The remarkable English zoologist and writer's brother, the famous English modernist writer Lawrence Durrell wrote about Gerald in chronological order as follows,

1931. The child is mad, snails in his pockets! 1935. The child is mad, scorpions in matchboxes! 1945. The boy is mad, wanting to be a zoo keeper! 1958. The man is mad, wanting to have a zoo!

“The madman” Darrell did start his own zoo on the island of Jersey in the English Channel. There, he gathered endangered animals listed in the International Red Book. In total, there were about 100 such animals in the zoo. Thus, it is impossible to agree with the last judgment of the modernist brother, dated 1972: “The man is mad!” Gerald Durrell, born on January 7, 1925, was wise and prudent.