
0:40:22 > 0:40:25and always wanted to ride on Rosie.
0:40:25 > 0:40:28Well, they had steps to go up, proper big steps
0:40:28 > 0:40:32and a platform where you climbed onto the top of the elephant
0:40:32 > 0:40:36and she walked all along the wide main path
0:40:36 > 0:40:38very slowly, led by the keeper
0:40:38 > 0:40:41and turned round at the end and came back.
0:40:41 > 0:40:44I think the rides were about thruppence or fourpence,
0:40:44 > 0:40:46something like that. It was lovely.
0:40:46 > 0:40:51They had the seats going either side and, um...
0:40:51 > 0:40:56I suppose there were about five or six children each side.
0:40:56 > 0:41:00And then, Jumbo or whoever it was,
0:41:00 > 0:41:03Judy, I think, in this case,
0:41:03 > 0:41:06would walk along the promenade there
0:41:06 > 0:41:12and you'd roll about as the elephant walked along, really.
0:41:12 > 0:41:16That was the thing and it was quite exciting, really.
0:41:16 > 0:41:19You'd actually been on an elephant.
0:41:21 > 0:41:241967 was Bristol's busiest year
0:41:24 > 0:41:27and crowds weren't deterred by the queues.
0:41:27 > 0:41:29If you wanted to get from one side of the zoo to the other,
0:41:29 > 0:41:30it was quicker to get out of the zoo
0:41:30 > 0:41:33and walk around and come in at the other gate than walk through the zoo.
0:41:33 > 0:41:37It was mad and people would queue for hours
0:41:37 > 0:41:40to see a particular animal exhibit.
0:41:40 > 0:41:42Perhaps it was a different mentality in the '60s.
0:41:42 > 0:41:46People expected to go out and spend ages queuing for things.
0:41:47 > 0:41:51Bristol Zoo had novelties to keep visitors interested,
0:41:51 > 0:41:55like rare white tigers and their adorably cute cubs.
0:41:55 > 0:41:59It was more popular than ever before.
0:41:59 > 0:42:02But slowly everything was beginning to change
0:42:02 > 0:42:06and it was driven by a newcomer to the wild animal business.
0:42:06 > 0:42:07Television.
0:42:07 > 0:42:11Natural history programmes would have a major impact on zoos
0:42:11 > 0:42:13but they didn't start out life
0:42:13 > 0:42:16in glorious, high-definition Technicolor.
0:42:18 > 0:42:22Well, I've got a handful here, and, hello, how are you?
0:42:22 > 0:42:26And here's Bibi, a really obstreperous little lion cub...
0:42:26 > 0:42:31Early programmes were crude, no-frills affairs.
0:42:31 > 0:42:34One of the first presenters was George Cansdale,
0:42:34 > 0:42:37Superintendent of London Zoo.
0:42:37 > 0:42:38The BBC contacted London Zoo,
0:42:38 > 0:42:42and my father would have been the one they spoke to,
0:42:42 > 0:42:46and asked him to take some animals to show on television.
0:42:46 > 0:42:48But it was before outside broadcasting
0:42:48 > 0:42:51so he took animals to a studio in Alexandra Palace
0:42:51 > 0:42:54and he would take in particular animals and talk about them
0:42:54 > 0:42:57and handle them
0:42:57 > 0:43:00and millions of people watched.
0:43:00 > 0:43:03He got bitten from time to time.
0:43:03 > 0:43:05It was live television.
0:43:05 > 0:43:08And for many people, that's why they watched,
0:43:08 > 0:43:11expecting he'd be bitten, perhaps hoping he'd be bitten.
0:43:11 > 0:43:15Oh, I think we'll have to let her go... Now, look!
0:43:19 > 0:43:23Johnny Morris's zookeeper in Animal Magic depicted the zoo
0:43:23 > 0:43:28as a friendly, safe place, with approachable, happy animals.
0:43:28 > 0:43:33Television initially reinforces this sense of the animal as a tame friend,
0:43:33 > 0:43:36someone you can go to the zoo and you're not going to be threatened by.
