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The zoo : the wild and wonderful tale of the founding of London Zoo

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How one man's mad mission became one of the best-loved places in the worldThe creation of a zoo in Dickensian London - when only one other existed across the world - is a story of jaw-dropping audacity.

It is the story of trailblazing scientists, rival zookeepers and aristocratic naturalists collecting amazing animals from all four corners of the globe. It is the story of a weird and wonderful oasis in the heart of a swirling city, and of incredible characters, both human and animal - from Stamford Raffles and Charles Darwin to Jenny the orang-utan and Obaysch the celebrity hippo, the first that anyone in Britain had ever seen. Against a background of global Empire, domestic reform and industrialisation, this is a new history of a new world.

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Product Details
Viking
0241240689 / 9780241240687
Hardback
01/11/2016
United Kingdom
English
xvii, 349 pages
23 cm
General (US: Trade) Learn More