Gerald Durrell - Life and Legacy by Learning with Jersey Zoo

Early Life in India, 1925-1928

learning186 — 2025-01-03 15:23:57 UTC

Born in India, 7 January 1925. He was the youngest of four children. They moved back to Britain in 1928 when his father died.

Life in Corfu, 1935-1939

learning186 — 2025-01-03 15:28:40 UTC

The family moved to Corfu in 1935 and for Gerald it was a perfect life. He discovered how much he loved wildlife and would find lots of animals and look after them

First work with animals, 1939 - 1947

learning186 — 2025-01-03 15:30:58 UTC

World War 2 was on its way so the Durrell family moved back to England and he started work in an aquarium and a pet shop in 1939. He also discovered he loved reading. In 1943, he worked at a horse stable and then in 1945 he began work as a junior keeper for Whipsnade Zoo.

First expeditions to collect animals, 1947-1949

learning186 — 2025-01-03 15:38:10 UTC

He used an inheritance from his father to fund his first trips to collect animals for zoos from Cameroon and Guyana. He started to question why zoos kept needed expeditions to collect more and more animals as replacements and why they weren't kept in suitable conditions.

First book published, 1953

learning186 — 2025-01-03 15:42:19 UTC

He wrote and published his first book called 'The Overloaded Ark' about his adventures whilst on an expedition in Cameroon.

More expeditions and more books 1953 to 1959

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He travelled to Argentina and Paraguay on collecting expeditions and wrote more books. In 1956, he wrote 'My Family and Other Animals' about his life with his family in Corfu. It became a bestseller.

Started collecting animals for his own Zoo, 1957

learning186 — 2025-01-03 16:05:07 UTC

Durrell became increasingly concerned about the welfare of animals in zoos and believed that he could look after animals by feeding them the correct food and keeping them in the right type of environment for them. He decided that he would like to start his own zoo and began to collect the animals to fill it - he went to Cameroon and his collecting was filmed for 'To Bafut with Beagles;. He was living in the South of England and asked both Bournemouth and Poole for permission to open a zoo. He was refused in both, but kept looking.

Jersey Zoo, 1959

learning186 — 2025-01-03 16:08:56 UTC

Finally, he found a large house and land called Les Augres Manor in Jersey in 1959 and was allowed to lease it and open a zoo. He thought Jersey Zoo would be an place to study animals and do captive breeding rather than for the public to visit, but it was the public visiting which kept the zoo open and brought in enough money to look after the animals.

Jersey Wildlife Preservation Trust, 1963

learning186 — 2025-01-03 16:10:45 UTC

The JWPT was formed in 1963 to allow the zoo to become more official and in 1970 a successful appeal was launched so that Les Augres Manor could be purchased in full rather than leased.

First students, 1977

learning186 — 2025-01-06 11:06:21 UTC

Gerald Durrell wanted Jersey Zoo to become a place where people from around the world learnt about the conservation of animals and how to protect them. The first student from Mauritius came to train at the Zoo in 1977.

International Training Centre for the Conservation and Captive Breeding of Endangered Species opens, 1984

learning186 — 2025-01-06 11:17:24 UTC

Renamed as 'Durrell Conservation Academy' in 2012, the training centre has been a place where people from around the world can train and learn the skills to become conservationists. Over the last 40 years, it has trained 7,000 students from 160 countries.

More books....

learning186 — 2025-01-06 11:50:51 UTC

Durrell continued to write books based on his life working with animals and going on expeditions. Some of these works are:

A Zoo in My Luggage
Managerie Manor
Filets of Plaice
Beasts in My Belfry
The Stationary Ark

He also worked on screenplays such as Tarka the Otter.

TV and Radio, 1957 onwards

learning186 — 2025-01-06 12:25:56 UTC

From 1957, Gerald Durrell appeared in many Radio and TV series about animals including:

Encounters with Animals
To Bafut with Beagles
Catch me a Colombus
The Stationary Ark
Ark on the Move
Durrell in Russia
Ourselves and other animals

The Amateur Naturalist, 1981

learning186 — 2025-01-07 15:23:41 UTC

Durrell's next project was The Amateur Naturalist, co-authored with Lee, his wife; it was a handbook for people who wanted to know how to observe nature in their own neighbourhoods and gardens, but it also covered many of the world's ecosystem types, such as tundra, tropical forests, and wetlands

Illnesses and Death

learning186 — 2025-01-07 15:32:15 UTC

During his expeditions, Gerald twice caught malaria, caught a blood disease and was bitten by a snake.

He also suffered from depression at various points during his life.

In 1986 he had the first of two hip replacements (needed because of arthritis) and was then diagnosed with liver disease and received a liver transplant in 1994. He died a few months later of septiceamia on January 30 1995. His ashes are buried under a piece of Jersey Granite with the words:

'The beauty and genius of a work of art may be reconceived, though its first material expression be destroyed; a vanishing harmony may yet again inspire the composer; but when the last individual of a race of living beings breathes no more, another heaven and another earth must pass before such a one can be again'

Awarded an OBE, 1982

learning186 — 2025-01-07 15:36:09 UTC

Gerald Durrell was awarded an OBE for his services to Conservation in 1982. He was given his award by Prince Charles at Buckingham Palace in February 1983,

Legacy

learning186 — 2025-01-07 15:41:03 UTC

Durrell's influence on the world of conservation has come through Jersey Zoo.The zoo was one of the earliest to make conservation a central part of its mission and the Durrell Conservation Academy has trained thousands of people in conservation biology, captive breeding, and the role of zoos in conservation. Gerald Durrell has been recognised as a naturalist that was at the beginning of the conservation of animals and places that we see today. He was one of the first people to highlight the plight of species at risk and to seek to do something about it. Today, Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust has projects all over the world to rewild habitats and restore animal populations. The core mission of the Zoo and the Trust comes from a very simple phrase from Gerald Durrell - 'Save Species from Extinction'.

Jambo 1984

learning186 — 2025-01-07 16:30:28 UTC

A young boy fell into the Gorilla Enclosure. Jambo, the silverback male watched him and stopped other members of the Gorilla troop getting close. Jambo's actions changed how lots of people thought about Gorilla's being aggressive and showed a caring side of the animal that not many people had seen before.

Film about Gerald Durrell

learning186 — 2025-03-10 09:13:37 UTC

51 min film by ITV about Gerald Durrell.

Short film about Gerald Durrell

learning186 — 2025-03-10 09:18:53 UTC

5 minute overview film about Gerald Durrell

Gerald Durrell's Centenary

learning186 — 2025-03-10 09:20:14 UTC

A short film about the centenary of Gerald Durrell by Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust