Gerald Durrell was one of the world’s most famous naturalists. He was born in Jamshedpur, India, in 1925. His family went back to England after his father’s death in 1928.
When Gerald was ten, they moved to the Greek island of Corfu. It was an idyllic time for the young boy who was schooled at home and so he spent a large part of his time observing and collecting all the curious animals he came across.
Scorpions in matchboxes, reptiles in bathtubs and turtles under the bed — there was never a dull moment for his mother and older siblings!
England in the 1940s, Durrell landed a job as a student keeper in Whipsnade Zoo in London. In 1946, at the age of 21, he inherited some money and started his animal-collecting expeditions to remote corners of the world. He sold the animals he brought back to zoos in England.
Durrell adopted collection methods that were far ahead of his time. He provided only the best food and housing for his specimens after closely studying their habitat and diet. He was against capturing them only for their display value. He was genuinely interested in captive endangered species.
In 1958, Durrell realised a long-standing dream when he founded the Jersey Zoological Park in the island of Jersey off the English coast. By the time of his death in 1995, the zoo had become a pioneer in breeding endangered species and had trained over a thousand biologists, vets, zoo architects and naturalists at its International Training Centre.