Dian Fosey

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Fossey's grave in Karisoke, with the graves of her gorilla friends in the background

Dian Fossey (born January 16, 1932 in San Francisco , California ; found murdered December 27, 1985 at Karisoke Research Center , Rwanda ) was an American zoologist and ethologist who studied the behavior and conservation of mountain gorillas . She became known to a wide audience when scenes from her life were filmed in 1988 under the title Gorillas in the Mist , starring Sigourney Weaver .

Live and act

Dian Fossey first learned the profession of occupational therapist . In 1963 she traveled to East Africa for the first time , where she visited Louis Leakey's famous archaeological site in the Olduvai Gorge and later had her first encounter with gorillas in Kabara, Congo .

Leakey, a paleontologist studying the problems of the human race, also had a special interest in the behavior of the great apes as man's closest relatives. He had already set the stage for Jane Goodall to begin field research on chimpanzees in Tanzania and Birutė Galdikas to undertake a similar project on orangutans in Borneo before Fossey finally convinced him in 1966 that she was the right person to conduct a long-term study about the behavior of mountain gorillas. Fossey also wanted to determine how many mountain gorillas still existed.

Over time, the mountain gorillas learned to accept Fossey in their midst. Even the oldest silverbacks (male leaders of a family association) - among them her declared favorite Digit - allowed Fossey 's ethological studies. She managed to show in films how the mountain gorillas touched her face and shoulders and even communicated with her, how the young animals were entrusted to her or how they were allowed to sleep in her lap. For years Fossey observed the gorilla groups. This gives her previously unknown insights into their family structures, behavior and communication behavior. Financially supported i.a. of the Leakey Foundation , Dian Fossey organized park rangers, destroyed poaching traps, and conducted studies of the various gorilla groups and their relationships.

Fossey was soon known in professional circles thanks to her documentaries and articles in National Geographic magazine , but remained scientifically controversial due to her idiosyncratic methodology. In 1974, based on her studies at the University of Cambridge , she submitted her doctoral thesis to Robert Hinde 's group .

Fossey fought against poachers and for the preservation of Rwanda's national park. Again and again she mobilized all her strength to convince the world public that the protection of the gorillas was necessary. In the fight against the poachers, however, she repeatedly used questionable means. She is said to have acted in part in an uncontrolled and colonialist manner towards African government officials. She was considered a difficult person. She was called "Nyirmachabelli" by locals, which means "the woman who lives lonely in the forest".

On the morning of December 27, 1985, Fossey was found in her cabin at the Karisoke Research Center with her skull crushed. To this day, her death has not been explained.

The Canadian writer Farley Mowat writes in his biography of Dian Fossey that it is very unlikely that Fossey was killed by poachers. Poachers could easily have shot Fossey in the woods with relatively little risk. In her hut, on the other hand, there was a fight with her murderer. Fossey still managed to find a gun. But the ammunition was the wrong caliber. It is very likely that Fossey was murdered by those who saw her as obstructing the tourist and financial exploitation of the gorillas. A murder in the forest would have harmed tourism. The Rwandan tourism authority had tried several times to drive Fossey out of the country. Weeks before her death, she refused Fossey an extension of her visa. However, through a well-meaning senior immigration official, Fossey managed to get a new visa for two years. Mowat believes the visa extension was Fossey's death sentence. According to Mowat's biography, those who tried to take the research center away from Fossey were the ORTPN (Rwandan Tourism Authority), foreign conservation organizations ( WWF , AWF, FPS and Mountain Gorilla Project) and some of her former students (Harcourt, Stewart, Vedder, Watts). The organizations mentioned above often raised funds on Fossey's behalf, although none of those funds went to Fossey and her anti-poaching patrols. Instead, most of the funds went to costly tourism projects and what Fossey calls "useless park management." In her last two years, Fossey claimed not to have lost a single gorilla, while the Mountain Gorilla Project, sponsored by the aforementioned organization and tasked with monitoring the area around Sabinyo , has attempted to claim multiple deaths from poachers cover up that tourist-borne illnesses were the cause of death.

According to her wishes, Fossey was buried in the gorilla cemetery she established near her research station.

appreciations

The University of Cambridge awarded her an honorary doctorate in 1980 .

In 1988, the feature film Gorillas in the Mist was directed by Michael Apted and based on Fossey's autobiography, Anna Hamilton Phelan wrote the feature film. Sigourney Weaver played the lead role as Dian Fossey . She received an Oscar nomination for this role in 1989 . The film was awarded the Golden Globe . Sigourney Weaver is Honorary Chair of the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund , which works to protect the critically endangered mountain gorilla. In 2006 she returned to the film's setting and directed the documentary Gorillas Revisited for the BBC .

The asteroid (23032) Fossey was named after her.

writings

  • Gorillas in the mist. (Original title: Gorillas in the Mist ). Kindler, Munich 1989, ISBN 3-426-40104-5 .

literature

  • Nicholas Gordon: Murders in the Mist. Who killed Dian Fossey? Hodder & Stoughton, London 1993, ISBN 0-340-59880-8 .
  • Harold Hayes: Dian Fossey. The lonely woman of the forest. Kindler, Munich 1991, ISBN 3-463-40151-7 . (Original title: The Dark Romance of Dian Fossey. )
  • Wil Mara: Dian Fossey: Among the Gorillas. 2004, ISBN 0-446-38720-7 .
  • Farley Mowat : The end of the trail. The Story of the Dian Fossey and the Mountain Gorillas in Africa. Bastei Lübbe, Bergisch Gladbach 1989, ISBN 3-404-11505-8 . (Original title: Woman in the Mists. )
  • Georgianne Nienaber: Gorilla Dreams: The Legacy of Dian Fossey. 2006, ISBN 0-595-37669-X .

web links

Individual references and notes

  1. ↑ There are only conflicting sources for the exact date of death (December 26 in the evening or December 27 at night).
  2. ↑ a b Christoph Titz: Avenger of the Gorillas. In: one day , December 27, 2015.
  3. ↑ Harold Hayes (1991), chapters 5 to 10.
  4. ↑ a b Dian Fossey: Gorillas in the Mist. ISBN 0-618-08360-X
  5. ↑ University of Cambridge: History of the Department of Zoology. At: zoo.cam.ac.uk , Accessed 1 September 2019
  6. ↑ a b c d e f Farley Mowat, Woman in the Mists. ISBN 0-446-38720-7
  7. ↑ imdb.com: Gorillas Revisited with Sigourney Weaver (2006).
personal data
SURNAME Fossey, Dian
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American zoologist and behavioral scientist
BIRTH DATE January 16, 1932
PLACE OF BIRTH San Francisco , California , United States
DATE OF DEATH before December 27, 1985
PLACE OF DEATH Karisoke Research Center , Rwanda