Readers will be familiar with Helen Reddy’s feminism anthem, ‘I Am Woman, Hear Me Roar’. There are few people better qualified to use that song title for a memoir than Walraven, the first female zookeeper at Taronga Zoo, Sydney, in 1983, retiring as senior curator after 30 years.

This is not just an account of her working life, having to overcome prejudice from some of the previously all-male cohort of zookeepers, but a deep look at matriarchy and female empowerment in the animal world.

Aristotle, noted zoologist and philosopher in the fourth century BC, characterised the female as a ‘mutilated or incomplete’ male, and in Darwin’s time, gender roles were informed by the chauvinism of the time, so Walraven became deeply interested in the role of female animals in their societies. From insects to elephants, she gives account of animal interactions, socialising, courting and mating.

Her studies of chimps and bonobos, the closest relatives to humans, show that although chimpanzee groups are ruled by powerful males, they are counterbalanced by the chimp girls who have significant influence on how things are run. Feisty female chimps, supported by friends, will confront any top-ranking male if they are really annoyed by what he is doing. All chimp males are mummy’s boys, according to Walraven, with one dominant male running to his mother for a hug when he’s upset.

In Hear Me Roar she charts important changes in zookeeping, particularly in the 1990s, when instead of there being dominant alphas ruling over the animals, the keepers became caregivers helping animals live their best lives. Walraven firmly believes that animals in zoos are in human care, not for entertainment of the masses, but for important reasons of education, conservation and research.

And zookeepers love their animals, she writes, mourning them deeply when they die or go to another zoo.

Reviewed by Jennifer Somerville

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Erna Walraven was born in the Netherlands, moved to Spain as a young adult and stayed long to develop a robust appreciation of Spanish wine and tapas. She moved to Australia in her late twenties, where she picked up Australian slang to add to her language portfolio. She’s worked as a translator and interpreter of Dutch, German, French, Spanish and English, and as a kennel-maid, zookeeper, petrol-pump attendant, waitress, aged-care worker, farmhand, conveyancing clerk, debt collector and dog washer.

After trying many different jobs, she settled for zoology to eventually spend two decades as the Senior Curator at Taronga Zoo in Sydney, Australia. As the Senior Curator she was responsible for the care of some 400 wild animal species.

She was also a consultant to other zoos on animal husbandry, welfare, and other matters.

Visit Erna Walraven’s website