Walk in Darwin’s footsteps for Darwin200

© ZSL - Paul Hutton

ZSL London Zoo has a historical relationship with Charles Darwin of which it is very proud. Darwin was a corresponding fellow to the Zoological Society of London throughout his famous voyage on the HMS Beagle, during which time he developed his groundbreaking ideas on natural selection.

Fully interactive trail

To celebrate Darwin200, the year of Darwin’s two hundredth birthday, ZSL London Zoo has launched an interactive trail

The trail has stops at various locations around the Zoo giving visitors plenty of fun opportunities to get involved in some of Darwin’s theories. Head for Gorilla Kingdom to make a ‘monkey of yourself’ and see just how closely related humans are to the great apes, and don’t forget to pay a visit to ZSL London Zoo’s giraffe house and discover why their necks really are so long.

Theories in action

Don’t miss the daily ‘Animals in Action’ display in the amphitheatre; you’ll get to see Darwin’s evolutionary theories in action as some of the Zoo’s cheekiest inhabitants fly, climb and crawl right over your heads.

Malcolm Whitehead, Head of Discovery and Learning at ZSL London Zoo is looking forward to the events of 2009, “Here at the Zoo we are very proud and excited to be celebrating Darwin200, we have a packed schedule of activities for visitors to take part in and I’m looking forward to seeing them ‘make monkeys’ of themselves!”.

Darwin made use of the time and contacts he had at ZSL London Zoo, studying the Zoo’s birds of prey and Jenny the orang-utan. He enjoyed a friendship with ZSL’s curator of birds, John Gould, and he sent specimens of the famous Darwin’s finches collected on the HMS Beagle voyage to Gould who helped with the identification.

ZSL London Zoo is ready and waiting to inspire future Darwin’s – with over 650 species of animals and exhibits that let visitors get up close to the animals.