Fascinated by the elephant

The description of childhood and the main stages of life of Vadim Evgenevich Garutt, as well as the fate of his parents, is given. The stages of making up of his personality as a specialist on modern and ancient animals, including elephants, are shown. His fate is closely intertwined with the history of Russia of the 20th century. It was influenced by revolutionary events in Russia and the Great Patriotic War, evacuation and difficult post-war years, suffered contusion and serious illnesses. Beginning from the school age, when he visited a study group of Young Zoologists and worked up at the Leningrad Zoo, the life confronted him with interesting people and situations that allowed Garutt to become an expert in morphology and evolution of mammoths and other Quaternary proboscideans. Such personalities as B.V. Pestinsky, A.P. Bystrov, Yu.A. Orlov, L.V. Oshanin, M.M. Gerasimov, B.E. Bykhovsky and other scientists played an important role in his fate. In addition to studying the teeth and bone remains of ancient elephants, he carried out an active museum work, mounting and restoration of fossil elephants and rhinoceroses’ skeletons. The results of his research are published in a number of important monographs and articles that are important for the systematic of the Eurasian proboscides and biostratigraphy of the Pleistocene.