ZSL

A very special new addition appeared in Tiger Territory at London Zoo: a two-metre wooden replica of The Royal Mint’s commemorative ZSL £2 coin. Our Sumatran tigers, Asim and Gaysha, wasted no time investigating the giant coin stalking, sniffing and exploring the temporary feature in their habitat. The coin design brings together three species at the heart of our conservation story.

Skip to main content London’s rivers, streams, ponds and wetlands have shaped the city’s identity, economy and culture for centuries and are home to an array of key native species. Yet today many of these freshwater habitats are degraded, polluted or disconnected from the communities that once valued them. Using money raised by National Lottery players, The National Lottery Heritage Fund supports projects that connect people and communities with the UK’s heritage.

What happens when a moment with nature changes everything? Wildest Moments is our new anniversary podcast series, celebrating the surprising, emotional, and transformative encounters people have had with wildlife. Hosted by Ben Fogle and in partnership with Mountain Warehouse, each episode features a heartfelt conversation with a guest whose remarkable story reveals just how powerful connecting with nature can be - from the awe-inspiring to the life-changing.

For over 30 years, no one thought these fish still existed. Now, there is a real chance to bring them back. In late 2025, we travelled to northern Mexico to take a critical step towards recovering three freshwater fish species classified as Extinct in the Wild: the Potosí pupfish, La Palma pupfish, and Charco pupfish. Once found only in isolated spring systems, these species disappeared from the wild as water levels declined.

My name is Camilla Whitworth Jones, and my father was Erasmus Darwin Barlow, and he was Secretary of the Zoo at some period of his life, and very keen on the Zoo. So it's always been part of my life. And my sister Phillida was made a life Fellow at the Zoo when she was 21 and I remember that it was a great bonus to us all, as we had lovely visits here whenever we wanted. And that was wonderful.

My name is Chris Yesson. I’m a Senior Research Fellow at the Institute of Zoology, which is our academic research department. I’ve been at ZSL since 2009, so about 17 years now, and my role is as a researcher. I’m a marine biologist, and much of my work focuses on human impacts on seabed habitats. That ranges from UK habitats such as kelp forests and seagrass meadows, through to Arctic environments, including cold-water coral habitats in Greenland.

My father, they lived in Highbury, only yards from the new stadium, the Highbury stadium, the Emirates. He had six sisters. I went to see his house a while ago. It was a very small house for that number of children. I'm not sure about my grandfather. I think he was born in Islington. Yes, I looked it up the other day; he was born in Islington. So they’d been Londoners all their lives.

When I was little, we had lots of pets at home, and before I was allowed my own pet, I would rummage in the garden and find some woodlice to try and look after, creating them cardboard boxes and all kinds of houses. I was quite obsessed with trying to look after animals at an early age. So that's really what led me to consider career options working with animals. It's quite tricky getting into vet school, as I'm sure many young vets know, but once you're in, it's great, albeit hard work.

That organisation was ZSL and to support this understanding we opened the first scientific zoo in the world – now known as London Zoo. From the very beginning, it was here where we brought together the brightest minds of the day to share discoveries, debate theories, and shape the future of zoology.

At ZSL, we've been conserving Partula snails for decades, rescuing them from the brink of extinction. ZSL's Dave Clarke and Paul Pearce-Kelly have devoted their careers to protecting Partula snails. They've been breeding them at London Zoo for more than 30 years, and reintroduce them back into the wild in the hope that they will once again thrive in their native habitat in French Polynesia.