Historical footage of Auckland Zoo

This silent film about Auckland Zoo’s early years was part of New Zealand Government Publicity. Considering the film was created on behalf of the NZ Government Publicity Office there are a few peculiarities that can be noticed. The children that visit the Zoo are obviously from a well-off family, which makes you wonder if Zoo access was only for members at the time. Despite the fact that it all seems very staged, as the Zoo grounds looks unnaturally empty, the animal collection shown is quite interesting. It comprises species such as pangolin, giant ant-eater, blue-tongued skink, ground hornbill, lion, leopard, puma, polar bear, macaque monkeys, hippopotamus and a few regional heroes like tuatara, black swan and kangaroo. All the things we now believe to be absolutely wrong when keeping animals in confinement at zoological parks were down under not different from western Europe, as is shown in this film - like the feeding of the bears by the public with peanuts and the elephant-rides.