Zookeeper - History

History

Animal collections requiring wild animal care takers or zookeepers have existed since about 3,000 B.C. originally this profession was not called a zookeeper and we may never know since terminology used to describe this profession and ones of the same sort have been lost, in many cases due to languages being lost throughout history.

Early civilizations in Mesopotamia (present day Iraq), Egypt, China and Pakistan / NW India allowed rulers and the wealthy class citizens to keep collections of wild animals. These civilizations had individuals which caught and cared for wild animals such as fish and birds. These individuals took care of wild animals, and treated sick and injured animals.

King Hammurabi (Babylonia, 1728-1686 BC) established the first known Code of Laws, which included fees that could be charged by “ox and ass doctors” or what we know today as veterinarians. There is also said to be a picture from the palace wall of King Ashurbanipal 627 B.C. showing a servant releasing a lion out of a crate into the King’s animal collection.

Some ancient collections of animals were very large and contained a wide variety of species, although specific details of these collections were not recorded. Many cultures such as the Chinese, Egyptians, Persians, Greeks, Arabian, and Indian collected. Little is known about how or where they kept these animals. Our knowledge comes from when these animals appeared in the processionals (parades) or in the arena fights. However there is proof that large elephant exhibits were maintained outside of Rome. There is also proof of people who cared for the sick animals (veterinarians).

On the other side of the world,in the areas known as the New World, Aztec and Inca societies also maintained large animal collections. While these were only discovered in the early 16th century, they were much older than that. Montezuma (Mexico City) had the largest known collections. One collection consisted of birds and required some 300 keepers. Another collection consisted of mammals and reptiles requiring another 300 keepers. There were also fresh and salt water fish ponds. But up until this time period no known animal collections existed in North America.

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