GORILLA GIRL
A children with love of animals and a woman full of
dedication and loyalty to her job. A brave lady who lives
alone and a victim of a vague murder. Dian Fossey was
all of those through her short life of 53 years. She is one
of the greatest woman biologist all over the history.
Dian Fossey was borned in January 16 1932 in San
Francisco, California, United States. Her mother and
father have broken up when she was young and then
her mother married again. She used to live with her
mother and her stepfather who didn’t treat her well at
all. During her childhood she had a great affinity and
passion on animals. When she was six she started horse
riding and as she got older she got better.
As she graduated from high school her stepfather, Richard
Price, enrolled her to a business course but this made
her realize how big was her love to animals and after
a term she quitted and enrolled to a pre veterinarian
degree at University of California. Although, she was
a bright student she used to have some difficulties on
some programs and she changed her school. At 1954
she got her degree on occupational therapy from San
Jose State College. As she became 23 she begun working
as a nurse at the Kosair Children’s Hospital in Louisville,
Kentucky. She used to enjoy doing it but her interest for
seeing the other parts of the world was so great.
As the year was 1963 she had a travel to Africa in
September and met a man who has an important role
on her life. That man was Louis Leakey who was doing
excavations on Africa. When they met Dian fell on to and
then vomited on a significant giraffe fossil that he has
just discovered.
In the same vacation she saw a gorilla for the first time
in her life in Congo. Seven weeks later she turned to the
Kentucky and she was writing several articles about her
experiences on Africa with the gorillas of Virunga. During
her stay in Louiseville Leakey stopped there for a reason
and came across to Dian. Louis believed that if gorillas
were observed enough they might be giving some clues
about evolution so he offered Dian to lie with gorillas
and work on his study. Obviously, Dian has accepted that
offer which was an opportunity to her.
As the December of 1966, Dian was back in Africa for
those studies. She had a chance of spending several days
with one of the most significant scientists Jane Goodwill.
Then she travelled Nairobi and had her needs for the
camp on the jungle. Leakey supplied her a Range Rover
and two tents.
At her camp she had two mistresses who she didn’t
speak the same language with then her studies begun.
At first she have just observed them without appearing
but then she changed her way and declared her
presence, she was immitating their voices. At the end of
six months she got close to them up to 9 meters. In 1967
she got separated from her mountain but she got back
after a while. She had a special relationship with gorillas
named, Peanuts, the first one who touched her hand,
Macho and Digit, closest friends with Dian.
She needed her Ph.D. in zoology to go on her work so she
had to go away. When she was studying at Cambridge
University on one of her letters to Leakey she wrote “I
hate it here because it isn’t Africa,” dating to 1970.
As she came back her studies of observation got less and
less because she wasn’t so healthy anymore and also
she had students doing those for her. She was writing all
her knowledge about gorillas and also fighting against
the hunters. She was concerned for the gorillas who had
only 480 members of their family in 1966.
She was right on fearing her closest friend, Digit go
murdered savagely while he was protecting his family.
His hands and head was chopped of. She had a special
cemetery for her gorillas, she buried her beastie to there
too.
Before her murder in 1985, she published a book
named “Gorillas in the Mist”. She was found murdered
in December 26. Her murderers aren’t known still while
she is sleeping next to her gorillas with a grave stone
saying: “ Dian Fossey 1932 – 1985 No one loved gorillas
more . . .”
Gökçen Nilay NAKTİYOK
9-B
BIOLOGY
DEPARTMENT
References:
Fossey, D. (1983). Gorillas in the Mist, Boston, Mass. Houghton Mifflin.
Hayes, H.T.P. (1990). The dark romance of Dian Fossey. Simon and Schuster, New York, N.Y.
Matthews, Tom. (1998). Light shining through the mist: A photobiography of Dian Fossey. National Geographic Society,
Washington, D.C.
Mowat, Farley. (1987). Women in the Mists: The story of Dian Fossey and the mountain gorillas of Africa. New York, N.Y.,
Warner Books.
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