Dian Fossey (American Primatologist)
Dian Fossey (American Primatologist)
Dian Fossey (American primatologist) was born in 1932, on January 16th. She was an American zoologist, Primatologist and anthropologist who studied mountain gorillas for over 18 years.
In the world. She was called the most primatologist; she was born in San Francisco, California, to Kathryn and George.
Her parents divorced when she was 6 years old and her mother remarried a businessman, Richard Price, who mistreated her to the extent that he couldn’t allow her to sit at the same table with her mother during meals.
Dian Fossey, with no emotional support from her stepfather, struggled with insecurity, which made her turn to animals as a way to be accepted.
She joined her love with the first pet goldfish; this continued throughout her life. She kept on studying the mountain gorillas in the Volcanoes National Park in Rwanda; she was encouraged to work there as an anthropologist by Louis Leakey.
Her book titled ‘Gorillas in the Mist’ includes all the studies about the gorillas at the Karisoke Research Center.
The story in the book was adapted in the movie titled ‘Gorillas in the Mist.’
Because of her stepfather’s guidance, Dian Fossey studied at Lowell High School, and later on she enrolled in a business course at the College of Marin.
She spent her summer in Montana on a ranch at the age of 19years, where she once again renewed her love for animals and enrolled in a pre-veterinary course at California.
Although she wanted to fulfill her stepfather’s wish at the business school, Dian still wanted to accomplish her professional life working with animals.
She supported her adult life and started working as a clerk at white front doing clerking and laboratory work in a factory.
Fossey was interested in animals; her occupation turned out to be a therapist.
One year after hearing stories and seeing the pictures from a friend who had visited Africa.
Dian decided she would as well visit Africa by herself, which she did in 1963; she collected some savings from her full-year salary and also took out a 3-year loan.
She started her journey, including some stopovers in Kenya,Tanzania,Congo and Zimbabwe. Little did she know the trip would change her whole journey of life.
In Tanzania at Olduvai Gorge, Dian met archaeologists named Louis Leakey, who told her they needed research on the chimpanzees.
On her way to Congo, she visited the Bombe Stream research center to meet with Goodall, who observed her research on the chimps and later helped her obtain a work permit in Virunga National Park.
After her trip, Dian Fossey made up her mind to return to Africa to do a study about the gorillas.
In 1967, on September 24th, Dian founded the Karisoke research center, an area in the rainforest camp nestled in Ruhengeri between the volcanoes.
The name of the research center was combined with the first letters of Mount Karisimbi which overlooked her camp from the south and the last letters of Mount Bisoke, whose slopes rose to the north behind the camp; the letters were ‘Kari’ and ‘soke.’ She was named by the locals Nyiramacibiri, the name which means ‘The woman who lives alone on the mountain.’
She decided to care for the mountain gorillas before they disappeared. She could tell everyone about mountain gorillas in the Virungas.
It took a long time for Dain to study the Karisoke gorillas since they knew people as poachers. Not only that, but the researchers who visited the area were not able to handle the cold, muddy and dark conditions around the Karisoke; the paths had to be cut to make way through the tall grass.
Dian fought for the gorillas in Rwanda by reporting the poachers; lots of gorillas were killed, including Digit, Dian’s favorite Gorilla and Macho the female and Kwili.
Although Fossey always knew her life was in danger to the extent that she could sleep with a pistol near her bed, surprisingly she was killed by her enemies, being murdered in her cabin. She died as a warrior who fought for these endangered species.
Her murder occurred in 1985; she died before she learned that she had paved the way for the mountain gorillas to live again. Her research laid the foundation to conserve the mountain gorillas and the ecotourism industry.
