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BIOGRAPHY
Dian Fossey, zoologist and activist, was born January 16, 1932. She started out with ambitions of becoming a veterinarian. She did undergraduate work as a preveterinary student but switched her major to occupational therapy. She obtained her B.A. in occupational therapy from San Jose State College. Following graduation she became the director of the Kosair Crippled Children's Hospital occupational therapy department. After several years in this position, she traveled to eastern Africa where she met Louis Leakey. She became fascinated in his work and left her position at the hospital to begin her work as a researcher.
Leakey decided to send her into the field in Africa to study the mountain gorillas, and she spent some time studying with Jane Goodall before going to Zaire. In Zaire she was taken into custody by the authorities and managed to escape to Uganda. She moved her work to Rwanda where she established the Karisoke Research Center. She spent twenty-two years studying the behavior of mountain gorillas and was the first to have voluntary contact with a gorilla. After receiving her doctorate in zoology at the University of Cambridge, she returned to Rwanda to discover that one of her favorite gorillas, Digit, had been killed by poachers. She launched an international campaign against poachers as a result and set up the first ranger patrols in Rwanda. On December 26, 1985 she was found slain near her campsite in Rwanda. While her murder remains unsolved, she is thought to have been killed by some of the poachers she had fought. In 1988 a film version of her autobiography, GORILLAS IN THE MIST, was made.
CHRONOLOGY
1932 She was born in Fairfax, California.
1954 She graduated from San Jose State College.
1955 She became the director of the Kosair Crippled Children's Hospital occupational therapy department.
1963 She took a trip to eastern Africa and met Louis Leakey.
1966 She began her field work in Zaire.
1967 She established the Karisoke Research Center. She began living alone in Rwanda's Virunga Mountains.
1970 She moved to England to complete work for her doctorate a the University of Cambridge.
1974 She received her doctorate in zoology.
1978 She began an international campaign against poachers.; She set up the first ranger patrols in Rwanda.
1980 She moved to the United States to be an associate professor at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York.
1983 GORILLAS IN THE MIST was published.
1985 She died in Rwanda. (December 26)
1988 GORILLAS IN THE MIST was made into a film.
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