History of my life and work

■ Born in Indonesia in 1930, as a small child I already exhibited an interest in animals, perhaps stimulated by my first conscious observation. When I was 3 or 4 years old our gardener unearthed a nest of young black snakes, then told me to leave. So at my 6th birthday my parents presented me with Huey’s book De dierenwereld in een notedop 1935. This book became my bible and determined my future. Between the ages of 8 to 12 years, I kept many animals in a large box in our garden among which my preference was the harmless brown Indonesian rat snake that my mother allowed me to roam our house under the express condition that I took care of its well-being.