Throughout history there have been scientists who have stood out for their work in different fields of science. Today we are going to talk about the North American zoologist who dedicated her entire life to the study and protection of gorillas. Is about Dian Fossey. This woman forever changed the whole view of gorillas as she conducted numerous water studies throughout her life investigating these primates.
In this article we are going to tell you the biography and the exploits of Dian Fossey.
Who was Dian Fossey?
Born in San Francisco on January 16, 1932, this woman dedicated her entire life to studying gorillas. She was killed in her cabin using a machete of hers that was hanging on one of the walls of her home. His brutal death was and remains a mystery. Despite this death, this scientist is remembered for the advances and contributions of her studies and the extreme defense of these great apes.
This woman says how she felt the "call" of the jungle after graduating in Occupational Therapy from San Jose State University in California. This call began to be felt when he read the work of George Schaller, a leading American zoologist dedicated to the study of gorillas. Since it became part of his passion, he saved everything he could and traveled to the African continent. Already there he met the famous paleontologist Louis Leakey. Thanks to this man he was able to learn a great deal of information about human evolution. However the objective of his studies was the exhaustive analysis of the great apes.
After his visit to the African continent, he returned to the United States. He spent 8 months learning with the support of National Geographic. First he was in the Congo and the Virunga Mountains there were a large number of colonies of better known gorillas around the world. Some months later he had to move to Rwanda due to numerous political instabilities. This is where he spent most of his time studying these primates.
Dangerous work
Dian Fossey took a lot of risks with this calling. And he had almost everything against him. The first thing is that gorillas were animals that were not used to contact with humans. On the other hand, the existence of poachers makes his job much more complicated. These hunters did not accept his labors with the apes and had problems with them during the first years.
Another big problem Dian Fossey had to deal with was with the loneliness with which he had to carry out all his studies. He did not have any type of support and had to arm himself with patience to carry out investigations in which there was some type of noticeable progress. All this patience contributed to completely changing the perception of gorillas in society. Not only these apes were studied, but also everything related to their natural habitat.
In society at that time there was a misconception of these apes because of movies like King Kong. It is at that time that gorillas were believed to be dangerous and violent beings. Despite all these difficulties, Dian Fossey did not give up and founded a research center. This center attracted the attention of numerous zoology students and researchers. Beyond these advances, he managed to gain the trust of gorillas through various methods of trial and error. Thanks to these trial and error methods, he was able to verify which aspects were fundamental to be able to understand the behavior of these apes.
Despite the fact that gorillas were highly maligned animals around the world, this researcher observed these animals directly for more than 2.000 hours. After all this time of investigation, he affirms that only 5 minutes of direct observation can be considered as an aggressive behavior animal.
Illegal ape hunting
Dian Fossey was so devoted to studying and protecting gorillas that she went so far as to make villagers and tourists believe that she was a witch. So that she and the apes would not be disturbed in her studies, she bought some masks to guide unwanted visitors. In addition, he fought with all his might against the poachers and set traps to capture and interrogate them. She alone stood up to the Rwandan government, which she accused of being corrupt.
Because of his anger at this group of corrupt people, an all-out hunt was unleashed. One day Digit, one of the gorillas he had been studying and with whom he had made a real connection, was found dead. Thanks to his studies, it was possible to corroborate that there may be a connection between human and ape to such an extent that the animal allows it to play and interact with its young. This gorilla was ambushed by poachers.
Later, Dian Fossey created the Digit Foundation to raise funds to help conserve gorillas. She also creates a research center to be able to protect these animals and spread the idea that she was a witch to scare away all unwanted people.
The dark side of Dian Fossey
This zoologist was hacked to death in her cabin in Rwanda. Even to this day, all the circumstances that led to his death are not known. It is known that thanks to his tenacity he was able to save the gorillas from the poachers. This fact also made him win many enmities. The dark side of this woman begins with some of her exploits to protect these animals.
His defense was so extreme that he even flogged the poachers arriving to burn down their houses and kidnap their children. He also asked international organizations and researchers who came to visit her to forget about science and take up arms, dedicating themselves to patrolling and searching for poachers. He also shot and killed some cows that were invading the Volcanoes National Park. This is because this area was the natural habitat of gorillas and they broke the territory of the animals that had become their only priority.
It has also been known that his biography presents an active conservation that included numerous vigilante patrols and persecution of poachers.
I hope that with this information you can learn more about Dian Fossey.