Mikor éppen nem állatgyűjtő expedíciókat vezetett a világ legkülönfélébb vidékeire, vagy nem a maláriától feküdt lázas betegen, netán újabb könyvét írta, Gerald Durrell állattani előadásaival kápráztatta el a rádió hallgatóságát. Olyannyira lenyűgözve őket, hogy kikövetelték tőle a sorozat írott változatát is - ez lett a Vadak a vadonban, melyben a megszokott szórakoztató módon számol be nyugat-afrikai találkozásáról a petymegekkel, dél-amerikai kalandjáról egy kajmánnal, a világ legpompásabb nászruhájával rendelkező paradicsommadarakról, a tigrisek, a vízilovak vagy az ájtatos manók udvarlási szokásairól. Ahogy büszkén emlékezik meg arról is, hogyan segített tegzeslárvák építkezésein, s miként dédelgetett egy lidérces kinézetű ostorlábút, aki a Wilhelmina névre hallgatott. De feltárja a pöfögőfutrinkák védekezési és támadási szokásait és lerántja a leplet az útonálló darázs rovarvilágbeli műtétjeiről is, amelyek gyakorlott sebészeket is eltűnődésre késztetnek. Mindezek mellett láthatjuk esetlen próbálkozásait, amint egy kengurubébit próbál felnevelni, vagy elszánt bátorságát, amikor kígyóverembe ereszkedik alá álmából felverve az afrikai éjszaka közepén. Az argentin pampák veterán gauchójával való nanduvadászata pedig egyenesen burleszkbe illő epizód.

Intriguing little stories about experiences with wildlife, by one of my favorite authors. These were originally presented as a series of radio talks.... Loosely grouped: stories about animals' courtship behavior, rearing and protecting their young, and amusing ways in which their actions remind us of humans. They're kind of scattered- ranging from time in his childhood spent watching insects (most notably a battles between different species of ants), keeping a marmoset as a pet which would crawl into bed with various members of the family in succession every morning (it had trouble staying warm enough) or time spent observing hippos in a river during a collecting trip for a zoo. My favorite was the description of a mother jacana and her brood -bird in South America that walks across lily pads on the water- trying to evade a single young caiman that lurked in their pond. Also a chapter about the return trip Durrell made on ship bringing animals home- where the captain constantly disparaged the creatures until Durrell claimed he could prove that any invention by man had been used by animals for far longer. Of course Durrell won the bet by describing radar used by bats, electricity produced by electric eels and rays, paralysis (example of drugs?) caused by a spider bite to her prey, and an aqualung created by a spider that lives under water. Funniest part was that Durrell found out later that the captain afterwards would retell these same stories to other passengers impress them! Behavior of many other animals described: tigers, birds of paradise, praying mantids, spiders, weaver birds, tree porcupine, Père David's deer, an orphaned kangaroo, dwarf mongoose (one I had to look up- he only referred to it by the local name kusimanse), a baby anteater, and a particular whip scorpion which became a beloved pet until he accidentally lost it at sea.

A lot of it felt awfully familiar- I think I've read some of these stories in other books of his, but didn't have the time to page back through them and find out for sure. Enjoyable, regardless.

from the Dogear Diary ( )

I first stumbled across Gerald Durrell's My Family and Other Animals several years ago and loved it. And while I didn't track down the Masterpiece Theater piece of that book as threatened, I did track down another of his books, serendipitously found in the "free" box at a used bookstore. Encounters with Animals is a collection of essays culled from Durrell's BBC broadcasts about animals and animal behaviour over the years.

Each of the essays is fairly short and describes Durrell's collecting of animals for zoos, how certain exotic animals behave in wild, and the always entertaining bits about the animals the Durrell family has lived with in their home. Because these essays are pulled from radio broadcasts, they are very descriptive in drawing the animal in question in the reader's (and originally, the listener's) mind's eye. Durrell is an entertaining writer, personifying the animals about whom he writes but also being mindful of their natural lives. The essays are homely and sweetly humorous and provide a gentle introduction to exotic animals, their habits, and their habitats. Durrell is, as always, an accessible, lovely writer but this collection seems as if it would be more satisfying if it was listened to, as originally conceived, rather than read. Still a nice collection for naturalists to dip into, it just doesn't quite shine the way that My family and Other Animals does. ( )

One of those odd instances of books you thought you wanted to read, only to discover you have already read them, as a subtle sense of familiarity creaps through each 'new' encounter. This did take some of the gloss off. The book is the scripts to a series of lectures Gerry presented to the BBC over time, and as such are all very seperate from each other. Some of the material has been covered in other books - and some of the details are not precisely the same!

It is divided into a few sections, but these seem almost arbitary to the contents. Most of the incidents come from his animal collecting expeditions but there are also several from his boyhood tales of life in Corfu. The animals are always portaryed with sympathy and anthromorphism. A charge to which he pleads guilty later on in the book. You can't help but smile at the situations he gets into.

Slightly disjointed, but overal another wonderful outing of Gerald's gentle umour and endearing creatures. Maybe not hte best place to start with from his books, but given how much material is repeated elsewhere, it probably isn't ideal for omeoen who has read most of his other books either. ( )