Trivia

His obituary mentioned that he was "one of only a handful of people to survive the bite of a West African Gaboon viper."

From 1938 to 1944 he was director of the New York Zoological Gardens in Buffalo.

During rehearsal for an episode of "Zoo Parade," he was bitten on the finger by a timber rattlesnake. He was rushed to the hospital and another zoologist hosted that episode. It took him three weeks to recover enough to return to work.

Returned to the Saint Louis Zoo as its second full-time director in 1962, taking over for George P. Vierheller, who launched Perkins's career by putting him in charge of the reptile exhibit two weeks after giving him his first job -- sweeping the Zoo's sidewalks.

Inducted into the Hall of Famous Missourians in 2004.

Served as director of Chicago's Lincoln Park Zoo from 1944 to 1962.

Biography in: "The Scribner Encyclopedia of American Lives". Volume Two, 1986-1990, pages 692-694. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1999.

Daughter, Suzanne, from his first marriage.

A line in Club Paradis (1986) pays homage to his fortitude: "Face it, Jack - you got rooms here that Marlin Perkins would be afraid to enter".