0:43:36 > 0:43:39You'll have a nice time with it. It will connect with you, recognise you.
0:43:39 > 0:43:42You can communicate with it if you like
0:43:42 > 0:43:46and I think television certainly promotes that idea to begin with
0:43:46 > 0:43:49on shows like Animal Magic or News From The Zoos.
0:43:49 > 0:43:52But another type of natural history programme emerged.
0:43:52 > 0:43:57It had extraordinary colour footage and was filmed in wild habitats.
0:43:57 > 0:44:00So zoos had to react to later television programmes
0:44:00 > 0:44:04like Attenborough's natural history shows for a number of reasons
0:44:04 > 0:44:06and the most important being that they presented
0:44:06 > 0:44:09animals in a very different way than they had been presented before.
0:44:09 > 0:44:11There were no bars.
0:44:11 > 0:44:14There was no perceived pretence about animal behaviours
0:44:14 > 0:44:16and animal environments.
0:44:16 > 0:44:19It was presenting them in a state of liberty being as authentically
0:44:19 > 0:44:21animal as they could possibly be.
0:44:21 > 0:44:24There's a sense of a camera hidden in the undergrowth recording
0:44:24 > 0:44:25an animal being animal.
0:44:25 > 0:44:27The humans aren't really there.
0:44:27 > 0:44:31Now the public could see wild animals in their natural environment
0:44:31 > 0:44:34and for some, the comparison was troubling.
0:44:35 > 0:44:38Television does change things significantly.
0:44:39 > 0:44:43It's not a rival to the zoo because the experience is very different
0:44:43 > 0:44:45but what it does do is change people's
0:44:45 > 0:44:49perceptions of what the wild is and how animals in the wild are.
0:44:49 > 0:44:50So when they go to the zoo,
0:44:50 > 0:44:52they suddenly have a new frame of reference.
0:44:52 > 0:44:55Suddenly they're thinking of the animals they've seen
0:44:55 > 0:44:57in their living room on the box in the corner
0:44:57 > 0:45:00in a state of liberty, so when they go to the zoo,
0:45:00 > 0:45:05suddenly captivity is really obvious and quite unsettling and what they
0:45:05 > 0:45:09want to see is the animals as they're being on the television screens,
0:45:09 > 0:45:13being active in the wild places, breeding, with their cubs,
0:45:13 > 0:45:14all this sort of stuff.
0:45:14 > 0:45:18So it changes people's expectations of what animals should be doing.
0:45:21 > 0:45:23People seeing wild animals on television I think
0:45:23 > 0:45:25may have given them a renewed interest in them
0:45:25 > 0:45:28going to see these animals in the zoo for real.
0:45:28 > 0:45:33But also you then begin to give people a very selected
0:45:33 > 0:45:35view of what the world is like, you know.
0:45:35 > 0:45:38Actually everything's lovely and wonderful,
0:45:38 > 0:45:42and these wide-open spaces where animals can roam.
0:45:42 > 0:45:44Perhaps it was the origins of people being
0:45:44 > 0:45:47uncomfortable about animals in captivity
0:45:47 > 0:45:51and a change therefore perhaps in the attitude of people towards zoos.
0:45:52 > 0:45:57People who had first visited the zoo as children returned as parents,
0:45:57 > 0:46:01but some harboured doubts as the public mood began to change.
0:46:06 > 0:46:10Well, I was pleased to show them what I had seen as a child
0:46:10 > 0:46:12and the experience that I'd had,
0:46:12 > 0:46:17but I was beginning to think then that this is not right,
0:46:17 > 0:46:20having a zoo purely for the animals to be looked at,
0:46:20 > 0:46:23and the attitudes generally were changing.
0:46:23 > 0:46:26People were thinking what an awful thing it was to coop up animals.
0:46:33 > 0:46:36Making things even trickier for zoos was the arrival of
0:46:36 > 0:46:39a new type of competition in the wild animal business.
