Zoo Quest to Guiana

by David Attenborough

David Attenborough's zoo quest to British Guiana to find animals and record them on film in their native habitat.

Genres: Nonfiction, Travel, Animals, Natural History, Science, Nature

210 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1956

About the author

Sir David Frederick Attenborough is a naturalist and broadcaster, who is most well-known for writing and presenting the nine "Life" series, produced in conjunction with BBC's Natural History Unit. The series includes Life on Earth (1979), The Living Planet (1984), The Trials of Life (1990), Life in the Freezer (about Antarctica; 1993), The Private Life of Plants (1995), The Life of Birds (1998), The Life of Mammals (2002), Life in the Undergrowth (2005) and Life in Cold Blood (2008).

He is the younger brother of director and actor Richard Attenborough.

Photo credit: Wildscreen's photograph of David Attenborough at ARKive's launch in Bristol, England © May 2003

Reviews

[Daren · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is Attenborough's second book in his Zoo Quest series, the first took place in Sierra Leone, this one in British Guiana (now Guyana), with others in Madagascar, Paraguay, Australia and one to Indonesia for the Komodo Dragon. This book was published in 1956.

The premise is that the London Zoo are looking for a team to collect animals, and the BBC are interested in making a tv series about it. Attenborough, while still in the infancy of his career was a part of the team, although due to one of the members taking ill, he ended up presenting the series, and this of course kicked off a lifetime of nature documentary presentations.

Not unexpectedly, one of the highlights of any Attenborough book, is reading it in his voice. This of course slows the reading down a lot, but it really is unavoidable!

Some aspects of the book, as expected, are dated - the wholesale capture of animals for a zoo in modern time would be tackled with far more discretion - if at all. At its most simple, they visited a lot of villages and asked the Indians to sell them the animals they had taken as pets, and asked if they could capture specific (target) species nearby. They also hunted and live captured and of course filmed a lot of the animals in natural (or near-natural) settings for the documentary series. It is obvious that they were pioneering this type of filming, and at least with some trial and error under their belts from Sierra Leone, they knew what to expect. Have to say I felt the capture of the manatee was uncomfortable reading, especially considering its transportation back to the UK. Still, it was a different time and the ethics around this have all developed since.

The writing is accessible, and easy to read. There is a good balance of the expedition - behind the scenes, the way they lived and worked, the hunt, the capture, but also a lot of information about the animals - as we would expect with the future direction of Attenborough's career.

I have a couple more of the Zoo Quest books in my shelf to look forward too as well.

4 stars

[Gill · Rating 4 out of 5]

I must have read this book about David Attenborough's second animal-collecting expedition in Guiana. The London Zoo and BBC helped the expedition and the book was to have been co-authored by Mr. Lester who first took Attenborough on an collecting expedition to the Tropics. Unfortunately he contracted a disease whilst they were collecting and subsequently died.
It strikes me that conservation and the dissemination of knowledge and enthusiasm for wildlife preservation would have been very different had Attenborough been the one to die then. The man has a deserved reputation in wildlife filming and the shaping of attitudes towards those with whom we share our planet.
The expedition itself shows the chaotic, amateurish roots of what has now developed into a smoothly oiled machine for filming wildlife. Even the collecting of animals seems fairly random and chancy. There is a nice vignette of them deciding they have to release some rare humming bird species they have been brought as they do not have the right equipment to keep them fed and healthy to hand. Wildlife collection and filming seems to be better planned and regulated now, but perhaps that is a false impression. I grieve at the catching and transportation of a single manatee, but those were different days and without the collecting of these species unknown to Europeans, perhaps the momentum to develop wildlife filming and conservation might not have proceeded as it has.

[Sportyrod · Rating 4 out of 5]

Young David Attenborough embarks on one of his earliest expeditions, a trip to Guyana, to film and collect exotic animals for London Zoo.

Attenborough and his team cover a range of terrain including rain forest, marshes and rivers. They meet/interact with local ranchers and indigenous folk who know all the best spots for finding animals such as vampire bats, sloths, manatees, piranhas and caimans to name a few.

