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List Of Expeditions By Gerald Durrell
This is a list of animal collecting and conservation expeditions led by Gerald Durrell. Major expeditions {, class="wikitable" , - ! Year !! Place !! Primary purpose !! Book !! Film !! Species in focus , - , 1947 / 1948 , Mamfe, British Cameroons (now Cameroon) , Independent animal collecting mission for British zoos , ''The Overloaded Ark'' , — , Angwantibo, giant otter shrew , - , 1949 , Mamfe and Bafut, British Cameroons (now Cameroon) , Independent animal collecting mission for British zoos , ''The Bafut Beagles'' , — , Galago, hairy frog, African golden cat, flying mouse , - , 1950 , British Guiana (now Guyana) , Independent animal collecting mission for British zoos , ''Three Singles to Adventure'' , — , Giant otter, poison arrow frogs, Surinam toad, capybara, Brazilian porcupine, curassow , - , 1953 / 1954 , Argentina and Paraguay , Partially sponsored animal collecting mission , ''The Drunken Forest'' , — , Burrowing owl, hornero, anacond ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gerald Durrell
Gerald Malcolm Durrell Order of the British Empire, OBE (7 January 1925 – 30 January 1995) was a British naturalist, writer, zookeeper, conservation movement, conservationist, and television presenter. He was born in Jamshedpur in British India, and moved to England when his father died in 1928. In 1935 the family moved to Corfu, and stayed there for four years, before the outbreak of World War II forced them to return to the UK. In 1946 he received an inheritance from his father's will that he used to fund animal-collecting trips to the British Cameroons and British Guiana. He married Jacquie Durrell, Jacquie Rasen in 1951; they had very little money, and she persuaded him to write an account of his first trip to the Cameroons. The result, titled ''The Overloaded Ark'', sold well, and he began writing accounts of his other trips. An expedition to Argentina and Paraguay followed in 1953, and three years later he published ''My Family and Other Animals'', which became a bestse ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Brazilian Porcupine
The Brazilian porcupine (''Coendou prehensilis'') is a porcupine found in Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay, Colombia, Venezuela, Guyana, French Guiana, Peru, Paraguay, Suriname, Bolivia and Trinidad, with a single record from Ecuador. It inhabits tropical forests at elevations up to 1500 m. Description The body is covered with short, thick spines that are whitish or yellowish in color, mixed with the darker hair, while the underside is grayish. The lips and nose are fleshy. The tail is prehensile, with the tip curling upward so as to get a better grip on tree branches. This porcupine can grow to forty inches long (1 m), but half of that is tail. It weighs about . No spines are found on the tail, which is long (). Its feet are reflective of their arboreal lifestyle, well-adapted for gripping branches, with four long-clawed toes on each. Behavior This shy, nocturnal Nocturnality is a ethology, behavior in some non-human animals characterized by being active during the night and ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Grey-necked Rockfowl
The grey-necked rockfowl (''Picathartes oreas'') is a medium-sized bird in the family Picathartidae with a long neck and tail. Also known as the grey-necked picathartes, this passerine is mainly found in rocky areas of close-canopied rainforest from south-west Nigeria through Cameroon, Equatorial Guinea, and south-west Gabon. It additionally lives on the island of Bioko. Its distribution is patchy, with populations often isolated from each other. The rockfowl typically chooses to live near streams and inselbergs in its forested habitat. It has no recognized subspecies, though some believe that it forms a superspecies with the white-necked rockfowl. The grey-necked rockfowl has grey upperparts, a light grey breast, and lemon-coloured underparts. Its unusually long tail is used for balance, and its thighs are muscular. The head is nearly featherless, with the exposed skin being powder blue on the forehead and upper mandible and carmine on the hindcrown. The bird's cheeks and eyes are ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Galago
Galagos , also known as bush babies or ''nagapies'' (meaning "night monkeys" in Afrikaans), are small nocturnal primates native to continental, sub-Sahara Africa, and make up the family Galagidae (also sometimes called Galagonidae). They are considered a sister group of the Lorisidae. According to some accounts, the name "bush baby" comes from either the animal's cries or its appearance. The Ghanaian name ''aposor'' is given to them because of their firm grip on branches. In both variety and abundance, the bush babies are the most successful strepsirrhine primates in Africa, according to the African Wildlife Foundation. Taxonomic classification and phylogeny Galagos are currently grouped into six genera. '' Euoticus'' is a basal sister taxon to all the other galagids. The 'dwarf' galagids recently grouped under the genus '' Galagoides'' have been found, based on genetic data, and supported by analysis of vocalisations and morphology, to actually consist of two clad ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Patas
The common patas monkey (''Erythrocebus patas''), also known as the hussar monkey, is a ground-dwelling monkey distributed over semi-arid areas of West Africa, and into East Africa. Taxonomy There is some confusion surrounding if there are valid subspecies, with some listing four, others three, and others listing two: the western ''Erythrocebus patas patas'' (with a black nose) and the eastern ''E. patas pyrrhonotus'' (with a white nose). However, it was later discovered that the nose colour used to separate these subspecies could change to white during pregnancy in females, as well as in general as animals aged, and ''E. patas pyrrhonotus'' in Kenya often did not have white noses, thus ''Mammal Species of the World'' has classified ''E. patas'' as a monotypic species. The genus status of the species has previously been in flux. Colin Groves first argued the species was closely related to '' Cercopithecus aethiops'' in 1989, based on anatomical morphology. Phylogenetic evide ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
A Zoo In My Luggage
