Do you have a favourite inspirational publication?

devilfish

devilfish

Well-Known Member
I've been finding more and more that a lot of people can name a single document or documentary which really ignited their obsession.

An interest in animals is natural, and places and pets help nurture it, but was there a single item which pushed you significantly?

I'm expecting things like Attenborough documentaries and popular influential publications to come up, but I look forward to hearing about the more unusual too.

For me, perhaps the biggest publication was the July 1993 of National Geographic Magazine with its article on 'New Zoos'. I came across it not long after it was published and would sit with it for hours. Although I already had a fascination with zoos, this article really got me excited.
 
For many of us who grew up in the 1970s in the United States I think a seminal television show was "Mutual of Omaha's Wild Kingdom" with Marlin Perkins that ignited interest and excitement in wildlife and their habitats. I've met several people who were greatly influenced by that show, including me.

National Geographic articles by Jane Goodall and Diane Fossey about their work were also hugely influential.

My specific interest in zoos as conservation tools was stoked by two articles, an article about the then-new Minnesota Zoo in Smithsonian magazine in 1981 and an article about immersive zoo design in 1987 in the Atlantic Monthly: http://www.melissafaygreene.com/pdfs/Zoo_design.pdf
 
Like David, I grew up watching Wild Kingdom, and anything else on television with wild animals - like Daktari and Tarzan (which used lots of stock footage), Gentle Ben, Skippy and Flipper. And movies like Hatari, Doctor Dolittle and Beautiful People. There wasn't much about zoos, but There's a Zebra in the Kitchen was a favourite.

My interest was just in watching the animals, and zoos was a great place to see them. But there was no focus to my interest, I just knew I wanted to be a zookeeper.

And then a school teacher introduced me to the books of Gerald Durrell and my world changed. I learnt more about animals and zoos from reading his books than any television show or movie.

If I had to name just one publication (as the title of this thread asks), it would have to be "The Stationary Ark". It explained the reason for zoos (good zoos, anyway) and gave them a justification.

Later on Attenborough started making the epic TV series, and while Durrell's books talked about zoos and individual animals (and people and wild places), Attenborough's shows brought the species and the wild places into my living room.

:p

Hix
 
My cousin, now sadly gone to cancer, he gave me some frog spawn when I was about 6 then moving to a more rural area with toads in the a garden, and a family of my headmaster who kept an iguana in the front room as Well as fire mouth ciclids and a host of other creatures.
The first magazines included Look and Learn and an early publication called Animal Life that built up each week into what was to me then vast volumes. Later World of Wildlife did the same, sadly neither of which I now have, even later came Gerry Durrells My Family and Other Animals, which i still take on holidays to the Med. though it's now falling apart.
TV was survival and the World about us, I loved both, but the latter always ended with a segment on humanity, which I never watched, I could see them at school or on the bus. then came the Attenborough classics Life on Earth, living planet etc. Now I will watch sky and anything that isn't dumbed down, or strung out , sadly a lot of things are so anthropomorphic these days naming the animals, half tail the leopard springs to mind, so I don't watch those as much if i do it's usually on mute for the images.

Also zoo visiting, Newcastle's winter zoo, Stanley Zoo (county Durham) and Blackpool Tower Zoo and Aquarium, all rightly long gone as they were very to dreadfully poor but all I had, and no one really new much better in the 1960's. at the time as an under 10 year old I thought they were fantastic. The one that was a cut above of course was Edinburgh Zoo due to it's size, and diversity. Also Robinson's pet shop in Newcastle where I bought goldfish and looked at the leopard they had for sale(dreadful now I know but to a child it was magic. Jesmond Dene in Newcastle also had a nice pets corner with all sorts of little animals mainly domesticated pets but animals at least and in good numbers, not one of each as friends had.
Looking back I think i thought to be a zoo you didn't need large mega fauna, just lots of the same species, maybe I still do, I hadn't ever thought of that before, thanks Devilfish, you have made me think with this post, and recall happy childhood memories.
 
I blame my parents for taking me to Burgers Zoo when I was 1,5 years old, since the first visit, I have been sold and my interest in zoos was born.

The book most usefull was Eigeners encyclopedia of the animal kingdom, I got it from my neighbor when I was about 4 and I almost know every page by heart :p
 
I've had an interest in nature since I was a kid, but when I read the thread subject my first thought was the documentary about the sumatran rhino's at Cincinnati Zoo around 2000. It showed the multiple miscarriages Emi had and ended with "she's pregnant again now, Cincinnati is hoping for a succesfull delivery this time".

I've been closely following the Sumatran rhino's in captivity ever since, captivating creatures.
 
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