There are lots of funny anecdotes and a warm feeling about the trip.

The only aspect I didn’t like was the capture of the poor animals. Whilst many of them were tame, I still feel sorry for them being transported such a long way in such small numbers, especially the poor manatee. I understand they were different times and the benefits of zoos but still.

I would recommend this to anyone who likes animals.

[DJ_Keyser · Rating 4 out of 5]

I’ve always been an avid fan of Sir David Attenborough’s natural world documentaries, but I wish I’d started reading his books much sooner. Zoo Quest to Guyana induces the same sense of awe and wonder as Willard Price’s Adventure series, but it’s a true account, as opposed to Price’s fiction, of one of Attenborough’s early expeditions to the Amazonian region of South America. It also helps that Attenborough’s prose suggests him to be a more accomplished writer, albeit his work is not solely targeted to as young an audience as Price. Fantastic stuff, and I look forward to reading more of his written work, as well as revisiting the multitude of televised documentary series he’s put out over the years.

[Thomas Land · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the record of some of the first expeditions of the legendary natural history film maker and naturalist. The younger generations today see Sir David Attenborough as the face of conservation and of nature documentaries as we know them today, yet his life has been filled with adventure and travel, to an extent that makes me feel, as a young zoologist and documentary film maker, to blush with envy.

There are of course the slight ethical and conservation issues of running around a jungle in Guiana attempting to catch most of the forest for ZSL London Zoo, however it is also important to remember the time in which this was written (i.e. before the Amazon was deforested and plastic pollution had yet to be introduced to our oceans) and to keep the book in context.

That aside, Sir David tells a story of the wonders of out planet, in all its diversity by experiencing first hand what it has to offer. From his enchanting descriptions and story telling it has given me itchy feet, to step into the forests once more to see what I can find (with camera traps with me though). He is undoubtedly the man who got me, as well as so many others, into natural history as well as wildlife film making. Getting a chance to see where it all began has been an absolute pleasure. Onward with the next one I think...

[Les Hopper · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great dive back into zoology and broadcasting, 1950s style.

To say the least, this book represents a very different time and a very different way of doing things. Attenborough, at this point just turning 30, travels to a British colony to capture animals for London Zoo in order to show them on live TV. A far cry from the documentaries of today when the cameras aim to do all the capturing and humans try to minimise their impact on the nature they aim to show to the viewing public.

More balanced between the nature and the adventure of the journey than the series he is now more famous for, and with some language that is very of its time and slightly unpalatable to a reader 65 years later, it is still a great insight into how far our attitudes to the natural world have changed in that time.

It's clear from the writing that Attenborough delights not only in the natural world but in the now lost human world he explores. He describes the people he meets, their customs, and their beliefs with as much interest as the habits of the animals he observes and collects.

I'm looking forward to the rest of the series.

[Andrew Ives · Rating 5 out of 5]

(Part of the modern reprinted book of the Zoo Quest series). Reading about how Sir Dave and his friends collected animals from Guyana for London Zoo in the 1950s, and especially how casually they brought them back to London on the plane with a coatimundi and a box of spiders in the passenger cabin has a quaint air of adventure about it, slightly tempered by a more modern-day feeling of wishing the animals would just be left alone in their natural habitats. I was heartened to hear that all the animals seem to have made it back to London Zoo safely and lived in moderate happiness in their new home. The exploring side of this book, travelling up and down the rivers to various Amerindian villages, how the people lived there, the cave paintings, the characters they encountered, the dialects, was all wonderfully well-written as Attenborough's books always are, yet these Zoo Quest books have a charming quaintness that is absent from the 'Life' series. I loved it, and can't wait to read the sequels about Komodo and Paraguay. 5/5

[Simon Mcleish · Rating 3.5 out of 5]

The second zoological expedition from the Zoo Quest series from the 1950s, after some TV studio work. Contains some old fashioned ideas, particularly about zoos - but that is certainly not Attenborough's fault. It's an interesting read, both from the cultures involved, and on how the role of zoos has changed over the years. I had read a couple of these quite a long time ago (and have them on my bookshelves somewhere) - and I suspect that I would have similar thoughts about them today, if I re-read them.

