Lee McGeorge Durrell

Lee McGeorge Durrell (nee Wilson) (b. September 7 1949) is a naturalist, author, zookeeper and television presenter, best known for her work at the Jersey Zoological Park in the British Channel Island of Jersey with her late husband Gerald Durrell, and for co-authoring books with him.

Brief biography

Lee was born in Memphis, Tennessee, and showed an interest in wildlife as a child. She studied philosophy at Bryn Mawr College in Philadelphia before enrolling in 1971 for a graduate programme at Duke University, to study animal behaviour. She conducted research for her Ph.D. on the calls of mammals and birds in Madagascar.She met Gerald Durrell when he gave a lecture at Duke University in 1977, and married him in 1979. In December 2005, Lee Durrell handed over a large collection of dead animals (which had originally been collected and bred by her husband Gerald Durrell) to the National Museums of Scotland to aid genetic research of the critically rare species.

Lee Durrell moved to Jersey and became involved with the Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust (then the "Jersey Wildlife Preservation Trust"). She accompanied Durrell on his last three conservation missions:
*Mauritius, other Mascarene Islands and Madagascar (1982) (account in Gerald Durrell's "Ark on the Move")
*Russia (1986) (account in Durrell in Russia, co-authored with Gerald Durrell)
*Madagascar (1990) (account in Gerald Durrell's "The Aye-Aye and I")

She became the Honorary Director of the Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust after the death of Gerald Durrell in 1995. She was instrumental in getting the "Jersey Wildlife Preservation Trust" renamed after Gerald Durrell, on the occasion of the 40th anniversary of the Jersey Zoo. She is also a member of various expert groups on conservation, and is fondly called "Mother Tortoise" in certain areas of Madagascar due to her work with the Ploughshare Tortoise.

Bibliography

She is the author of three books:
*A Practical Guide for the Amateur Naturalist (with Gerald Durrell) (Hamish Hamilton (UK) / Alfred A. Knopf (USA), 1982)
*Durrell in Russia (with Gerald Durrell) (MacDonald (UK) / Simon and Schuster (USA), 1986)
*State of the Ark: An atlas of conservation in action (Bodley Head, 1986) ISBN 0 370 30754 2
**Foreword by Gerald Durrell
** Dedicated "To GMD for his contribution to conservation, which is greater than most, because he shares his delight in the natural world so well"

She is also the editor of:
*The Best of Gerald Durrell ( HarperCollins, 1996)

The companion book of a TV series documents the series where she was co-presenter:

*Ourselves and Other Animals : From the TV Series with Gerald and Lee Durrell , Peter Evans (1987)

Honours

"Nactus serpeninsula durrelli" : Durrell's Night Gecko : The Round Island race of the Serpent Island Night Gecko is a distinct race and was named after both Gerald and Lee Durrell for their contribution to saving the gecko and Round Island fauna in general. Mauritius released a stamp depicting the race

Filmography

*The Amateur Naturalist, TV series, CBC(Canada) / Channel 4(UK) (1982)
*Ourselves & Other Animals, TV series, Primetime Television (1987)
*Durrell in Russia, TV series, Channel 4(UK) (1986)

Newspaper references

Articles

* [http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4156/is_20051204/ai_n15902472 The Sunday Herald] report on the donation to the Scottish Museums

Interviews

* [http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4158/is_19970420/ai_n14112463 The Independent]
* [http://web.archive.org/web/20010905024038/http://allafrica.com/stories/199709040023.html allafrica.com] interview - presently offline, Sep 5, 2001 archive from the Wayback Machine