Nathalie Evans

Sarah Nathalie Evans (12 June 1918 – 9 September 2016) was an English businesswoman and conservationist with a particular interest in primates. In 1963 she co-founded the Twycross Zoo, Leicestershire. She began her career as a dog breeder and pet shop owner before merging her business with that of rival Molly Badham. The pair kept primates in their shared flat before moving, in 1954, to a larger house in Hints, Staffordshire where they established the Hints Zoological Gardens. Evans and Badham trained their chimpanzees to act out tea parties, which was noticed by the Brooke Bond tea company, who contracted the animals for a series of television advertisements for the PG Tips brand. After outgrowing Hints the pair moved their collection to Twycross, Leicestershire where they developed the largest primate collection outside of Japan. The Twycross Zoo became the first in the United Kingdom to breed colobus monkeys and bonobos and is now recognised as the World Primate Centre.