January 16 – Happy Birthday, Dian Fossey

nPostednon January 16, 2015

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nShenlived with the apes!
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nDiannFossey, who was born on this date in 1932, was such an importantnprimatologist, she was considered one of the Trimates.

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nOkay,nlet’s define some of those terms. n

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nAnprimatologist is someone who studies primates: lemurs and theirncousins, monkeys, and apes like chimpanzees, gorillas, orangutans,nand humans. In the case of Fossey, she studied gorillas in thenAfrican country of Rwanda.

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ThenTrimates are a group of three important and famous researchers onnprimates: Dian Fossey studying gorillas, Jane Goodall studyingnchimpanzees, and Birute Galdikas studying orangutans. Thenanthropologist Louis Leakey encouraged these women to study the greatnapes in their natural environments.

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nDiannFossey was born and raised in California, and she followed hernstep-father’s advice to enroll in a business course at a college nearnher home in San Francisco. However, she loved-loved-loved animals, sonshe ended up switching to a pre-veterinary course so that she couldnwork with animals. Her step-father didn’t agree with her choice andnchose not to support the choice financially. So Fossey worked hard atna variety of jobs while at university, and she ended up flunking outnof the program! She had to change majors and colleges again, and shenearned a bachelor’s degree in occupational therapy in 1954. Sheninterned and worked at occupational therapy at a variety of hospitalsnin California and Kentucky—and in 1963 she plunked down her life’snsavings and a year’s salary worth of borrowed money in order to visitnAfrica for seven weeks.

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Fosseyntraveled in Kenya, Tanzania, the Democratic Republic of Congo, andnRhodesia. She met Louis and Mary Leakey at Olduvai Gorge in Tanzania,nwhere the Leakeys were looking for early ancestors of humans. LouisnLeakey told her about the work of Jane Goodall and explained thenimportance of long-term research on great apes. A bit later, Fosseynwas nursing a broken ankle near a photographer couple, and she wasnprivileged to see some wild mountain gorillas. What a thrill!

WhennFossey returned home to the U.S., she published three articles in thenlocal newspaper about her visit to Africa. Later, when Leakey was onna lecture tour in the United States, Fossey attended the lecture,nreintroduced herself to the anthropologist, and showed him thosenarticles. n

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nItnwasn’t long before Leakey invited Fossey to study gorillas; henstarted arranging for funding while she took classes in Swahili andnprimatology.

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Howndo you do a long-term study of wild mountain gorillas? You have to gonwhere they live, you have to live in a primitive camp, and you havento be very patient. One more thing, Fossey soon realized, is that younhave to copy the gorillas to become accepted by them. She copiedntheir gestures, their grunting sounds, and even their diet of thenlocal celery plant. Eventually the gorillas allowed her a closernvantage point with which to study them.

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nFosseynhad started her studies in the Congo, but there was political unrestnand violent battles. In 1967 soldiers arrived at Fossey’s camp tonescort her and her research workers down the mountain. She ended upnrelocating to Rwanda, where she lived the next 18 years of hernlife—until she was murdered, probably by someone who was upset bynher conservation and anti-poaching efforts.

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