In 1923, Herbert Whitley opened his private collection of exotic animals and plants to the public, however Whitley’s expertise with animals didn’t end with Paignton’s new zoo. In the midst of World War I, while many were called to serve…

This International Women’s Day (on Wednesday 8th March), we’re going back in time to pay tribute to a few of the many brilliant women who helped make Paignton Zoo what it is today. Gladys Salter Worked with Herbert Whitley for…

Herbert’s Gang is a short children’s story about the life of our founder, Herbert Whitley, that we’ve put together as part of our Centenary celebrations to mark World Book Day. We hope you enjoy getting to know a bit about…

Paignton Zoo’s founder Herbert Whitley had many obsessions, but one of his most well-known was a fascination with the colour blue, and over the years he selectively bred a whole host of blue flowers and animals. We’re not entirely sure…

This is the final part of our four-part series of blogs documenting the early history of Paignton Zoo (click here to read part 1, here to read part 2 and here to read part 3) The booming years following World…

This is part 3 in a four-part series of blogs documenting the early history of Paignton Zoo (click here to read part 1, and here to read part 2) Neither our founder Herbert Whitley nor his brother William were enlisted…

This is part 2 in a four-part series of blogs documenting the early history of Paignton Zoo (click here to read part 1) From the beginning, Paignton’s new zoo was about more than just displaying animals and plants. It was…

This is part 1 in a four-part series of blogs documenting the early history of Paignton Zoo As Paignton Zoo celebrates its centenary year, we have been looking back through 100 years of zoo history. The story begins with Herbert…

During our 2 week January closure we’ve been busy and our team has achieved a huge amount! We’ve tackled the big jobs that make a mess and the areas that would be difficult to work in if visitors were using…

As part of our centenary celebrations, we are looking back at 100 years of zoo history to revisit some of the most iconic and intriguing stories from Paignton Zoo’s history. One such story is that of Mary the chimp, or…