Dian Fossey

Dian Fossey was an American primatologist and conservationist known for undertaking an extensive study of mountain gorilla groups from 1966 until her murder in 1985. She was a pioneer from her first day in the forest living alone, trekking in the cold misty weather, and figuring out how to locate and observe the elusive mountain gorillas. Before conducting any scientific research, she devoted her time to patiently persuading the gorillas to accept her. She had only basic equipment with which to work, including notebooks, a typewriter, binoculars, a camera and an audio recording device. With these, she collected a vast amount of information about the gorillas' life in the forest. The photo illustrates Dian recording gorilla vocalization and describing the firts scientific paper describing gorilla communication.