We marked the 100th anniversary of Gerald Durrell with many publications and photographs at our Telegram channel “Beorn And The Shieldmaiden”, staring from this post. Let us also celebrate it here at Beorn’s Beehive!

100 Year Anniversary of Gerald Durrell

A great British naturalist, writer and one of the pioneers in animal conservation, Gerald Durrell, was born on January 7, 1924.

From a very young age he developed a fascination with and a love for the animal kingdom. This love and humility of our place in this world shone in his books. This love lead to the search for ways to save the animals that are on the brink of extinction, often-times because of human ignorance and activities. Durrell envisioned zoos not as places for the amusement for the visitors, but as tiny safehavens for the endangered species, where they could be bread and re-introduced back into the wild. This was a revolutionary vision at the time when he, against all odds, managed to establish such a zoo on the island of Jersey.

And the books that Gerald Durrell has written throughout his life shine with that boyish fascination and enthralling narrative. They inspire both children and grown-ups to see the world around them differently.

Durrell’s book were translated to Russian and were readily available in the libraries in the USSR, and many a kid, including yours truly, immersed themselves in every book by Durrell that they could get their hands on, travelling with him, laughing at his witty humour and pondering his insights!

In 1984 -1985, Gerald Durrell visited the USSR to film the series “Durrell in Russia”. In fact, his film crew was the first Western film crew to be allowed to film in the USSR, and to travel across the whole Union — such was the respect and trust extended to this remarkable man.

🦧 The legacy of Gerald Durrell’s work lives on, in the Jersey Zoo (https://www.durrell.org/), in many education and species reintroduction projects across the world. And thanks to support and donations from people with kind hearts, who do not remain indifferent, like Gerald Durrell himself.

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The Jersey Zoo

In 2014, yours truly finally managed to fulfil the dream that existed ever since reading Durrell’s books in the 1980s… The dream of visiting the Jersey Zoo.

It was a very special, humbling experience, where, indeed, as Gerald Durrell envisioned, the animals and their well-being are in the focus. There is no guarantee that you will see all the animals there, unless the animals themselves feel like taking a look at you.

It was a very special privilege to get a glimpse of the elusive Aye-Aye lemur and to be looked at by orangutang mother tenderly holding her baby. To walk by the gorilla enclosure and be reminded of Jambo the Gentle Giant, who on August 31 1986 stood guard over a child that fell into the enclosure.

🦤 The logo of the Jersey Zoo is that of the now-extinct flightless dove, Dodo — reminding us of the urgency of the mission.

🦧 Here are a few photographs from that memorable visit! (And many more in the Telegram post)

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Instead of “mom,” his first word as a child was “zoo.”

This is a commemoration from the Russian Telegram channel Gerald Durrell and other Animals:

At the age of 6, he announced that he wanted to open a zoo.
At 34, he did it.

After receiving his inheritance at the age of 21, he spent it on an expedition to capture rare animals in Cameroon.

He started writing short stories when he was penniless, and then his books were published all over the world and brought the author millions in royalties.
Which, of course, he spent on animals.

For the sake of rare animals, he travelled thousands of kilometers by water, air, roads and off-road: risked himself in the African jungle, almost boiled himself in the valley of geysers, visited the tundra of Taimyr.

He was bitten, kicked, scratched and pecked by almost all species of animals and birds of the planet. And he continued to love them and save them.

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The state Darwin Museum in Moscow commemorates Gerald Durrell’s 100th Anniversary

The anniversary is commemorated with an exhibition dedicated to Durrell’s visit to the USSR.

In 1984 – 1985 Gerald Durrell and his wife Lee came to the USSR. The main purpose of the trip was filming the documentary television series “Durrell in Russia”.

During the trip, G. Durrell visited the Moscow Zoo, which made a great impression on the writer and naturalist:

“…the zoo is managed by a team of competent and enthusiastic people under the leadership of Vladimir Spitsyn. The team is dedicated to him and to the conservation and study of animals, which creates an incredible team spirit.”

The Jersey Zoo’s newspaper, “The DoDo Dispatch”, published reports by the Durrells about visiting nature reserves in the USSR. The newspapers and booklets of the Jersey Zoo and the Wildlife Conservation Foundation are provided by the exhibition partner, the Moscow Zoo.

