The DESMAN program first introduces a wide variety of conservation topics, and then provides the individualized opportunity to dive deeper into those that best suit each student’s knowledge gap, during personal skills development periods that are specifically set aside for these learning opportunities. I am scheduled to spend my skills development period in the Jersey Zoo’s herpetology department (who could have guessed?) where I am excited to unleash the thousands of questions that have been brewing since the group tour of the department.

Learning about the zoo’s captive breeding program for Mauritian lizards has been one of the most fascinating and inspiring parts of my time here so far. After a devastating oil spill off the southwest coast of Mauritius in 2020, dozens of imperilled, endemic lizards – including Bojer’s Skinks, Lesser Night Geckos and Bouton’s Skinks – were rescued from the affected islets and brought to the Jersey Zoo for safekeeping (and hopefully proliferation), while their native habitat undergoes a long and laborious restoration process. I can’t wait for my personal herpetology visit so I can learn more about this amazing endeavor and see if there is any way I can get involved, either here in Jersey or when I travel to Mauritius on the next leg of my journey. 

My brain’s capacity to absorb new information has been pushed to new limits every week, with new content constantly fighting for storage space. However, one of the first lectures from week one has continued to occupy estate without a struggle, about the history and evolution of the Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust. From caring for his wacky collection of animals in his sister’s garden, to formally opening the Jersey Zoo in 1959, Gerald Durrell was unique in his vision to keep wild animals not for entertainment purposes, but to provide them with a safe haven from anthropogenic pressures, and ultimately to reinforce their wild populations with the reintroductions of their young. 

Distinguishing itself from other zoos at the time, the Jersey Zoo championed smaller and less charismatic animals – “little brown jobs” as Gerald Durrell affectionately called them, purposely seeking animals for his zoo that were vital to their ecosystems even if they weren’t flashy and beautiful. As someone with a penchant for the weirdest and most misunderstood creatures, who aspires to one day become a professional helper of the littlest and brownest of jobs, this sweet nickname touched a tender part of my heart. And, in a way, aren’t all conservationists little brown jobs? Like slithering snakes and crawling insects, we may not be the most charismatic bunch, but at the end of the day, our work benefits all those around us, whether or not it is understood by its beneficiaries.