On 1 August 1844, the Zoological Garden of Berlin opened its gates for the very first time. Back then, the Zoo lay outside the city, its buildings were unfinished, and its animal stock was rather small. This book tells the story of how that makeshift zoo grew to house more species than any other zoo in the world, attracting millions of visitors every year from Germany and abroad.

It is a story not only of structural developments, animal acquisitions and improvements in keeping condi...