404 EURAMERICA needs, expectations, and goals, shifting the focus away from his personal perspective to the visual images. In his books, he remains completely in control, portraying occasions, people and animals as he wishes them to be perceived, augmenting the experiences with his poetic vision. Durrell does not leave it to his directors to expose what goes on behind the scenes but tells it himself with such ludic exaggeration that there is little left for others to uncover. Without the written backstories, no one would know how many shots were staged or what antics were involved in making them visually arresting, such as describing himself wobbling precariously atop a ladder as he tosses up flying lizards to get a few filmed seconds of their flight. His comic commentary provides not only an antidote to the illusion of realism in nature films, but also shows the extraordinary effort that goes into making them. His last book, The Aye-Aye and I, includes both filming and catching animals for the Jersey Zoo, but the animals are no longer caught by Durrell himself. His poor physical condition prevents him from going into the forests, and he instead becomes a full-time caregiver remaining in camp wherever they are stationed. No longer able to provide the personal hunting thrill of a young man’s discovery, he instead fusses over the animals brought in by others. When they catch a mother aye-aye (a rare lemur) but not her baby, he is so worried he cannot sleep, and his second wife Lee tells him to stop, “carrying on like a mother.” When the team manages to find the baby, G. Durrell (1992: 143) gushes, “the baby was so aristocratic and so incredibly beautiful that I stupidly burst into tears of relief.” Thus, at the end of his life, his capture narrative is exclusively that of the mothering zookeeper. Writing about that last trip abroad, Durrell (1992: 163) allows himself a moment of satisfaction when alone in camp on Mauritius, he sees a rare pink pigeon wearing a ring identifying it as having been raised at the Jersey Zoo: “it was heart-warming to see a Jerseybred bird perching on a tree in its island home: this is what zoos—
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