0:46:48 > 0:46:53Certainly that excitement of being with your family in your vehicle,
0:46:53 > 0:46:58as if going on safari without having to go to Africa or wherever else,
0:46:58 > 0:47:01much cheaper to just drive round the safari park,
0:47:01 > 0:47:06and the excitement of being told to keep your windows wound up as well,
0:47:06 > 0:47:09that air of tension that there's a lion just outside your car
0:47:09 > 0:47:12and there's nothing between you and the lion but your window pane
0:47:12 > 0:47:15that you could wind down but you won't because it's too dangerous.
0:47:15 > 0:47:20So, you know, great family excitement driving through a lion enclosure.
0:47:20 > 0:47:22- ARCHIVE NEWSREEL:- This is lion country right enough,
0:47:22 > 0:47:23but a green and pleasant land.
0:47:23 > 0:47:27Not a desert or a national park in Kenya's dry bushland.
0:47:27 > 0:47:29This is England and we're looking at the Marquis of Bath's
0:47:29 > 0:47:32latest idea to keep the visitors flocking to see
0:47:32 > 0:47:35the sights at his stately home of Longleat.
0:47:35 > 0:47:40In 1966, Longleat Safari Park was unveiled to the world.
0:47:40 > 0:47:43It appeared to have the answer to public worries about
0:47:43 > 0:47:46small enclosures and offered an entirely different experience.
0:47:48 > 0:47:50Safari parks were the brainchild
0:47:50 > 0:47:53of circus impresario Jimmy Chipperfield.
0:47:54 > 0:47:56He set up Longleat,
0:47:56 > 0:48:00which was the first safari park of its kind outside Africa.
0:48:00 > 0:48:04Times were tough for country toffs with large estates
0:48:04 > 0:48:07and Chipperfield saw an opportunity.
0:48:07 > 0:48:08In exchange for a chunk of their land,
0:48:08 > 0:48:12he would make an animal attraction that made visitors feel like
0:48:12 > 0:48:15they really were seeing wild animals.
0:48:15 > 0:48:20He had the nous to realise that it was possible to have the
0:48:20 > 0:48:25visitor in the cage, the car, and to drive through the reserve.
0:48:26 > 0:48:30He'd seen in east Africa that lions pay no attention to
0:48:30 > 0:48:34people in cars as long as those people don't get out of the cars
0:48:34 > 0:48:37and he thought what works in Tanzania is going to
0:48:37 > 0:48:40work in Wiltshire and he was proved correct.
0:48:40 > 0:48:44Suddenly, people who were accustomed to seeing lions in fairly small
0:48:44 > 0:48:48cages, suddenly they could see them in a huge 50-acre field.
0:48:49 > 0:48:52And this is about authenticity. It's the latest evolution of the zoo.
0:48:52 > 0:48:55It's about presenting the animals in a state of liberty.
0:48:55 > 0:48:57It's about driving through the animals' domain
0:48:57 > 0:49:01experiencing a more authentic nature than you would get at the zoo
0:49:01 > 0:49:05and that is what underpins the safari park.
0:49:06 > 0:49:09In the early safari parks, it's less about science.
0:49:09 > 0:49:11It really is about commerce.
0:49:11 > 0:49:14Although initially the public loved the idea
0:49:14 > 0:49:17that animals had miraculously been set free to do their own thing,
0:49:17 > 0:49:20the reality was a bit more awkward.
0:49:22 > 0:49:25Animals they'd previously seen in city zoos in fairly small
0:49:25 > 0:49:28cages they could now see in a 50-acre field.
0:49:28 > 0:49:32And they thought, not always correctly,
0:49:32 > 0:49:34that this was necessarily better for the animal.
0:49:34 > 0:49:38An animal can be just as unhappy in a 50-acre field as it can in a
0:49:38 > 0:49:42small cage, but people are deceived into that notion of freedom.
0:49:42 > 0:49:45The idea that you were...
0:49:45 > 0:49:47you were the one in captivity, if you like,
0:49:47 > 0:49:50stay in your car, and you're driving through the animals' habitats -
0:49:50 > 0:49:53of course, essentially what you've got is just very large enclosures.
