New Zoo Books

@Zooplantman Sorry for a delayed response (3 months delayed) to your question about the cover of America's Top 100 Zoos & Aquariums. I just came across this now. Although I had nothing to do with the writing or production or layout of the book, I did supply the cover photo (a bateleur eagle at San Antonio Zoo). I was involved via email with the decision, though it was ultimately Tim's decision, he may (or may not) have taken my opinion into account.

When he approached me via email to supply photos for the cover, one of the things he asked for was unusual species that only a few zoos have (this being one of the species I sent along with Tasmanian devil, etc). He was toying with two different cover options. One is a dramatic single image like the one they ended up using. The other was a collage that would show a variety of zoos, which I think is what you are saying would be more appropriate. Here is the opinion I gave Tim which he said he agreed with, though I have no idea to what extent (if any) I influenced his decision. My point was that a collage would be interesting once someone actually bought the book because they could take time perusing the cover. However to those who were still considering buying the book a single image would pop out more on a bookshelf or in online ads. A collage would just get lost and people would be less inclined to pick up the book. In my opinion a single strong image sells better and definitely comes across better online, where the cover may be reproduced as a thumbnail image. You may or may not agree with my assessment, but there it is.

 

This book should pick up very soon after the astonishing four births in 1962-63 chronicled in Matthew Maberry's Packy and Me, published right before his death in 2011. It will be interesting to see how frank the book is about the inbreeding of the following decades and the sad dearth of surviving Packy progeny. Shine is his only living offspring, and at 37 with cysts, she will likely not be bred.

 

I believe the question was from @BibFortuna

 

oops so sorry. You posted the photo (only) and @Bib Fortuna posted the question immediately following and I thought it was all one post. So my apologies to you and Bib can read my reply in post 61 above.

 

The Pueblo Zoo Through the Years: An Inside Look was just published two months ago and I visited this mid-sized Colorado zoo in 2014. There are some interesting WPA projects that are still standing almost 90 years later and it will be intriguing to see if the book discusses those old exhibits.

Reptile House:



Historic bear grottoes (either empty or for eagles):



Ring-tailed Lemur exhibit (with a boat and lighthouse!):


Historic light:

 

Our Gigantic Zoo: A German Quest to Save the Serengeti (Thomas M. Lekan, 2020) is a brand-new book that is not about zoos, but in fact has as its leading character Bernhard Grizmek and every zoo nerd should immediately know who that is.

Amazon link:

https://www.amazon.com/Our-Gigantic...ds=zoo+history&qid=1582827765&s=books&sr=1-86

 

Any idea who Stephen Toothman is? I got a facebook ad for this: Home | Zoos - A Photo Book and Guide

 

No idea, but I just looked at the link. The home page (with the project description) has exactly one photo on it. It's a blurry photo of an otter that I would have trashed immediately on review if I had taken it on one of my trips. The fact that he thinks it is good enough to post as the sole picture on his website home page means this book series is of zero interest to me. Of course this is a snap judgment and I have no idea what the quality of the writing will be; it may or may not be quite good. But as the saying goes you only get one chance to make a first impression and for me he just blew that chance.

 

If you go to the Animals tab, there's a lot of pages filled with photos. The otter photo is pretty representative of the rest.

Here's a blog page with a couple of sample pages: Zoos - A Photo Book and Guide - Update - 01/30/2020 | Zoos - A Photo Book and Guide

Maybe it's because I'm 100% east coast, but the states included feels weird to me, as well.

@snowleopard, I found this quote on one of the blog pages: "I am really excited about the current book, Zoos of the Midwest. I have been told by several people that it is a unique take on subject and there is really nothing else out there like it."

 

Bird Forum member shared the page Project Muse. There are a lot of free ebooks until March 30, 2020. I got the last Walker's Mammals of the World. Could not find the way to download the whole book, but did it chapter by chapter.
Project MUSE

 

Exactly. With how professional the cover looks, I was expecting a lot more for the rest of it! The text portions match the quality of the photos, as well, unfortunately.

Thank you for sharing this!!! There's a bunch of books I've been wanting to look at on there.

 

You can download all the chapters with Crome add ons and combine them with Adobe Professional

 

A History of Seneca Park Zoo (Maureen Whalen) is a brand-new, 340-page book that looks at the 125-year history of this New York state attraction. It was just published this month and here is the Amazon.ca link:

https://www.amazon.ca/History-Senec...sr=1-57&swrs=AF5B754DFF2FAA8BDA238ACC35626D8C

 

Excellent! Available in the UK too, for about £20. That will cheer up a lockdown day next week. Thanks for the tip!

 

At 340 pages it seems likely to be fairly detailed as the zoo isnt massive(as far as i know it had the last living animal to have lived in Manchester`s Belle Vue Zoo which closed in 1977,a female orang),on the downside,particularly for that size of book, it would appear to be softback only.

 

Twiggy the Asian Elephant is still alive (and well?) at Belgrade Zoo.

 

The Orangutan would presumably have come from Gordon Mills' collection at some time after he moved them to the USA, as he bought the Belle Vue orangutans when it closed in 1977. Does it say/do you know the name of the individual concerned?

 

It was the female 'Kumari' who was born in the very last days of Belle Vue, on 15th October 1977 - the zoo had officially closed in the September, but it was still possible to visit as the collection was dispersed. She went first to Gordon Mills' private collection in Weybridge in Surrey then to San Diego in 1984, to Seneca Park in 1991 and finally to Miami in 2018 where she still lives today.

 

Thankyou. I think she may have been the only Orangutan born at Belle Vue( or to survive anyway) though her father(Harold), at least, may have bred again in Mills' collection.