[SpaceBear · Rating 4 out of 5]

David Attenborough's book summarizing the trip of the BCC tv series "Zoo Quest" and its 1955 visit to Guyana. The book is mainly a summary of the trials and tribulations of filming, and the search for animals to take back to the London Zoo. Although quite dated (both in how it describes locals, and its overall theme of capturing animals to take to the UK), its also written with Attenborough's trademark intellectual curiosity and passion for the natural world.

[Sean Harding · Rating 4 out of 5]

Part Travelogue, part natural history, part cultural history, current at the time of writing, it feels like a history document now. Some great photos and simple and direct written text, but at the same time it was fascinating, and there was an elegance about it.

[Fiona Evans · Rating 5 out of 5]

As a lover of Gerald Durrell books, I thought this might be a bit more serious stuff. Not so! Beautiful humour running throughout, particularly laughing out loud when the missionaries are mentioned, renaming the locals.

And a beautiful book to hold, my edition 1958. Great photos.

[John Hubbard · Rating 4 out of 5]

His love and caring nature apparent before he became a seadoned expert and famous. Has nice British self-deprecating humor as well.

[Sophie Rooney · Rating 5 out of 5]

Just brilliant.

[Ivan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Incredible. Portrays such different worlds that have changed so much since. Both in Guyana and in the BBC!

[Michael David · Rating 4 out of 5]

David Attenborough's been a fixture of wildlife studies for the past sixty years. Although he has had to be more sedentary because of his increasing age, he has maintained a passion and an appreciation for the animal kingdom that has remained undiminished.

In this book, he narrates his adventures while in Guiana, both with animals and with people. There are humorous occurrences interspersed with tragedies such as snakebites and chigger infestations. He's made me read about animals I didn't really care much about, and he remains to be the cynosure of optimism and hardwork I aspire to. This book is just one of his colorful adventures.

[Amanda · Rating 4 out of 5]

As an animal lover this book made me cry. Reading about wild animals being trapped, penned, and shipped away from their homes in the South American jungle to live a life of captivity in a noisy urban jungle being gawked at by hordes of curious Londoners and being teased by little children saddened me.
Still, I feel this book deserves 4 stars. When I picked it up I feared that it was going to be a dry, scientific account of animals found in Guyana, filled with long Latin names and lists of species and sub-species. Instead, it was an entertaining, educational, and sometimes humorous true adventure story about a British TV crew filming a documentary about an animal collecting exhibition for the London Zoo.
Attenborough and his companions go to great lengths and take their share of risks to collect footage and animals. They also travel to some very remote areas of the country rarely seen by foreigners. They provide a good glimpse of South American culture in the 1950s and the trials of transportation, communication and old-fashioned film equipment. The edition I read also included photos, giving the reader a visual of the unusual animals they describe.
Attenborough's writing style is nothing exceptional, but the book was easy to read and never boring. I recommend it to any who love adventure in places off the beaten track.

[Carol · Rating 4 out of 5]

A book from another world, written back in 1956 in the early days of BBC wildlife programmes when collecting animals for London Zoo was still the norm. A book that follows their expedition round Guinana at a time when travelling to some of these areas was still difficult to film wildlife in their natural settings, with cameras that had film that in the heat and humidity was prone to growing its own ecosystem!!

Even so David Attenborough shows where his current thinking stems from and produces a book with the beginnings of conservation thinking already showing through.

From the passed but still a well written travel log.

[David · Rating 4 out of 5]

Zoo Quest to Guiana, 1956, is a vivid first hand account by David Attenborough of an expedition to Guyana, then British Guiana. There was also a BBC television series of the same name, which was the prototype for modern nature documentaries. Guyana in the 1950's is an eclectic, tropical place with wild frontier areas and rich biodiversity. The book is entertaining and well written, and highly recommended for fans of nature documentaries or travel/adventure memoirs.