Dian fossey

Jan 16, 1932 - Dec 26, 1985

Biography

Dian Fossey is a famous primatologist whose studies focused on gorillas. Fossey was born in San Francisco, California and from a very early age showed an interest in animals and loved being around them. She longed to visit Africa for many years, and finally, in 1963 she took out a bank loan and made her dream a reality. During her trip she visited Kenya, Tanzania, Congo, and Zimbabwe. While in Tanzania she met Dr. Louis Leakey, famous paleoanthropologist and archaeologist, who introduced her to Jane Goodall’s work and his own studies about apes. Fossey later came to be known as one of “The Trimates” or Leakey’s Angels, after Leakey hired her in 1966 to study gorillas in a long-term field project in Africa.

Work in Africa

Fossey started off her studies of the gorillas in Kabara, where she “learned to accept the animals on their own terms and never to push them beyond the varying levels of tolerance they were willing to give. She said of her attempts to gain the animals' trust, "I tried to elicit their confidence and curiosity by acting like a gorilla. I imitated their feeding and grooming, and later, when I was surer what they meant, I copied their vocalizations, including some startling deep belching noises…these methods are not always dignified. One feels a fool thumping one’s chest rhythmically, or sitting about pretending to munch on a stalk of wild celery as though it were the most delectable morsel in the world." Any observer is an intruder in the domain of a wild animal and must remember that the rights of that animal supersede human interests”(Gorillas in the Mist). In 1967, Fossey established Karisoke, a research camp in Rwanda. While working at Karisoke, Bob Campbell from National Geographic photographed Fossey working with the gorillas, and according to The Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund International, “his photographs of Fossey among the mountain gorillas launched her into instant celebrity, forever changing the image of the gorillas from dangerous beasts to gentle beings and drawing attention to their plight.''

Conservation Efforts

Dian was also an active conservationist and protected the gorillas from poachers and cattle herders. Some of the methods she utilized were wearing masks to scare poachers, burning snares, spray-painting cattle to discourage herders from bringing them into the park, and sometimes even directly confronting poachers ("Dian Fossey Biography"). In 1967 she met Digit, a gorilla that she grew very close; however in 1977, Digit was savagely murdered by poachers. Digit’s death was heartbreaking for Dian and in his honor she set up the Digit Foundation, which “helped finance vital ranger patrols through the gorilla habitat, keeping gorillas safe from hunters”(The Gorilla Organization). In 1958, while Dian was in Rwanda, she was murdered in her cabin. The main suspects of her murder were poachers, because of hoe actively she worked against them.

Written Works

Two of Fossey’s most substantial written works include her book “Gorillas in the Mist”(1983) and a National Geographics article “Making Friends With Mountain Gorillas”(1970). Her book became a best-seller and was turned into a movie in 1988. In the book, she talks about her years with the gorillas, as well the importance and need for conservation.

LEARN MORE

The Lost Film of Dian Fossey- https://youtu.be/imsWLeV1Eps

National Geographic Article- https://www.nationalgeographic.com/magazine/1970/01/mountain-gorillas-study-dian-fossey-virunga/

Book- (1983) Gorillas in the Mist. Boston. Dian Fossey. Mass: Houghton Mifflin. ISBN 9780395282175

Sources

“Dian Fossey Biography .” The Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund International, gorillafund.org/who-we-are/dian-fossey/dian-fossey-bio/ https://awionline.org/awi-quarterly/2001-fall/murder-mist-solved.

“Dian Fossey.” Biography.com, A& E Networks Television, 29 July 2019, www.biography.com/scientist/dian-fossey.

“Dian Fossey.” Famous Scientists, www.famousscientists.org/dian-fossey-2/.

“Dian Fossey.” The Gorilla Organization, www.gorillas.org/about-gorilla/dian-

“Rwanda.” Dian Fossey, https://gorillafund.org/what-we-do/where-we-work/rwanda/#our-gorilla-conservation-work-in-rwanda

“The Renegade Scientist Who Taught Us to Love Gorillas.” National Geographic, 5 Sept. 2017, www.nationalgeographic.com.au/people/the-renegade-scientist-who-taught-us-to-love-gorillas.aspx.

“The Trimates.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 8 July 2019, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Trimates

“Women in Conservation - Dian Fossey.” Classic Escapes, 15 Mar. 2019, www.classicescapes.com/women-in-conservation-dian-fossey/.