0:49:53 > 0:49:55They're still enclosures.
0:49:55 > 0:49:59And some would say, actually, that driving through animals' territory
0:49:59 > 0:50:01can be more disruptive than staying outside of it.
0:50:01 > 0:50:05We might have cared about the size of an animal's enclosure,
0:50:05 > 0:50:06but having paid for our tickets,
0:50:06 > 0:50:10we still wanted to see them up close.
0:50:10 > 0:50:12Sometimes you are still very far away from the animals.
0:50:12 > 0:50:15You have the animals right over the other side.
0:50:16 > 0:50:19Even in zoos, some zoos have very large paddocks with hoofstock.
0:50:19 > 0:50:21I've seen loads of people who say,
0:50:21 > 0:50:23"Well, I went to see this zoo and it was really boring
0:50:23 > 0:50:25"cos the animals were all, like, really far away
0:50:25 > 0:50:27"on the other side of the field."
0:50:27 > 0:50:30But there's a tendency to think that actually if you go to a zoo,
0:50:30 > 0:50:34you see a wider variety of animals and you see them more close.
0:50:34 > 0:50:38Everybody was saying that safari parks are the new zoo,
0:50:38 > 0:50:42that safari parks will cause the death of the traditional zoo.
0:50:42 > 0:50:44They didn't do anything of the sort.
0:50:44 > 0:50:48The heyday of safari parks was in the late '60s, early '70s.
0:50:48 > 0:50:50Zoos lived to fight another day,
0:50:50 > 0:50:53but the pressure was on to change their ways.
0:50:55 > 0:50:57Safari parks weren't the future after all,
0:50:57 > 0:50:59but a writer called Gerald Durrell
0:50:59 > 0:51:03had been steadily growing an idea that would change everything.
0:51:08 > 0:51:11I've always wanted a zoo as far back as I can remember.
0:51:12 > 0:51:16In fact, I'm told that the first word I said was "zoo"
0:51:16 > 0:51:19and not "mama" and "dada" as normal children do.
0:51:19 > 0:51:22Gerald Durrell was the founder of Jersey Zoo -
0:51:22 > 0:51:27the first to be created specifically to protect endangered species.
0:51:27 > 0:51:31Conservation would one day become the industry rallying cry.
0:51:38 > 0:51:40So we drove through these gates
0:51:40 > 0:51:43to this beautiful, beautiful parkland...
0:51:43 > 0:51:48set up with trees, and it was a gorgeous day.
0:51:48 > 0:51:51And I just... I just couldn't believe it,
0:51:51 > 0:51:52it was a...
0:51:52 > 0:51:54It was open, the enclosures were large.
0:51:55 > 0:51:59Walking around for the first time, all the animals looked healthy
0:51:59 > 0:52:01and behaving naturally.
0:52:01 > 0:52:05And I thought, "This really is, it's a bit of an Eden...
0:52:05 > 0:52:07"for animals.
0:52:07 > 0:52:09"A sanctuary for animals."
0:52:09 > 0:52:11Durrell had created something revolutionary,
0:52:11 > 0:52:15but he'd started his career as an animal catcher,
0:52:15 > 0:52:19a job that led him to transform his thinking about how zoos operated.
0:52:20 > 0:52:25So Gerry in this period when he was collecting for other zoos,
0:52:25 > 0:52:28he'd...bring them back, he'd sell them to the zoos.
0:52:28 > 0:52:31Then he'd find out that they had died.
0:52:31 > 0:52:34He'd spent months in the bush with them...
0:52:34 > 0:52:37trying to learn their needs and feed them properly.
0:52:37 > 0:52:41So, that in itself was very distressing for him.
0:52:41 > 0:52:43But he was also in a position to see that,
0:52:43 > 0:52:47in the places where he'd been - west Africa, South America -
0:52:47 > 0:52:50the destruction of habitat was starting over,
0:52:50 > 0:52:51exploitation of animals.
