{"id":540615,"date":"2026-04-20T06:53:09","date_gmt":"2026-04-20T06:53:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/540615\/"},"modified":"2026-04-20T06:53:09","modified_gmt":"2026-04-20T06:53:09","slug":"the-moon-and-the-zoo-simon-armitage-poem-celebrates-200-years-of-zsl-zoology","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/540615\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018The Moon and The Zoo\u2019: Simon Armitage poem celebrates 200 years of ZSL | Zoology"},"content":{"rendered":"

Over its two centuries, acclaimed writers and artists have found inspiration at London<\/a> zoo, from Edwin Landseer\u2019s Trafalgar Square lions, to AA Milne\u2019s naming \u201cWinnie\u201d after resident bear Winnipeg, and Sylvia Plath\u2019s poem Zoo Keeper\u2019s Wife.<\/p>\n

Plath\u2019s husband, Ted Hughes<\/a>, who would become poet laureate, worked at the zoo briefly as a dish washer, an experience said to have helped fuel his inspiration for The Thought-Fox.<\/p>\n

As the ZSL (Zoological Society of London)<\/a> celebrates its 200th anniversary, the current poet laureate, Simon Armitage, now joins their ranks with his latest work, The Moon and the Zoo, published to mark this milestone in the international conservation charity\u2019s history.<\/p>\n

Armitage narrates the poem, which conjures up the night-time world at the zoo, in a specially commissioned animation illustrated by Greg King, which carries the words through a dreamlike journey from the zoo out into the wider natural world.<\/p>\n

Still from the animation The Moon and the Zoo. Photograph: ZSL Simon Armitage Greg King<\/p>\n

The poem opens as the world sleeps, and the moon \u201cslides in under the turnstile after dark, moves in a silent arc at an ancient pace, dabs its ointment on the gibbon\u2019s paw, nitpicks its way through the troop of gorillas, smooths the silverback\u2019s fur.\u201d<\/p>\n

It culminates with dawn break, as Armitage reflects on shared responsibility of the natural world, and \u201cthe moon hands over the keys of the world and trusts them to us.\u201d<\/p>\n

During time spent with animals and staff at London zoo, Armitage said he \u201cmet Katie, a Mexican red-kneed spider\u201d, watched Sumatran tigers, and went behind the scenes in the reptile house. He was intrigued by the secret lives of animals, \u201cthe mysterious aspects of their existence which we never really get to see \u2026 their thoughts and dreams, which we can only imagine and guess at.\u201d<\/p>\n

He said: \u201cThe night is a metaphor for the unknown, and the moon is an eternal watch and witness over those lives, and has been for millions of years. Some animals are very active in the darkness, but for others it must provide a respite and a refuge from the global human activity that can be so disruptive to their needs.\u201d<\/p>\n

The moon was also a metaphor for the work of ZSL, he said, representing the \u201ckeeping and caring\u201d, and the \u201cimportant research\u201d away from public view.<\/p>\n

The poem also aims to share ZSL\u2019s message about the \u201cwonder of the natural world\u201d and \u201chow the richness of nature can enrich our own thinking and extend our imaginations\u201d, he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cDaylight brings the human world out of its bed and its sleep, the world of the sun is a world owned and run by humans \u2013 the last line of the poem is about our obligation to nature, and the trust needed for humanity and nature to find a harmonious relationship. Oh, and I wanted the poem to be fun as well \u2013 playful in its imagery and ideas.\u201d<\/p>\n

Simon Armitage at London Zoo. Photograph: ZSL<\/p>\n

ZSL was founded in 1826 to advance zoological science, and opened the world\u2019s first scientific zoo, London zoo, in 1828, for zoologists including Charles Darwin. It opened to the public in 1847.<\/p>\n

Kathryn England, the CEO of ZSL, said: \u201cFor 200 years, ZSL has worked to bring people closer to wildlife and inspire action to protect it. Simon\u2019s poem captures both the wonder of those encounters and the responsibility that comes with them. With our anniversary just days away, it\u2019s a powerful reminder of the role people can play in the future of wildlife.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Moon and The Zoo<\/p>\n

It slides in under the turnstile after dark,<\/p>\n

moves in a silent arc at an ancient pace,<\/p>\n

dabs its ointment on the gibbon\u2019s paw,<\/p>\n

nitpicks its way through the troop of gorillas,<\/p>\n

smooths the silverback\u2019s fur.<\/p>\n

The moon<\/p>\n

puts a crystalline glint in the tiger\u2019s eye,<\/p>\n

makes a zebra flicker like old film,<\/p>\n

shushes the two-toed sloth when it stirs.<\/p>\n

On it goes, incognito keeper and carer<\/p>\n

wheeling through tunnels, passing through fences,<\/p>\n

casting the black kite in a platinum glow,<\/p>\n

mending cracked hide with its soft flux<\/p>\n

and welding the armadillo\u2019s chainmail coat.<\/p>\n

A restless otter slips out of its holt<\/p>\n

and rolls the ball of the moon in its feet;<\/p>\n

the full moon smears its milky smile<\/p>\n

on the lips of pups and kittens and cubs.<\/p>\n

It crowns the giraffe in its standing sleep,<\/p>\n

draws out the aye aye\u2019s ET fingers<\/p>\n

for a midnight manicure, blesses a tortoise,<\/p>\n

lifts up its lamp to check on the lions,<\/p>\n

sharpens the warthog\u2019s tusks, brushes the strings<\/p>\n

of the cupboard spider\u2019s jittery web<\/p>\n

without sounding a note, then makes<\/p>\n

a final sweep of the nests and dens.<\/p>\n

But there\u2019s still work to do before dawn,<\/p>\n

spreading out through the city, leafleting streets,<\/p>\n

leaving animal dreams under pillows<\/p>\n

and conjuring tundra, rain forest, swamp<\/p>\n

or savannah from gardens and parks,<\/p>\n

lighting up waking minds with wild thoughts.<\/p>\n

Then morning breaks; the moon hands over<\/p>\n

the keys of the world and trusts them to us.<\/p>\n

\u00a9Simon Armitage<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Over its two centuries, acclaimed writers and artists have found inspiration at London zoo, from Edwin Landseer\u2019s Trafalgar…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":540616,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[59,57,58,50,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-540615","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-united-kingdom","tag-gb","tag-great-britain","tag-greatbritain","tag-news","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/540615","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=540615"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/540615\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/540616"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=540615"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=540615"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=540615"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}