Alan Best (1910–2001) was a Canadian sculptor and natural historian, who was curator of Stanley Park Zoo, Vancouver for over 20 years.
[1] Aged 17, Best moved to New York, where he began sculpting animals at the American Museum of Natural History.
[1] He worked for the ceramics company Josiah Wedgwood and Sons for which he designed ornamental figures of athletes and of a mandarin duck,[3] and was assistant to British sculptor Eric Kennington.
[citation needed] He worked for the zoologist Julian Huxley as a field worker and as tutor to his sons,[1] and when Huxley was appointed curator of the London Zoo in 1936, Best became assistant zoo curator.
[1] He was a noted authority on penguins,[1] and made several expeditions to the Antarctic to capture different species for the zoo.