Marlin Perkins

                    Remembering Marlin Perkins 

      born March 28, 1905 and passed away June 14, 1986.

Richard Marlin Perkins was an American zoologist who is best remembered as the host of the tv program Mutual of Omaha's Wild Kingdom from 1963 to 1985.

He was born in Carthage, Missouri and when he was seven years old, his mother nursed him through a serious bout of pneumonia and died of the illness herself. His grieving father sent Marlin's two older brothers to private school, and Marlin was sent to his Aunt Laura's farm in Pittsburg, Kansas. He attended public school there through eighth grade. In the fall of 1919, he entered Wentworth Military Academy. There, Marlin demonstrated his fascination with snakes by keeping North American racers in his room. 

Marlin briefly attended the University of Missouri, but quit school to become a laborer at the Saint Louis Zoological Park. He rose through the ranks, becoming the reptile curator in 1928. After being hired as a curator of the Buffalo Zoological Park in Buffalo, New York, he was eventually promoted to director in 1938. He then served as director at the Lincoln Park Zoo in Chicago, Illinois, starting in 1944. 

In 1962, he returned to the St. Louis Zoo, this time as director. During his time at the Lincoln Park Zoo, Marlin joined Sir Edmund Hillary as the zoologist for Hillary's 1960 Himalayan expedition to search for the legendary Yeti.

Marlin was the host of Zoo Parade, a tv program that originated from the Lincoln Park Zoo on NBC station WNBQ-TV (now WMAQ-TV) when he was the director there. During a rehearsal of Zoo Parade, he was bitten by a timber rattlesnake, one of several bites from venomous snakes he suffered throughout his career (over the years he was also bitten by a cottonmouth and a Gaboon viper). Although the incident occurred during a pre-show rehearsal and was not filmed, it has become something of an urban legend, with many people "remembering" seeing him receive the bite on television (an example of what is known as a "false memory").

As a result of his work on Zoo Parade, Marlin was offered the job in 1963 as host of the nature show Wild Kingdom. The fame he gained in his tv career allowed him to become an advocate for the protection of endangered species, and through Wild Kingdom he gave many their first exposure to the conservation movement. He also helped establish the Wild Canid Survival and Research Center (WCSRC) near St. Louis in 1971. This wolf sanctuary has been instrumental in breeding wolves for eventual re-placement into their natural habitats.

Marlin retired from active zookeeping in 1970 and from Wild Kingdom in 1985 after being diagnosed with cancer. He remained with the Saint Louis Zoo as Director Emeritus until his death from the disease in 1986.