Emergence of a zoo

. Answer these questions in 30-40 words.
1. Why was the author’s career as an animal collector short-lived?
The author could not indulge in slave traffic as others did. His cages were spacious and his
animals well-cared for. As a result, all his money finished quickly and his career as an animal
collector came to an end.
2. ‘However, the experience proved invaluable’. Which experience is the author talking about?
Why was it invaluable?
During his short career as an animal collector the author had a wide schooling in keeping
animals in the tropics, their illness and their peculiar behavior. He learned that it was not easy
to maintain a zoo.
3. What brought about a change in the author’s fortunes?
At the insistence of his elder brother, the penniless author started writing books. His first book
was a great hit and so were his subsequent books. Thus, the author’s fortune changed for the
better.
4. Describe some of the creatures that were a part of the author’s zoo.
The author’s zoo had over a thousand animals. Out of these, ninety percent were threatened
by extinction. Besides the glittering array of reptiles and snakes, there were tortoises, gorillas,
a large variety of birds, monkeys, the babirusa, cheetahs and many more.

5. What was the reason behind the author’s wish to have his own zoo?
Since his childhood, the author was fascinated by the creatures which he filled in matchboxes.
At the young age of six, he informed his mother that he intended to have a zoo of his own
and he would give her a cottage in its grounds. As an adult, the author wished to provide
sanctuary to creatures threatened by extinction due to man’s activity.
6. How does the mother respond to the author’s decision of owning a zoo? How does he
fulfill his promise?
When the author tells his mother that he intended to have a zoo of his own and that he
would give her a cottage in its grounds, the mother replies that it would be lovely and
promptly forgot all about it. Later, when he grew up the author took her to live in his zoo, not
in a cottage but in a manor house.
II. Answer the following questions in 100-150 words.
1. In brief, describe the bizarre happening that the author’s mother was subjected to?
When at the zoo house, the author’s mother got strange visitors. She had just settled down
for a cup of tea, when there was a knock on the door. On opening the door she found two
half-grown chimpanzees, Chumley and Lulu, on the front stairs. The author’s mother was not
the one to lose her control. She let them in and treated them to chocolates and biscuits.
While they were busy feasting, she rang up and reported of the whereabouts of the truants.
2. Who was Pythogorus? Describe the author’s adventure with Pythogorus.
Pythagoras was a thick, twelve-foot long python. The cage in which it was kept was badly
designed which made it difficult to clean it without getting the python out. It was a three-man
job to clean the cage, two would restrain the python and the third would clean the cage. John
Hartley, a young lad, tried to clean out Pythagoras’ cage all by himself. Pythagoras threw his

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coils around John and bound him in a tight grip. The author heard his shouts for help and
rushed to his assistance. While the author was trying to free John, Pythagoras threw his coils
around him too. Soon they were inextricably linked as Siamese twins. They were worried that
the staff would leave and they would be standing there all night, bound in the coils of
Pythagoras and that was a scary thought. So they both yelled and screamed till someone
heard them and rescued them.
3. How did the author prepare to set up the Jersey Zoological Park? Describe the setting of
the place.
The author brought back a variety of animals from West Africa and stashed them away in in
his sister’s back garden in Bournemouth. They would become the founding members of the
zoo. For several months before the animals arrived, Les Augres Manor was a scene of frenzied
activity. Carpenters and masons rushed about laying cement and making cages out from
everything they could get their hands on. They transformed the things people discarded as
being of no further use into animal havens and shelters and cages ungainly and ugly yet
serviceable, sprouted everywhere.
4. What do the author’s friends ask him? What is his reply?
When the author’s friends see all the animals, some they knew about, some they had never
known existed, and they ask how and why the author set up the zoo. The author answers that
they have over a thousand animals in the collection and ninety per cent of what were shown
to them are creatures threatened by extinction and that they come from all over the world.
They are threatened primarily by man’s activity, and their plight shows what we are doing to
the planet. The author’s aim is to provide sanctuary for these creatures, and this is the reason
he wanted a zoo.