TfK 1-2010 ombrukket_TfK 1-2-2007 02.03.10 15.55 Side 22 When Zoo became Nature Copenhagen Zoo and perceptions of animals and nature around 1900 Anne Katrine Gjerløff Københavns universitet
[email protected] Keywords Abstract History of animals, This article points out central historical themes in the debates and arguments given by the conservation, directors of Copenhagen Zoo for the zoo as an alternative to nature. When Copenhagen Copenhagen Zoo, Zoo was founded in 1859, its purpose was divided equally between entertainment, perceptions of nature, enlightenment and symbolizing the glory of the Danish capital. During this period animal protection though, it also became possible for the zoo to stage itself as a kinder place for animals than “real” nature. In the early 20th century, the zoo attracted attention from animal rights movements, wherefore the debates came to be structured around two radically different perceptions of nature. The article takes its outset in the arguments formulated by the three successive directors: Julius Schiøtt, Waldemar Dreyer and Theodor Alving. Nature in here This was a time when anthropomor- This article will investigate an institution phic and popular descriptions of animals that is readily associated with nature by were challenged by new ideas of animal most, but which in fact is a cultural phe- welfare, as well as by a professionalized and nomenon; ‘the zoo’. ‘Nature’, as presented scientific approach to zoo keeping. At the in zoos, is not untouched, authentic or same time, developments made it possible wild. Rather, the presence of animals and for zoos to stage themselves as worthy alter- many institutionalized and conscious dis- natives to an externalized nature, through courses about nature are effectuated in the the discourse of conservation and ideals zoo, making it an excellent location for regarding realistic surroundings and land- identifying definitions and perceptions of scaping for the animals.