The Touch of Durell is packed full of gorgeous photos of gorillas, leopards and lemurs and is a celebration of a lifetime spent in conservation. For more than 30 years Jeremy Mallinson was Gerald Durrell’s right-hand man at the Jersey Wildlife Preservation Trust. Widely regarded as a trailblazer in the world of conservation, he has devoted his life to the care and collection of endangered species.

Becoming Director of the Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust after the death of Gerald Durrell, it is Mallinson’s marvellous ability to relate to animals – and convey his enthusiasm for them to the rest of us with infectious vigour – that have made him such a powerful champion for wildlife around the world.

During the mid-1950s, Jeremy Mallinson saw service in the regular army of the Federation of Rhodesia & Nyasaland (RNSC). On his return to his home in Jersey, and after having read Gerald Durrell’s classic My Family and Other Animals, he joined the staff of Durrell’s newly established Jersey Zoological Park in May 1959. During his 42 year career in zoos and conservation he studied animals in Africa, Asia and South America. He served as Gerald Durrell’s Deputy, and then Zoological Director of the Jersey Wildlife Preservation Trust. After his mentor’s death in 1995, he was appointed Director of the renamed Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust.