Dr. Dian Fossey, one of the world’s leading female scientists, had a remarkable career, highlighted by many challenges and successes. Although her life was cut short when she was killed in 1985, her legacy has continued and grown in multiple ways. Most importantly, the work she devoted her life to – protecting and studying the mountain gorillas of Africa – has proved highly effective and has resulted in the stabilization and growth of this most endangered of the great apes, and in many other related conservation efforts, as well as programs for people who live in areas near the gorillas.
* Dian Fossey was born in San Francisco, California in 1932. Her strong interest in animals led her to enter college as a pre-veterinary student. Soon, however, she switched to occupational therapy and obtained her degree from San Jose State College.
* Fossey made her first trip to Africa in 1963, where she met Dr. Louis Leakey at the famous archeological site of Olduvai Gorge.
* Fossey returned to Africa in December 1966, to begin a long-term study of the mountain gorillas, under the auspices of Dr. Leakey. She initially set up camp in the Democratic Republic of Congo (then Zaire) but due to political upheaval moved to Rwanda in 1967.
* Fossey established her “Karisoke” Research Center camp on Sept. 24, 1967, in an area between Mt. Visoke and Mt. Karisimbi, merging the names of the two volcanoes to create the name “Karisoke.”
* Fossey’s objectives were to study gorilla ecology, demography and social organization. She found that in order to achieve this, she needed to recognize individual gorillas, which required that the gorillas get used to (habituated to) her presence. By imitating gorilla behaviors and vocalizations, Fossey began to gain their trust, and in 1970 an adult male gorilla she had named “Peanuts” reached out to touch her hand.
* Intense observations over thousands of hours enabled Fossey to gain the gorillas’ trust and bring forth new knowledge about their behavior. Stories and photographs of her work were published in National Geographic magazine and elsewhere.
* To bolster her scientific credentials, Fossey enrolled in the department of animal behavior at Darwin College, Cambridge and earned her Ph.D. in 1974.
* In 1977, one of Fossey’s favorite gorillas, Digit, was killed by poachers and she established the Digit Fund to help raise money for gorilla protection efforts. (The Digit Fund was later renamed the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund International.)
* In 1980, Dr. Fossey accepted a position at Cornell University as a visiting professor and to work on the manuscript for her book “Gorillas in the Mist.”
* On Dec. 26, 1985, Fossey was murdered while back at her cabin in Karisoke.
* In 1988, the life and work of Fossey were portrayed in a movie based on her book. Sigourney Weaver starred as Fossey and later became the honorary chairperson of what is now the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund International.
Read more details about the history of Dian Fossey’s life.
