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Quick Facts
- NAME: Dian Fossey
- OCCUPATION: Anthropologist, Zoologist
- BIRTH DATE: January 16, 1932
- DEATH DATE: December 26, 1985
- EDUCATION: Cambridge University
- PLACE OF BIRTH: San Francisco, California
- PLACE OF DEATH: Volcanoes National park, Rwanda
Best Known For
Zoologist Dian Fossey was one of the foremost primate researchers in the world who for 18 years studied of a group of gorillas in Rwanda.
Dian Fossey. (2012). Biography.com. Retrieved 06:36, May 21, 2012 from http://www.biography.com/people/dian-fossey-9299545
Dian Fossey [Internet]. 2012. http://www.biography.com/people/dian-fossey-9299545, May 21
" Dian Fossey." 2012. Biography.com 21 May 2012, 06:36 http://www.biography.com/people/dian-fossey-9299545
' Dian Fossey', Biography.com,(2012) http://www.biography.com/people/dian-fossey-9299545 [accessed May 21, 2012]
" Dian Fossey," Biography.com, http://www.biography.com/people/dian-fossey-9299545 (accessed May 21, 2012).
Dian Fossey [Internet]. Biography.com; 2012 [cited 2012 May 21]. Available from: http://www.biography.com/people/dian-fossey-9299545.
Dian Fossey, http://www.biography.com/people/dian-fossey-9299545 (last visited May 21, 2012).
Dian Fossey, http://www.biography.com/people/dian-fossey-9299545 (last visited May 21, 2012).
Synopsis
Dian Fossey studied of a group of gorillas in the forests of Rwanda for 18 years. Her work was supported by the famous anthropologist Louis Leakey. Considered the world's leading authority on the physiology and behavior of mountain gorillas, Fossey fought hard to protect these "gentle giants" from environmental and human hazards. In 1985, Fossey was found hacked to death, presumably by poachers.
Quotes
The more you learn about the dignity of the gorilla, the more you want to avoid people.
Profile
Primatologist and naturalist. Born on January 16, 1932, in San Francisco, California. Dian Fossey enriched our understanding of gorillas through her intense study of these animals from the 1960s to 1980s. She was interested in animals from childhood, but changed college courses from pre-veterinary studies to occupational therapy.
Dian Fossey moved to Louisville, Kentucky, to be director of the Kosair Crippled Children's Hospital occupational therapy department in 1955. But she soon became restless and dreamed of traveling to Africa. On her first trip to Africa in 1963, Fossey met palaeontologists Mary and Louis Leakey, who encouraged her dream to live and work with mountain gorillas.
In 1966, Dian Fossey caught up with Louis Leakey at a lecture in Louisville, and he invited her to study the mountain gorillas in Africa. She accepted his offer and lived among the mountain gorillas in the Democratic Republic of Congo until civil war forced her to escape to Rwanda.
Dian Fossey established the Karisoke Research Foundation in 1967, alternating her time between her fieldwork there and obtaining a Ph.D. based on her research at Cambridge University. She earned her degree in 1976 and later accepted a visiting associate professorship at Cornell University. In 1983, her book, Gorillas in the Mist, was published and became a best seller. A film with the same name was also released in 1988 starring Sigourney Weaver as Fossey.
Considered the world's leading authority on the physiology and behavior of mountain gorillas, Dian Fossey fought hard to protect these "gentle giants" from environmental and human hazards. She saw these animals as dignified, highly social creatures with individual personalities and strong family relationships. Her active conservationist stand to save these animals from game wardens, zoo poachers, and government officials who wanted to convert gorilla habitats to farmland caused her to fight for the gorillas not only via the media, but also by destroying poachers' dogs and traps. On December 26, 1985, Fossey was found hacked to death, presumably by poachers, in her Rwandan forest camp. No assailant has ever been found or prosecuted in her murder.
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