The woman in the mountains

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One of the names that came up during last year’s Animal Behaviour lectures was Dian Fossey, whose research work was related to mountain gorillas. Our lecturer recommended the movie ‘Gorillas in the Mist’ and it took me a good six months to find it!

Source - www.imdb.com
Source – www.imdb.com

‘Gorillas in the Mist’ is based on the book (of the same name) written by Dian Fossey. It portrays the efforts of a fearless young woman whose determination and commitment led to saving an endangered species from extinction.

Dian Fossey was born in 1932, California. In 1964 she graduated from San Jose State College with a bachelor’s degree in occupational therapy.  In 1966 she was selected by an archeologist Louis Leakey to study social interaction of Gorilla groups in the Virunga mountain range by three African nations, Rwanda, Uganda, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

Source – www.fs.fed.us

Fossey’s unconventional methods of studying the Gorillas included gaining their trust by imitating their moves such as feeding and grooming. She even mimicked their vocalization.

She was aware of the threats faced by the gorillas in the form of traps and poachers. Each day she would set out to the mountains and spend time cutting down the traps before starting on her research work. Gorillas were killed by poachers, and then their hands were severed to be sold as ash trays. Baby Gorillas were illegally sold to foreign zoos for a large sum of money.

Fossey undertook unorthodox methods such as wearing masks to scare away poachers. Such acts made her increasingly unpopular among the locals. She called these tactics “active conservation” and believed that quick decision making had a bigger impact than long-term conservation goals. She used her own funds to provide additional wages to encourage park wardens to be more active in protecting the Gorillas from poachers.

On the 26th of December in 1985 Dr. Dian Fossey was murdered inside her cabin. Her murderers have not been found to date. There is much speculation that her murder was related to her efforts to protect the Gorillas from the local poachers.

Today Central Africa is home to around 1000 mountain Gorillas, which would not have been possible if not for Dr. Dian Fossey’s selfless efforts. Dian Fossey was a remarkable human being. She realized the importance of protecting the Gorillas and took every possible measure to ensure their safety. And that’s why she rightly says in her book –

“When you realize the value of all life, you dwell less on what is past and concentrate more on the preservation of the future.”

Source – www.nationalgeographic.com

References: http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2014/01/140116-dian-fossey-google-doodle-national-geographic-gorillas-birthday/