A VISIT TO EUROPEAN ZOOS 



By W. M. MANN, 

 Director, National Zoological Park 



For the purpose of studying some of the more important Euro- 

 pean zoological parks, the writer and Mr. Arthur L. Harris, Munici- 

 pal Architect of the District of Columbia, visited Europe in the spring 

 of 1929 under the auspices of the Smithsonian Institution. Our 

 principal object was to look over the reptile houses with a view to 

 including in the proposed building at the National Zoological Park 

 some of the features proved best by experimental work that several 

 of the European zoos have been able to do. In addition we made a 

 rather hurried survey of the organization of each zoo, together with 

 notes on the collections, cost of maintenance, etc. Mr. Harris devoted 

 most of his time to a study of zoo architecture. 



In the limited space of the present paper it is possible only to men- 

 tion briefly a few of the outstanding features of each zoo visited. In 

 general we may state that we did not see a single unsatisfactory zoo 

 park on the entire trip. The collections were excellent, always well 

 cared for and well patronized by the public. Most of the gardens are 

 developing and improving continually, and we saw new buildings 

 under construction in ])ractically every park visited. There are no 

 free zoos in Europe. 



To acknowledge the kindness of those who assisted us in our work 

 would be to catalogue the officials of all the parks visited, all of whom 

 received us with the greatest hospitality and made our visits delight- 

 ful as well as instructive. 



LONDON (Director, Sir Chalmers Mitchell) 



The London Zoological Garden has a collection larger than any 

 other in Europe. We noted many improvements since our last visit 

 of five years ago. A splendid reptile house has been constructed on 

 new principles ; the heating and lighting are accomplished entirely 

 by electricity and every inch of glass in the house is Vita-glass. The 

 combination of this and the use of various types of infra-red and 

 other lamps has proved markedly beneficial to the inhabitants of the 

 house, and we found such things as chameleons and Komotu dragons, 

 hitherto considered delicate, living, not for a few months, but for 



4 47 



