The Talking Parcel

About Gerald Durrell

Gerald was born in Jamshedpur, India, in 1925. In 1928 his family returned to England and in 1933 they went to live on the Continent (Europe). Eventually they settled on the island of Corfu, where they lived until 1939. During this time he made a special study of zoology, and kept a large number of the local wild animals as pets. In 1945 he joined the staff of the Whipsnade Park as a student keeper. In 1947 he financed, organized, and led his first animal-collecting expedition to the Cameroons. This was followed by a expeditions in 1948 and 1949, this time to British Guiana. He has also made expeditions to Paraguay, Argentina, Sierra Leone, Mauritius, Assam, Mexico, and Madagascar. In 1962 he and his wife went to New Zealand, Australia and Malaya to film a TV series, Two in the Bush. In 1959 he founded the Jersey Zoological Park, of which he is the director, and in 1964 he founded the Jersey Wildlife Preservation Trust.