The Durrells traveled to different parts of the Soviet Union, from the tundra to the desert, visiting several nature reserves. They rescued animals during high water in the Oka Nature Reserve, observed huge colonies of birds in the Astrahan Nature Reserve, got acquainted with sable and Baikal seals in the country’s oldest Barguzin Nature Reserve and admired the spring current of grouse in the Darwin Nature Reserve.

Preparing for the travels across the USSR, Durrell dreamed of meeting a small aquatic animal, a muskrat. In the Oka Nature Reserve, he managed to fulfil his dream:

“Of all the charming animals I have met in Russia — and there are many of them — perhaps it is only the muskrat that I would like to take with me to Jersey.”

Durrell was greatly impressed by musk oxen in Taimyr, saiga antelopes in Kalmykia, bison in the Caucasus and many other animals and birds. The animals encountered by the writer during the trip are presented at the exhibition. The photographs and books, stuffed animals and sculptures, paintings and graphics presented at the exhibition will help you feel the spirit of the travel and, together with Gerald Durrell, admire the beauty and grandeur of Russia’s nature.

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👉 The information about the exhibition found via the Russian Telegram channel Gerald Durrell and other animals.

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DURRELL IN RUSSIA

A fascinating look at the people, places and wildlife of the largest country on earth, the Soviet Union.

“We in the West know very little of life inside Russia. All we ever seem to see on our television screens is Red Square full of tanks and rows of grey-faced politicians who look as though nyet is their favourite word. Surely, I thought, there must be other Soviet citizens apart from these politicians — citizens who laughed and loved and worked in that enormous country. So, as well as the fascinating flora and fauna, as well as the almost overwhelming variety of countryside, we wanted to try to show these people, these other Russians, and what they were like. Given the magnitude of the task, I think we succeeded.”
— Gerald Durrell

Four of the 13 films were released on VHS in the USA. We have managed to get hold of and digitalise them for posterity!

Film 1: MOSCOW – The Other Russians

Naturalist/Author Gerald Durrell and his wife, Zoologist Lee, fulfill a long-held dream of visiting nature reserves in the Soviet Union. The first stop on their way across the USSR is Moscow and a visit with the “other” Russians. The Durrells then set off on their journey to places rarely, if ever, seen by Western eyes.

In the World of Animals

The very first film of “Durrell in Russia” presents the exceptionally popular wildlife TV show on the Soviet TV — “In the World of Animals”, hosted by Nikolai Drozdov. Not only Gerald Durrell appeared in one of the shows during his visit, but the entire series was later shown under aegis of the program. The first episode was premiered on January 2, 1988.

The opening sequence and the music of the program “In the World of Animals” is instantly recognisable by anyone who grew up in the USSR.

This opening existed since 1974 and was used until 2009. The music, arranged by Alexander Goldstein on request of the director-documentarist Alexander Zguridi, is based on the cantata by the Argentinian composer Ariel Ramirez, “Navidad Nuestra” — more specifically, its 10th part “La Peregrinacion”.

Film 7: The Red Desert

Join Gerald Durrell (Naturalist/Author) and Lee Durrell (Zoologist) as they journey to the Karakum. Once the floor of an enormous inland sea, it is now a vast desert in the heart of central Asia. Here, the drifting, unpredictable sands – the barkhans – are studied, and the animal and plant life strictly protected. We see how the desert animals adapt to these extreme temperatures.

Film 11: Children in Nature

Gerald and Lee Durrell head west through the Bielorussian Republic towards Minsk, on to the Berezina Reserve. Berezina is a biosphere reserve, one of 300 in the world, 17 of which are in the Soviet Union. Set up by the United Nations to monitor environmental pollution on a global scale, the workers run tests several times a day to discover what extent manmade pollutants enter the ecosystem.

Film 13: The Endless Day

Gerald and Lee Durrell travel to The Valley of the Bikadah River on the Taimyr Peninsula. Here is the setting where close to a 2.5 million acres of tundra have been set aside as a nature preserve. A species — Muskox — re-introduced here from Canada after a 3,000 year absence is a wonderful story of international cooperation. Lemmings and foxes also are studied in this remote Arctic area.