Encyclopedia, Difference between revisions of "Dian Fossey" - New World

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In Africa, her first meeting with [[Louis Leakey]] was memorable. He was in the midst of important work on a [[giraffe]] fossil at the [[Olduvai Gorge]] [[archaelogy|archaelogical]] site, too busy to entertain a tourist. Somehow he was convinced to take Dian's fourteen shillings to show her around. She managed to fall into the pit, sprain her ankle, damage the fossil, and vomit on it. From this inauspicious beginning she later became Leakey's second researcher to pioneer [[primate]] studies in their natural environment. Two weeks later, on her bad foot, she was scrambling up a 10,000 foot [[volcano]] for the first contact with the mountain [[gorilla]].  
 
In Africa, her first meeting with [[Louis Leakey]] was memorable. He was in the midst of important work on a [[giraffe]] fossil at the [[Olduvai Gorge]] [[archaelogy|archaelogical]] site, too busy to entertain a tourist. Somehow he was convinced to take Dian's fourteen shillings to show her around. She managed to fall into the pit, sprain her ankle, damage the fossil, and vomit on it. From this inauspicious beginning she later became Leakey's second researcher to pioneer [[primate]] studies in their natural environment. Two weeks later, on her bad foot, she was scrambling up a 10,000 foot [[volcano]] for the first contact with the mountain [[gorilla]].  
  
After her trip, she returned to Kentucky, and wrote several articles for the ''Louisville Courier-Journal'' about her experiences with the gorillas of the Virunga.  When Leakey visitede Louisville in 1966 while on a speaking tour, he arranged for her to return to Africa and she interned with [[Jane Goodall]] in Gombe, [[Tanzania]]. In 1967, she started her research on mountain gorillas on the [[Congo]] side of the Virunga Mountains. However, she was captured by soldiers. After her escape, she then established the Karisoke Research Center in a remote rainforest camp nestled in the [[Rwanda]] side of the mountains. She obtained no permit, nor told any official of her camp and research on the gorillas. However, due to problems with poaching, her work was discovered.  
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After her trip, she returned to Kentucky, and wrote several articles for the ''Louisville Courier-Journal'' about her experiences with the gorillas of the Virunga.  When Leakey visitede Louisville in 1966 while on a speaking tour, he arranged for her to return to Africa and she interned with [[Jane Goodall]] in Gombe, [[Tanzania]]. In 1967, she started her research on mountain gorillas on the [[Congo]] side of the Virunga Mountains. However, she was captured by soldiers. After her escape, she then established the Karisoke Research Center in a remote rainforest camp nestled in the [[Rwanda]] side of the mountains. She obtained no permit, nor told any official of her camp and research on the gorillas. However,due to brutal  poaching, and her response, this became a problem.
  
 
When her photograph, shot by Bob Campbell, appeared on the cover of [[National Geographic magazine]] in January 1970, Dian Fossey became an international celebrity on saving mountain gorillas from probable extinction. There were only 480 of this species in the wild at that time.
 
When her photograph, shot by Bob Campbell, appeared on the cover of [[National Geographic magazine]] in January 1970, Dian Fossey became an international celebrity on saving mountain gorillas from probable extinction. There were only 480 of this species in the wild at that time.
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== Tragedy ==
 
== Tragedy ==
Fossey returned to Africa in ill health, to her gorillas facing extinction. She was found brutally murdered in the bedroom of her cabin on December 26, 1985, presumably by native poachers. Her killer was not found.
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Fossey returned to Africa in ill health in 1982, to her gorillas facing extinction. She was found brutally murdered in the bedroom of her cabin on December 26, 1985, presumably by native poachers. Her killer was not found.
  
 
Just four years later a survey showed that the mountain gorilla population once again was on the increase.
 
Just four years later a survey showed that the mountain gorilla population once again was on the increase.

Revision as of 15:56, 3 June 2006



Dian Fossey (January 16, 1932 – December 26, 1985) was an American ethologist who studied gorillas. She completed an extended study of several gorilla groups, observing them daily for years in the mountain forests of Rwanda. Initially encouraged to work there by famous paleontologist Louis Leakey, her work is somewhat similar to Jane Goodall's work with chimpanzees.

Early years

Dian Fossey was born in Fairfax, California on January 16, 1932. Her parents separated when she was young because of her father's drinking and problems with the law. Her mother remarried and forbade Dian contact with him although he tried to be in touch with her many times. Her stepfather, Richard Price, held a strict, disciplinary approach to child rearing. Dian was not allowed to eat at the table with her mother and stepfather until she was ten years old and as he thought, able to respect the manners necessary at the table. She grew up in San Francisco, California, attending Lowell High School. Although Dian was interested in animals from an early age this was put on hold during her childhood with her stepfather, who forbade her to keep pets.

At 19, her love affair with animals could blossom when she worked as a ranch hand in Montana. She originally studied veterinary medicine at the University of California at Davis, but had difficulty with the physical sciences such as chemistry and physics. She transferred to San Jose State University (at that time known as San Jose State College) and earned her bachelor's degree in occupational therapy in 1954.

She accepted a job as the Director of Occupational Therapy at Kosair Children's Hospital in Louisville, Kentucky, and loved working with the poor country children as she lived in a run down cottage on a farm. In Louisville she met Franz Forester, a somewhat wealthy Rhodesian with whom she developed a close relationship which continued sporadically throughout her life. He offered her a trip to Africa.

Although she didn't accept his invitation, she was fascinated with the thought of a place where animals could roam free, and began saving money to visit there herself. She read numerous books and articles to prepare for her trip, including he Year of the Gorilla by zoologist, George Schaller. This was the beginning of her interest in the rare mountain gorillas. In Louisville she also became closely involved with Father Raymond, an Irish priest who led her convert to Roman Catholicism.

