Dian+Fossey

media type="custom" key="3882261" Dian Fossey By: Cristina Dian Fossey was an incredible woman. She saved the mountain gorillas of Rwanda, Africa from extinction. If you want to learn more about this amazing woman read this article on Dian Fossey.

Fossey was an American zoologist who studied mountain gorillas. She was born in San Francisco, California, in 1932. She attended San Jose College. After college she to moved to Louisville, Kentucky, were she lived with three dogs because she never had pets when she was young. She was very upset after she read the letter from her sister Mary that she was going to Africa without her. She decided to save up money to go to Africa because she was unhappy with Mary going to Africa.

Finally she had enough money to have a trip to Africa where she met Dr. Lois Leaky. When she went back home she saw Dr. Lois Leaky again and Leaky sent her to study the endangered species the mountain gorillas of Rwanda, Africa. She answered very quickly a big YES! She went back to Africa and went to Zaire, Africa, then to Rwanda, Africa. There she met Jane Goodall, a specialist studding chimpanzees who gave instructions on fieldwork to Dian. She picked the perfect spot to put her camp. It was between two volcanoes called Mt. Visoke and Mt. Karisimbi. With both names of the volcanoes she created the name Karisoke and established the Karisoke Research Center.

Dian’s objectives were to study gorilla’s ecology, demography, and social organization. After long years of studying this species, they gained her trust and she was able to play with their young. Also, a curious gorilla she had named Peanuts touched her hand.

Her favorite gorilla was a Male Silverback Gorilla she named Digit. But sadly Digit was killed 1977 by poachers. So that she could stop gorilla poaching, she established the Digit Fund. That was later changed to The Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund International. She got a job as a teacher at Cornell University. At that time she was writing a book called //Gorillas in the Mist// which was published in 1983. When done teaching, she went back to the Karisoke Research Center. She had many enemies in Rwanda but one was deadly. Sadly in late December she was found murdered in her cabin. It was 1985 and she was age 53. She was buried next to Digit’s grave stone. No one has found Dian Fossey’s murderer. It’s believed she was killed by a gorilla poacher. A couple years later they made a movie of //Gorilla in the Mist// and Sigourney played Dian. What she did was to help increase the numbers of mountain gorillas by hundreds. The gorillas of Rwanda are now protected by the Fund and the government of Rwanda.

Now there are fewer than 650 mountain gorillas in the world, so she helped the gorillas live through the 20th Century. Her legacy will live for forever.

Works Cited "About Dian Fossey - Info about the Life of Dian Fossey - DFGFI." __Saving Gorillas - The Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund International__. 07 May 2009 . "Dian Fossey." __Minnesota__ __State University, Mankato__. 07 May 2009 . "Dian Fossey." __Women's biographies: Distinguished Women of Past and Present__. 07 May 2009 . "Gale Cengage Product Failure." __GaleNet__. 07 May 2009 . "The My Hero Project - Dian Fossey." __The MY HERO Project Homepage__. 07 May 2009 . Schott, Jane A. __Dian Fossey and the Mountain Gorillas__. Minneapolis: Carolrhoda Books, Inc., 2000. 07 May 2009 . 07 May 2009 . Taylor, Marinne. __Animals Under Threat Mountain Gorilla__. Chicago: Heinemann Library, 2004. "World Book." 07 May 2009 .