''A Zoo in My Luggage'' by British naturalist Gerald Durrell is the story of Durrell's 1957 animal collecting trip to British Cameroon, the northwestern corner of present-day Cameroon. First published in 1960, it is one of a half-dozen books about animal collecting trips that Durrell wrote. The book tells the story of when Durrell went to the Cameroons and spent six months collecting various animals, referred to as "beef" in Pidgin English. He took part in various expeditions, including catching a python in a narrow cave, encountering a hippopotamus while traveling on the Cross River, and so on. It is his third book describing trips to the region, following ''The Overloaded Ark ''The Overloaded Ark'', first published in 1953, is the debut book by British naturalist Gerald Durrell. It is the chronicle of a six-month collecting trip, from December 1947 to August 1948, to the West African colony of British Cameroonnow Camer ...'' and '' The Bafut Beagles''. Illustrations by Ra ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Giant Anteater
The giant anteater (''Myrmecophaga tridactyla'') is an Insectivore, insectivorous mammal native to Central America, Central and South America. It is the largest of the four living species of anteaters, which are classified with sloths in the order (biology), order Pilosa. The only extant member of the genus ''Myrmecophaga'', the giant anteater is mostly terrestrial, in contrast to other living anteaters and sloths, which are arboreal or semiarboreal. The species is in length, with weights of for males and for females. It is recognizable by its elongated snout, bushy tail, long foreclaws, and distinctively colored fur. The giant anteater is found in multiple habitats, including grassland and rainforest. It forages in open areas and rests in more forested habitats. It feeds primarily on ants and termites, using its foreclaws to dig them up and its long, sticky tongue to collect them. Though giant anteaters live in overlapping home ranges, they are mostly solitary except during ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Rhea (bird)
The rhea ( ), also known as the ñandu ( ) or South American ostrich, is a South American ratite (flightless bird without a keel on the sternum bone) of the order Rheiformes. They are distantly related to the two African ostriches and Australia's emu (the largest, second-largest and third-largest living ratites, respectively), with rheas placing just behind the emu in height and overall size. Most taxonomic authorities recognize two extant species: the greater or American rhea (''Rhea americana''), and the lesser or Darwin's rhea (''Rhea pennata''). The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) classifies the puna rhea as another species instead of a subspecies of the lesser rhea. The IUCN currently rates the greater and puna rheas as near-threatened in their native ranges, while Darwin's rhea is of least concern, having recovered from past threats to its survival. In addition, the feral population of the greater rhea in Germany appears to be growing. However, co ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Anaconda
Anacondas or water boas are a group of large boas of the genus ''Eunectes''. They are a semiaquatic group of snakes found in tropical South America. Three to five extant and one extinct species are currently recognized, including one of the largest snakes in the world, ''E. murinus'', the green anaconda. Description Although the name applies to a group of snakes, it is often used to refer only to one species, in particular, the common or green anaconda (''Eunectes murinus''), which is the largest snake in the world by weight, and the second longest after the reticulated python. Origin The recent fossil record of ''Eunectes'' is relatively sparse compared to other vertebrates and other genera of snakes. The fossil record of this group is effected by an artifact called the Pull of the Recent. Fossils of recent ancestors are not known, so the living species 'pull' the historical range of the genus to the present. Etymology The name ''Eunectes'' is derived from . The So ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hornero
The hornero birds are members of the genus ''Furnarius'' in the family Furnariidae, native to South America. The English common name appears in many books as "ovenbird".Sclater, Philip Lutley: Argentine ornithology. A descriptive catalogue of the birds of the Argentine Republic 1888 https://archive.org/details/argentineornitho01sclarich/argentineornitho01sclarich/Gerald Durrell: The whispering land: 1962 : https://archive.org/details/whisperingland0000unse/ Horneros are brown birds with rather short tails and fairly long bills. They are known for building mud nests that resemble old wood-fired ovens (the Spanish word "hornero" comes from ''horno'', meaning "oven"). These nests have a unique chambered construction. While many Furnariids have different nests, the hornero nest is the reason for the common name applied to the entire family; ''ovenbirds'' (they are unrelated to the parulid warbler called the ovenbird in the United States). The size and exact shape of the horner ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Burrowing Owl
The burrowing owl (''Athene cunicularia''), also called the shoco, is a small, long-legged, primarily terrestrial—though not flightless—species of owl native to the open landscapes of North and South America. They are typically found in grasslands, rangelands, agricultural areas, deserts, or any other open, dry area with low vegetation. They nest and roost in burrows, and, despite their common name, do not often construct these dwellings themselves, rather repurposing disused burrows or tunnels previously excavated and inhabited by other species, such as American badgers (''Taxidea taxus''), foxes (''Vulpes'' sp.), ground squirrels or prairie dogs (''Cynomys'' spp.), among others. Unlike most owls, burrowing owls are often active during the day, although they tend to avoid the heat of midday. But, similar to many other species of owls, they are mostly crepuscular hunters, as they can utilize their night vision and attuned hearing to maximum potential during sunrise and ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Drunken Forest
First published in 1956, ''The Drunken Forest'' is an account of a six-month trip Gerald Durrell made with his wife Jacquie to South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a considerably smaller portion in the Northern Hemisphere. It can also be described as the southern Subregion#Americas, subregion o ... (Argentina and Paraguay) in 1954. The work was published in Latvian in 1980 by the Liesma publishing house together with Durrell's other book "The Land of Mysterious Noises". References Books by Gerald Durrell 1956 non-fiction books Books about Argentina Books about Paraguay 1954 in Argentina 1954 in Paraguay Rupert Hart-Davis books {{Travel-book-stub ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