Career

In 1963, she finally had saved and borrowed sufficient funds to make her trip to Africa. Dian was in many ways an unlikely candidate to do research in the wilds of Africa. She was a life-long sufferer from allergies, and she packed all the allergy medications possible to help her while there.

In Africa, her first meeting with Louis Leakey was memorable. He was in the midst of important work on a giraffe fossil at the Olduvai Gorge archaelogical site, too busy to entertain a tourist. Somehow he was convinced to take Dian's fourteen shillings to show her around. She managed to fall into the pit, sprain her ankle, damage the fossil, and vomit on it. From this inauspicious beginning she later became Leakey's second researcher to pioneer primate studies in their natural environment. Two weeks later, on her bad foot, she was scrambling up a 10,000 foot volcano for the first contact with the mountain gorilla.

After her trip, she returned to Kentucky, and wrote several articles for the Louisville Courier-Journal about her experiences with the gorillas of the Virunga. When Leakey visitede Louisville in 1966 while on a speaking tour, he arranged for her to return to Africa and she interned with Jane Goodall in Gombe, Tanzania. In 1967, she started her research on mountain gorillas on the Congo side of the Virunga Mountains. However, she was captured by soldiers. After her escape, she then established the Karisoke Research Center in a remote rainforest camp nestled in the Rwanda side of the mountains. She obtained no permit, nor told any official of her camp and research on the gorillas. However,due to brutal poaching, and her response, this became a problem.

When her photograph, shot by Bob Campbell, appeared on the cover of National Geographic magazine in January 1970, Dian Fossey became an international celebrity on saving mountain gorillas from probable extinction. There were only 480 of this species in the wild at that time.

Her supporters convinced her to take time away and she attended the University of Cambridge, where she received a Ph.D. in zoology in 1974.

She had many detailed observations about gorilla life, and she drew sustenance from that. One gorilla she named Digit put his arm around her at a time she had been depressed. When in 1978 he was brutally murdered, she armed herself and her staff with weapons, and instructed them to use them. She killed cattle that wandered onto her research site. She spread stories among the natives that she was a witch woman who would curse them and rumors began that she tortured them as well. She had declared a war. Many outside Africa began to wonder if she was insane.

Her supporters once again convinced her to accept a three year job teaching and writing at Cornell University in 1979 and there she wrote the book Gorillas in the Mist for which she would be most remembered.

Tragedy

Fossey returned to Africa in ill health in 1982, to her gorillas facing extinction. She was found brutally murdered in the bedroom of her cabin on December 26, 1985, presumably by native poachers. Her killer was not found.

Just four years later a survey showed that the mountain gorilla population once again was on the increase.

Dian Fossey is interred at a site in Rwanda that she herself had constructed for her dead gorilla friends. Her gravestone reads "No one loved gorillas more."

Legacy

Although she wrote over thirty scientific papers, Gorillas in the Mist remains her primary legacy. It is both a description of her scientific research and an insightful memoir of how Dian came to study gorillas in Africa. Portions of her life story were later adapted as a film Gorillas in the Mist: The Story of Dian Fossey starring Sigourney Weaver as Fossey. Her brutal death combined with the emotional impact and pervasive influence of popular film forever sealed these images in the collective consciousness of the twentieth century.

The written work covers her scientific career in much greater detail, and omits some material on her personal life, such as her affair with photographer Bob Campbell (which formed a major subplot of the movie). Farley Mowat's Woman in the Mists was the first booklength biography of Dian Fossey, and serves as a useful counterweight to the dramatizations of the movie and the focus on gorillas in her own work.

She is the first known person to be voluntarily contacted by the mountain gorilla, when Peanuts touched her hand and was recorded in photographs by Bob Campbell. She was a virtual Fay Wray with a type of "King Kong." Once again, she stunningly captured the imagination of the public.

She credibly defended the case for animal consciousness in a time when this was completely discounted. Her rigorous study and notes combined with keen analytical skill changed the way we look at animals forever.

Dr Fossey developed techniques with just the right mix of aversion and aggression unique to the mountain gorilla that enabled her to be accepted as an observer by the mountain gorillas. It took her a long time to develop the proper gorilla etiquette and she crawled up to them originally on her hands and kness. She would come too close, and they would respond in fear or anger. She discerned and recorded the social hierarchy and how it was proper to behave with each role. Fossey discovered and publicized their peaceful nature and their nurturing family relationships.

Dr. Fossey observed and utilized a wide range of vocalizations of the gorilla, and the reasearch continues through the DFGFI and their website has a link with such vocalizations.

The Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund International (DFGFI)has funding from the United States congress and manages the Karisoke Research Center's programs, including training and maintaining tracking and anti-poaching patrols, monitoring and protecting the mountain gorillas residing Rwanda's Parc National des Volcans, and providing public information about the wild mountain gorilla.

Although a lucrative tourist program to view the gorillas has been started, it is notable that it was shut down for a period in 1999 because of killings of the tourists.

A book published in 2005 by National Geographic in the United States and Palazzo Editions in the United Kingdom as No One Loved Gorillas More, written by Camilla de la Bedoyere, features Dian's story told through the letters she wrote to her family and friends. The book is published to commemorate the twentieth anniversary of her death, and includes many previously unpublished photographs by Bob Campbell.

Set to premiere in the spring of 2006, the Kentucky Opera Visions Program, in Louisville, has written an opera about Dian Fossey.

References
ISBN links support NWE through referral fees

  • Fossey, D. Gorillas in the Mist. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1983. ISBN 0-618-08360-x
  • Mowat, F. Woman in the Mists. New York: Warner Books, c1987. ISBN 0-446-38770-7
  • Schaller, George. The Year of the Gorilla.

External links

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