0:52:51 > 0:52:54The zoos of the day, their attitude was,
0:52:54 > 0:52:56"Oh, there's plenty more where that came from."
0:52:56 > 0:53:00And he knew that wasn't the case and that is why, and how,
0:53:00 > 0:53:03he decided to set up his own place.
0:53:04 > 0:53:08Jersey Zoo's mission was to become an ark for species survival.
0:53:09 > 0:53:13No longer was the visitor the main concern.
0:53:13 > 0:53:17It was animals first, the needs of the animals to be met first.
0:53:17 > 0:53:19Then the requirements, the needs of the keepers,
0:53:19 > 0:53:21who were the people looking after the animals.
0:53:21 > 0:53:23And only then the public.
0:53:23 > 0:53:26Animals should not be made to exhibit themselves.
0:53:26 > 0:53:29They need an area off view to the public
0:53:29 > 0:53:32that they can go into at any time.
0:53:32 > 0:53:35They shouldn't be shut out, as some zoos did,
0:53:35 > 0:53:38in order to put on a show for the public.
0:53:38 > 0:53:43For Durrell, the big event animals were not what zoos should be about.
0:53:43 > 0:53:44He was not...
0:53:44 > 0:53:49His zoo was certainly not one that was going to exhibit giraffes
0:53:49 > 0:53:51and tigers and all of that.
0:53:51 > 0:53:57He felt every animal had some sort of right to exist.
0:53:57 > 0:54:00And therefore he kind of went forth.
0:54:00 > 0:54:04What he called the "little brown jobs", the little obscure creatures,
0:54:04 > 0:54:06not the big box-office creatures.
0:54:07 > 0:54:10There was a never-ending supply of "little brown jobs"
0:54:10 > 0:54:12that needed Durrell's attention.
0:54:12 > 0:54:15Saving something like the white-eared pheasant
0:54:15 > 0:54:19was unglamorous work and meant doing things differently than other zoos.
0:54:19 > 0:54:21He had a row of aviaries, six aviaries,
0:54:21 > 0:54:24with nothing in it but white-eared pheasants.
0:54:24 > 0:54:26You can't save a species from extinction
0:54:26 > 0:54:29with just the one pair of pheasants breeding every year.
0:54:29 > 0:54:31You need more than one pair.
0:54:31 > 0:54:33So he built a row of six aviaries.
0:54:33 > 0:54:37No other zoo at that time would have even considered doing that.
0:54:37 > 0:54:39They'd have built six aviaries
0:54:39 > 0:54:41and probably had 18 different species of birds in them.
0:54:41 > 0:54:44Gerald Durrell just had six aviaries - white-eared pheasants.
0:54:44 > 0:54:46It was revolutionary.
0:54:46 > 0:54:48And none of the other zoos at that time,
0:54:48 > 0:54:52particularly the venerable zoos,
0:54:52 > 0:54:55like London, like Dublin, like Bristol,
0:54:55 > 0:54:57none of them really thought this would work
0:54:57 > 0:55:00because it was an untried, untested formula.
0:55:00 > 0:55:03You have to make concessions for the public.
0:55:03 > 0:55:06You're not going to get the public, they said, if you don't exhibit
0:55:06 > 0:55:09things like tigers, like elephants, like giraffes...
0:55:11 > 0:55:14..none of which Jersey Zoo has ever had.
0:55:14 > 0:55:15Unless you exhibit that type of animal,
0:55:15 > 0:55:17you're not going to get the public in.
0:55:18 > 0:55:22Durrell's ideas were ahead of their time and one day all zoos
0:55:22 > 0:55:24would have to take note of conservation
0:55:24 > 0:55:27or face possible extinction themselves.
0:55:27 > 0:55:29But while Jersey was starting to have success
0:55:29 > 0:55:31with breeding programmes,
0:55:31 > 0:55:35rumblings of a more aggressive anti-zoo feeling were emerging.
0:55:35 > 0:55:37- ADVERT:- What are zoos for?
