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London Zoo, previously known as ZSL London Zoo or London Zoological Gardens and sometimes called Regent's Park Zoo, is the world's oldest scientific zoo. It was opened in London on 27 April 1828 and was originally intended to be used as a collection for scientific study. In 1831, the Tower of London menagerie animals were transferred to the zoo's collection. It was opened to the public in 1847. At its peak, the Zoo attracted over 3 million annual visitors and exhibited over 900 species. As of 2025, London Zoo still houses more than 8,000 individuals from over 300 species, making it one of the largest zoological collections in the United Kingdom.
It is managed under the aegis of the Zoological Society of London (established in 1826) and is situated at the northern edge of Regent's Park, on the boundary line between the City of Westminster and the borough of Camden (the Regent's Canal runs through it). The Society also has a more spacious site at Whipsnade Zoo in Bedfordshire where larger animals, such as elephants and rhinos, have been moved. As well as being the first scientific zoo, London Zoo also opened the first reptile house (1849), the first public aquarium (1853), the first insect house (1881) and the first children's zoo (1938).
Twain, 1872:
We entered the great Zoological Gardens with Mr. Henry Lee, a fellow of several royal societies, & he showed us through & through the mighty menagerie - & we saw the plaster cast which he & the great Buckland made of the infant hippopotamus that died. We were to call & get acquainted with Mr. Buckland but time pressed & we put it off till another time.
Half a dozen elephants, about as many hippopotami & all sorts & styles of lions & tigers & such cattle; among whom were many kangaroos playing leap-frog - which is to say, they place their little short fore-paws on the ground & then bring their haunches forward on either side of the fore-paws with a jump - the forepaws remaining stationary.
I wanted to find Mr. Darwin's baboon that plays mother to a cat but did not succeed. So Darwin invented that.
In the House of Monkeys there was one long, lean, active fellow that made me a convert to the theory of Natural Selection. He made a natural selection of monkeys smaller than himself to sling around by the tail.
They have all possible birds & reptiles, & some that really seem impossible at a first glance. They have one building devoted to gorgeous birds of the parrot kind. The noise cannot be imagined.
Without reflection one might jump to the conclusion that Noah would consider the Zoo Gardens not much of a show, & look twice at his shilling before he bought a ticket; but it appears different to me. Noah could not get these animals into two arks like his. Though of course I do not wish to disparage Noah's collection. Far from it. Noah's collection was very well for his day.
In the Zoo Gardens (as in all public grounds here) the people made perfectly free with the beautiful clean-shaven grass - walking over it, lolling on it, using it & enjoying it without let or hindrance. And the grass seems not least the worse for it. On our side of the water “Keep Off the Grass” is as common a sign as we know - so common indeed, & so strictly obeyed by everybody from babyhood up, that it has become a national trait to avoid grass; & so I never walk upon it here, though it is free to me, because I know that the sense of committing a sacrilege would destroy all the enjoyment. And up to this hour it keeps surprising me to see these people walking on the public grass. It is one of those things which I cannot reconcile myself to, it does seem such bold deliberate villainy.