ZSL Whipsnade Downs
ZSL Whipsnade Zoo sits on the escarpment of the Chiltern Hills in Bedfordshire, its 243 hectares of open downland and wooded parkland providing one of the largest and most spacious zoo environments in Europe. The white chalk figure of a lion cut into the hillside below the zoo has been visible for miles across the vale since it was created in 1933, a landscape-scale advertisement for the zoo's presence that has become one of the informal landmarks of the Bedfordshire countryside. Whipsnade opened in 1931 as a country sister site to London Zoo, conceived from the beginning as a place where animals would be kept in conditions more closely resembling their natural environment than urban zoo cages could provide. The open paddocks, large enclosures and the ability of many species to be kept in outdoor conditions year-round in this relatively mild chalk downland setting represented a significant philosophical advance in zoo management and influenced the development of zoo design internationally throughout the following decades. The Chiltern escarpment setting provides both an exceptional backdrop for the zoo and a landscape of significant ecological interest in its own right. The chalk downland of the Chilterns supports one of the most important semi-natural grassland ecosystems in southern England, with plant communities of exceptional diversity that survive on the thin, nutrient-poor chalk soils above the escarpment. The views from the zoo's higher ground extend north across the entire Bedfordshire plain toward Northamptonshire, with the flat agricultural landscape stretching to the horizon in a panorama of considerable scale. The zoo's large animal collection includes substantial herds of white rhino, Asiatic elephants, giraffes and many species of deer and antelope that roam paddocks large enough to allow natural herd behaviour and movement. The Sea Lion lake, the Cheetah Rock and the penguin pool are among the established visitor favourites, while the Wild Asia and Heart of Africa sections represent more recent investment in immersive habitat design.