0:55:39 > 0:55:41PROTESTERS SHOUT
0:55:41 > 0:55:43An animal welfare movement
0:55:43 > 0:55:46that had been fighting against battery farming and vivisection
0:55:46 > 0:55:49turned its gaze on zoos and vehemently opposed
0:55:49 > 0:55:53the very idea of keeping animals in captivity.
0:55:53 > 0:55:59Rather than this old model of animal welfare is important
0:55:59 > 0:56:03but animal welfare accepts that people use animals for our means
0:56:03 > 0:56:06as long as we treat them kindly while we're doing it.
0:56:06 > 0:56:08The animals rights' theory would reject that and say,
0:56:08 > 0:56:11"Well, actually, no, animals have lives of their own,
0:56:11 > 0:56:13"for their own purposes,
0:56:13 > 0:56:16"to fulfil their own desires, to fulfil their own needs,
0:56:16 > 0:56:18"we shouldn't have control over them full stop."
0:56:18 > 0:56:21And that leads to questions about how we treat them
0:56:21 > 0:56:24and should we have the right to hold animals captive?
0:56:24 > 0:56:29It was no longer enough for the focus of zoos to be entertainment,
0:56:29 > 0:56:33they had to reinvent themselves as bastions of conservation.
0:56:35 > 0:56:38With the rise of the environmental movement,
0:56:38 > 0:56:39animals rights' issues,
0:56:39 > 0:56:42more and more people became concerned
0:56:42 > 0:56:45about what we were doing by keeping animals in zoos.
0:56:45 > 0:56:48And I think the zoo world had to respond,
0:56:48 > 0:56:49they had to change their landscaping,
0:56:49 > 0:56:52they had to change their types of enclosure.
0:56:52 > 0:56:54They had to move to barless zoos.
0:56:54 > 0:56:58They had to move to imitations of natural spaces.
0:56:58 > 0:57:03Plus, what they had to do was solidly sell this message of conservation.
0:57:03 > 0:57:07We are keeping animals in the zoos because it's necessary,
0:57:07 > 0:57:08we need breeding stock,
0:57:08 > 0:57:11we exchange animals between other zoos
0:57:11 > 0:57:14and we're doing it for good conservation reasons.
0:57:14 > 0:57:17And that's what they do, these important zoos do that.
0:57:18 > 0:57:21The zoos that generations had grown up with
0:57:21 > 0:57:22were being transformed
0:57:22 > 0:57:26and many of the large, iconic animals were phased out.
0:57:26 > 0:57:31But the reasons people went back were the same as ever.
0:57:31 > 0:57:33A lot of zoo people would like to say,
0:57:33 > 0:57:36"People want to learn about animals, that's why they come to the zoo."
0:57:36 > 0:57:39I think the truth is more that people want something else
0:57:39 > 0:57:41to do with their family.
0:57:41 > 0:57:42It's a day out.
0:57:42 > 0:57:44I hear lots of people saying...
0:57:44 > 0:57:47I say, "I work in the zoo," and they say,
0:57:47 > 0:57:50"Oh, I haven't been there for ages cos my children grew up."
0:57:50 > 0:57:53And so there's almost people have an excuse to come to the zoo,
0:57:53 > 0:57:56to bring their children or their grandchildren.
0:57:56 > 0:57:58It's a family day out,
0:57:58 > 0:58:00but it's also seen as good for children's education.
0:58:02 > 0:58:04Zoos have come full circle.
0:58:04 > 0:58:07A mission of educational improvement and animal science
0:58:07 > 0:58:12still competes with the need to entertain and bring in the visitors.
0:58:13 > 0:58:18Not everybody likes them, but zoos remain wildly popular for families,
0:58:18 > 0:58:22and stories about the elephants and giraffes, penguins and rhinos
0:58:22 > 0:58:25are handed down from one generation to the next.
0:58:25 > 0:58:27Whatever the reason we go,
0:58:27 > 0:58:29whether it's science or entertainment,
0:58:29 > 0:58:32because it's educational or amusing,
0:58:32 > 0:58:35there's nothing quite like a day at the zoo.
0:58:39 > 0:58:42Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd