Dian Fossey | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | January 16, 1932 San Francisco, California, U.S. |
| Died | c. December 26, 1985 (aged 53) |
| Cause of death | Murder |
| Resting place | Karisoke Research Center |
| Alma mater | |
| Known for | Study and conservation of the mountain gorilla |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | |
| Institutions | |
| Thesis | The behaviour of the mountain gorilla (1976) |
| Doctoral advisor | Robert Hinde |
| Signature | |
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Dian Fossey (/daɪˈæn/ dy-AN; January 16, 1932 – c. December 26, 1985) was an American primatologist and conservationist known for undertaking an extensive study of mountain gorilla groups from 1966 until her murder in 1985.[1] She studied them daily in the mountain forests of Rwanda, initially encouraged to work there by paleoanthropologist Louis Leakey. Gorillas in the Mist, a book published two years before her death, is Fossey's account of her scientific study of the gorillas at Karisoke Research Center and prior career. It was adapted into a 1988 film of the same name.[2]
Fossey was a leading primatologist, and a member of the "Trimates", a group of female scientists recruited by Leakey to study great apes in their natural environments, along with Jane Goodall who studies chimpanzees, and Birutė Galdikas, who studies orangutans.[3][4]
Fossey spent 20 years in Rwanda, where she supported conservation efforts, strongly opposed poaching and tourism in wildlife habitats, and made more people acknowledge the sapience of gorillas. Following the killing of a gorilla and subsequent tensions, she was murdered in her cabin at a remote camp in Rwanda in December 1985. Although Fossey's American research assistant was convicted in absentia, there is no consensus as to who killed her.
Her research and conservation work helped reduce the downward population trend in mountain gorillas.
- ^ "World-renowned primatologist Dian Fossey is found murdered in Rwanda". HISTORY. Archived from the original on July 21, 2020. Retrieved July 21, 2020.
- ^ Ware, Susan; Braukman, Stacy (2004). Notable American Women: A Biographical Dictionary, Volume 5. Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study. pp. 220–1. ISBN 0-674-01488-X.
- ^ Robertson, Nan (May 1981). "Three Who Have Chosen a Life in the Wild". B. The New York Times. p. 4. Archived from the original on August 22, 2019.
- ^ Willis, Delta (July 15, 1990). "Some Primates Weren't To Be Trusted". The New York Times. Archived from the original on December 1, 2019. Retrieved July 30, 2020.