My childhood in Corfu shaped my life. If I had the craft of Merlin, I would give every child the gift of my childhood.
Gerald DurrellRead
You cannot begin to preserve any species of animal unless you preserve the habitat in which it dwells. Disturb or destroy that habitat and you will exterminate the species as surely as if you had shot it. So conservation means that we have to preserve forest and grassland, river and lake, even the sea itself. This is vital not only for the preservation of animal life generally, but for the future existence of man himself - a point that seems to escape many people.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Conserving habitats is essential for protecting animal species and, ultimately, humanity's future.
This quote emphasizes the critical link between the preservation of animal species and their natural habitats. Gerald Durrell argues that without safeguarding the environments where animals live, those species will face extinction, which, in turn, threatens human existence due to our interdependence on these ecosystems. The quote highlights the often-overlooked importance of conservation efforts for both wildlife and humanity.
Themes
ConservationHabitatSpeciesEnvironmentPreservationHumanity
In practice
Example use cases
This quote can be used in a speech at a conservation conference to emphasize the urgency of protecting natural habitats.
More from Gerald Durrell
All quotes →Until we consider animal life to be worthy of the consideration and reverence we bestow upon old books and pictures and historic monuments, there will always be the animal refugee living a precarious life on the edge of extermination, dependent for existence on the charity of a few human beings.
Gerald DurrellRead
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