Qualla: London Zoo https://qualla.com/london-zoo en-us © 2026 Bendyline Wed, 08 Jul 2026 02:40:15 GMT Qualla serial false Qualla support@bendyline.com yes https://qualla.com/_m/g/c/p/v/london-zoo-wp/hero-small.webp Qualla: London Zoo https://qualla.com/london-zoo London Zoo: Introduction https://qualla.com/london-zoo/ Photo credit Sdrawkcab, CC BY-SA 3.0. Stamford Raffles wanted a place to study animals, not exhibit them. The man who had founded Singapore returned to London in 1824 with a head full of tropical fauna and a conviction that Britain needed somewhere serious to examine living creatures. He gathered Sir Humphry Davy and a circle of naturalists, drew up plans for the Zoological Society of London in 1826, and chose a slice of Regent's Park for the gardens. Raffles never saw what he started. He died in July 1826, two years before the Zoological Gardens opened to Fellows on 27 April 1828. The animals he had hoped to study scientifically would, before long, become the most famous menagerie in the world.

Read more: London Zoo on Qualla

Image: Sdrawkcab | CC BY-SA 3.0

]]> Tue, 19 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/g/c/p/v/london-zoo-wp/gcpv-london-zoo-intro.mp3 0:06 1 full London Zoo: The First Scientific Zoo https://qualla.com/london-zoo/ Photo credit Paul from United Kingdom, CC BY 2.0. For two decades after opening, the gardens were a private research collection, accessible only to Fellows of the Society and their guests. The doors finally opened to paying visitors in 1847, and London discovered that animals could be entertainment as well as data. The firsts pi...

Read more: London Zoo on Qualla

Image: Paul from United Kingdom | CC BY 2.0

]]> Tue, 19 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/g/c/p/v/london-zoo-wp/gcpv-london-zoo-the-first-scientific-zoo.mp3 0:06 2 full London Zoo: Architecture in the Service of Animals https://qualla.com/london-zoo/ Photo credit heena_mistry, CC BY 2.0. From the start, the Society hired serious architects. Decimus Burton, who designed Marble Arch, laid out the gardens in 1828 and served as the zoo's first official architect. A century later, the brief expanded into the avant-garde. Berthold Lubetkin's spiral-ramped Penguin Pool,...

Read more: London Zoo on Qualla

Image: heena_mistry | CC BY 2.0

]]> Tue, 19 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/g/c/p/v/london-zoo-wp/gcpv-london-zoo-architecture-in-the-service-of-animals.mp3 0:06 3 full London Zoo: Wartime https://qualla.com/london-zoo/ Photo credit Benoît Prieur, CC0. When the Second World War began on 3 September 1939, the zoo was ordered closed by 11 in the morning. The aquarium was drained as a precaution against bomb damage; the more valuable animals were evacuated to the Society's larger reserve at Whipsnade in Bedfordshire. The venomous ...

Read more: London Zoo on Qualla

Image: Benoît Prieur | CC0

]]> Tue, 19 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/g/c/p/v/london-zoo-wp/gcpv-london-zoo-wartime.mp3 0:06 4 full London Zoo: Living Collection, Changing Mission https://qualla.com/london-zoo/ Photo credit Sdrawkcab, CC BY-SA 3.0. The modern zoo is something Raffles would barely recognise. Gorilla Kingdom opened in 2007 with a moated island of western lowland gorillas. Land of the Lions arrived in 2016, styled after the Indian town on the edge of Gir National Park - the only place on Earth where wild Asiat...

Read more: London Zoo on Qualla

Image: Sdrawkcab | CC BY-SA 3.0

]]> Tue, 19 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/g/c/p/v/london-zoo-wp/gcpv-london-zoo-living-collection-changing-mission.mp3 0:06 5 full London Zoo: On Film https://qualla.com/london-zoo/ Photo credit Nevit Dilmen, CC BY-SA 3.0. The cobbled paths, the strange architecture, and a steady supply of large mammals have made London Zoo an irresistible film set. Alfred Hitchcock used the aquarium in Sabotage (1936). Carol Reed brought Ralph Richardson and a small boy here in 1947 to shoot The Fallen Idol inside...

Read more: London Zoo on Qualla

Image: Nevit Dilmen | CC BY-SA 3.0

]]> Tue, 19 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/g/c/p/v/london-zoo-wp/gcpv-london-zoo-on-film.mp3 0:06 6 full