In 2024 we launched a nationwide appeal inviting people to share memories, photographs, film footage and even objects connected to ZSL, to help us tell the story of our international conservation charity through the people who know it best - you.
The response was extraordinary.
We received hundreds of submissions from across the UK and beyond: photographs of treasured family days out, well-loved zoo jigsaw puzzles, postcards and other memorabilia from visits to Regent’s Park, badges, letters, cuddly toys and even pillowcases decorated with ZSL animals. These all now reside in ZSL’s Prince Philip Zoological Library and Archive – one of the largest zoological libraries in the world, open to the public.
Each contribution offered a different window into how our conservation Zoos have been part of people’s lives over the past two centuries.
Taken together, these memories revealed something powerful. For generations, our Zoos have been places where people have connected with wildlife – and with one another. They are places where curiosity began, where traditions were formed, and where countless personal stories have unfolded.
Some of the images and stories shared through the appeal are now on display in our new heritage exhibitions, which you can visit at both London Zoo and Whipsnade Zoo until the end of the year. Others have become part of a growing oral history archive, capturing first-hand memories that will be preserved for future generations.
Below you’ll find a selection of the wonderful images people sent us, alongside the memories that came with them.
"A first visit to London Zoo with some cousins in 1996. It was the first time we’d seen many of these animals and was very special."
Shared by Tolu Adeoye
"My dad, zookeeper George Hughes, with Alice the walrus in 1967."
Shared by Frank Hughes
"My mother’s family came from the Herts/Middlesex area north of London, and when we were taken down as children from Lancashire for a visit to our grandparents in the 50s and 60s, an excursion to Whipsnade was always on the menu.
My mother always told us that she and her sister (they would have been in their early 20s at the time when Whipsnade first opened) had used to take long spoons and jars of honey and feed the bears through the bars! Nowadays we’d all be quite horrified at such antics, but in the 1920s it was apparently considered to be normal fun. The spoons they had used were known in our family as Bear Spoons."
Shared by Norman Leigh
"Having grown up in the shadows of your glorious zoo, it was only natural that when I got married - the wedding reception was held at the beautiful Cloisters Suite in Whipsnade Zoo (2004).
It is now a spectacular Butterfly House. At the time we were lucky enough to have our photo taken with the gorgeous giraffes. They hold a very special spot in our hearts and have visited them many times over the years."
Shared by Rob and Sarah Warder
"In 2010 I stuck my neck out and arranged to meet my future wife, Yin Lee, by the giraffes at London Zoo for our first date.
I thought it would be a memorable place to meet for our first proper date. "Meet you by the giraffes in Regents Park at 2pm!" I had said, thinking it would be fun and a bit eccentric, and might make me look more interesting than I am.
I have gifted my wonderful wife far too many giraffe based gifts including stuffed toys and artwork and she hasn't divorced me yet, so I am eternally grateful to all giraffes and so pleased that I stuck my neck out on that first date in Regents Park."
Shared by Adrian Lee
"My first visit to the zoo at 4 years old, now 71. Went last week, just as excited."
Shared by Gerry Milner
"This picture was taken at Whipsnade Zoo in April 2012. It was my friend Freya’s 18th birthday. It was also the final stretch before our A-levels, and a completely new life. This memory still sticks with me as a wonderful day at the zoo, which marked the end of my time at school and the beginning and end of different chapters of our life."
Shared by Hannah Poll
"In 2011, Emma and I married at Whipsnade Church and had our wedding reception at Whipsnade Zoo. Emma's parents worked at the zoo for many years, where she even learned to ride a bike out of hours, so ZSL is very close and special for us all. The photo was taken on our wedding day with the zoo's two matriarch elephants, with a wonderful flourish of trunks and legs."
Shared by Graham Chandler
A photograph of Pat Stillwell at London Zoo in 1931 with the penguins. Her father was ZSL signwriter, Frank Stillwell and is pictured in the photos below.
Shared by Pat's daughter and Frank's granddaughter, Pauline Locke
"A Whitehill School Gravesend trip. I am standing at the front wearing a leg caliper, having caught polio in a 1957 outbreak. At the rear is my mother, who acted as a helper for the day. Lovely memories of a very enjoyable day out, having spent many lonely months in an isolation hospital."
Shared by John Ault
"The picture is of me (aged approx 2 years old), my mother, and an orangutan at London Zoo in 1957. It has become known as the family photograph."
Shared by David Watson
"I met Gregory Arding in 2006 and I spoke of my love for London Zoo, where I collected the data for my dissertation. Fast forward to 2011 and I am completing a Secondary Science PGCE at Plymouth university and the flat we are living in has a catastrophic sewage pipe failure and we are left homeless. [...] It was hellish. To cheer me up, on a very cold January morning the boy suggested a trip to London Zoo. He acted odd all morning. Then finally he sat me down on a bench, got to one knee and proposed! [...] It's now 2024 we have 2 children together."
Shared by Donna Arding
"The little boy in both pictures aged about 4, is me (in 1962). We'd have driven up from Southend for the day and I remember the llama ride."
Shared by Richard Baker
"My mother, Joan Monk, sitting with a lion cub in 1937."
Shared by Rosemary Greenshield
"One of my earliest memories was sitting on a Shetland pony at London Zoo in 1954 where my dad, George Hughes, also pictured, was a keeper for over 30 years. Dad regularly took kids for pony & trap rides all over the zoo, the trap was usually powered by Shetland ponies Starlight & Twilight."
Shared by Frank Hughes
"My father, Heathcote Walter Styles, and grandfather, Heathcote Walter John Styles, were both head keepers at London Zoo in the 1950s and 60s - small mammals and ungulates respectively. Once, my father brought home some pine marten kits to hand rear."
Shared by David Styles
Our anniversary is not just a moment to reflect on ZSL’s history - it’s a moment to celebrate the many people who have shaped it. Thank you for being as much a part of our story as we have been of yours.
Our Community Storybook is a space for anyone connected to ZSL – past or present – to share your ZSL memories, moments and milestones. Whether you worked with us, visited our zoos, supported our mission, or simply have a story to tell about us, we’d love you to add your voice.