Animal Books

Posts Tagged ‘Dian Fossey’

Read Dian Fossey’s self-told Story About Studying The Gorillas

The first thing i should mention about Gorillas in the Mist is that the author, Dian Fossey, is the absolute most important woman to ever be involved with the Gorillas.  There are other noteable women working with the Gorilla, mainly Dr. Penny Patterson, who taught Koko and Michael the Gorillas GSL (Gorilla Sign Language), but we must celebrate the life of Dian Fossey.

Dian Fossey was murdered in 1985 while sleeping in the a shack in the woods in Africa, probably murdered by poachers.  Fossey was speaking out against the poaching and killing of Gorillas in the wild and it is obvious that the poachers needed to finish her off to keep their trade alive.

About Gorillas in the Mist

Dian Fossey’s Gorillas in the Mist is self-told story about Dian’s 13 years studying the Gorillas in a war-torn and troubled region of Africa.  Not much was known about the Gorillas at the time she set off in 1963 from Kentucky, USA.  Gorillas are now known as gentle giants, they are by far the largest of the great apes and are probably the kindest in some areas.  Because of their size and incredibly scary displays (when a great ape is threatened or wanting to show off they will pound their chest, show their teeth and run at you) and large teeth, the first non-African people to find them surely must have been scared.  This lead to a number of misunderstood movies portraying the Gorillas as feriousious monsters, like the famous movie King Kong.

What Dian Fossey discovered was that Gorillas live in small groups with one or two males, known as blackbacks and silverbacks, who watched over them and protected them.  She also discovered the Gorillas desire for contact, which mainly came in the form of grooming, which made them very social and gentle.

In the opening chapter i found a very funny tale told by Fossey right after meeting the famed Leakey:

Dr. Leakey gave me permission to walk around some newly excavated sites at Olduvai, one of which contained a recently discovered giraffe fossil. As i ran down a steep slope, my exultation at being free under Africa skies was abruptly shattered, along with my right ankle, when i fell into a dig containing the new find. As the ankle cracked, the sudden pain induced me to vomit unceremoniously all over the treasured fossil. As if this wasn’t humiliating enough, I had to be ignominiously hauled out of the gorge, piggyback style, by disgusted members of the Leakeys’ staff.

Becoming a member of Leakey’s Angels

Dian Fossey was a member of Leakeys' Angels. Click the image for a larger version of the poster designed by myself.

Dian Fossey explains, in the beginning of the book, how she had to leave America and find out more about the wild Gorillas of Africa.  In September of 1963 she finally made it there and me Mary Leakey and Louis Leakey.  This meeting of Louis Leakey would change Fossey’s life forever, much like it did for Jane Goodall, the great Chimpanzee woman and also Birute Galdikas, the great Orangutan woman.

Breaking her ankle slowed her adventures down for a few weeks, but she continued on her journey using a crutch and ventured off into the wild.

As you can see in the poster to the left, Fossey was a member of Leakey’s Angels.  Fossey was the only one from America, while Jane Goodall was from England and Birute Galdikas is from Germany.  Goodall and Galdikas still are involved in great ape conservation groups, so if you are a fan of either there is a chance you can meet both!

For a little more information on each incrediable women, please visit my flickr page on Leakey’s Angels to view a poster i made dedicated to the group.

The Darkside of the Study of Great Apes

Dian Fossey discovered amazing things about the Gorillas which probably lead to her death in 1985.  The more people found out about the Gorillas, the more humans would be likely to save the species.  In Dian’s time and even right now, the Gorillas habitat is in Rwanda where there is so much war and instability that humans are finding that surviving is almost impossible.

People have become so desperate for food and money, which is understandable in a way, that they resort to poaching and killing Great Apes and Monkeys for the bushmeat trade, and also to sell the babies on the black market.  Usually they will hunt down a mother and it’s baby and shoot the mother.  The babies are so small and so dependant on the mother, much like human babies, that they will not leave the side of the mother, making them easy targets.  Many Gorillas you see in zoos have witnessed their mother being murdered and having humans pull them away from their dead mother.

Infact, there is a really amazing moment in Koko the Gorilla’s movie where Michael, her Gorilla friend, describes the loss of her mother! This video really made it clear to me how intelligent the great apes really are.