Zoo Index Reader examines the relevance and effect that zoos have in shaping our gaze towards non-human animals and by extension ourselves/each other. Through a mixture of visual research into zoological space—in the form of an A-Z glossary—and written contributions on the history of menageries, the confinement and privatization of land, pets, zoo architecture, the "naturalization" of animals, and the role of zoos and animals in the history of cinema, among many other things, this first volume asks: Do we need zoos? What does a meaningful coexistence with animals look like? Why have we decided to give a balloon to an elephant?

With texts by Jacob Lindgren, Animals as Objects, Institute for Postnatural Studies, Angelo Renna & Andrea Branzi, Richard Weller, Eliot Haworth, David Hancocks, A+E Collective, Chanelle Adams, Suzanne van der Lingen, John Berger, Laurel Schwulst, Terezie Štindlová