Artist Linder Sterling’s mosaic mood board honours the legacy of pioneering zoologist Joan Procter [ZSL London Zoo Linder Sterling]

A GIANT outdoor snake mosaic will be unveiled at London Zoo in the summer as part of its 200th anniversary celebrations.

Artist Linder Sterling’s work, depicting a winding Ethiopian mountain adder, aims to remember the pioneering research by Joan Procter, the zoo’s first female curator of reptiles.

Joan Procter with a snake [ZSL London Zoo]

Procter, who lived close to the zoo in St Mark’s Square and died from sepsis aged 34, designed innovative enclosures recognising reptiles needed UV light and cared for the animals including the first Komodo dragons to arrive at London Zoo in the early 20th century.

The zoo’s new chief executive Kathryn England said: “Joan Procter was a visionary scientist whose work transformed the care and understanding of reptiles at ZSL and beyond. Her wonderful turn of phrase, ‘Think of this sometime’, which will be recreated in her distinctive handwriting on the artwork, resonates deeply at ZSL. If we all think of wildlife, of the planet, more often, then we can achieve great things for all that live on it.”