Who's Diane Fauci? Why was she killed for studying gorillas?

Mountain gorillas live at high altitudes in central and eastern Africa. Their bodies are much larger than those of humans and other apes. Adult male mountain gorillas can weigh up to 400 Jin and their arms are 3 meters wide. King Kong? It is based on them. Now we know mountain gorillas? Disgusting and kind? Very gentle, the genetic similarity with humans is as high as 98%, but more than half a century ago, people knew nothing about mountain gorillas except hunting them.

1967, Jenny? Goodall has lived with chimpanzees in Gombe Creek Wildlife Sanctuary in Tanzania for seven years, when a man named Diane? A woman named Dian Fossey also set out to camp in Congo and started her research on mountain gorillas for 18 years. Goode and Fauci are both paleoanthropologists. Louis? The disciple of Xiaosheng, however, devoted his life to the land where gorillas lived and multiplied.

Borrow 8,000 dollars to go to Africa, Diane? Fauci was born in 1932 and lived with her mother and stepfather since childhood. Fossey, who lacks family care, prefers to stay with animals. At the age of 6, she successfully entered the equestrian team and became a young female rider. When she grows up, several jobs are not her interests. She wants to live on a farm or in a wider wild environment. 1963, 3 1 year-old Fauci finally got the opportunity to go to Africa. She borrowed $8,000 from the bank, plus her savings, and traveled to Africa for about seven weeks.

Seven weeks is a summer vacation for us, but it has changed the life track of Fauci. During the trip, she went to Kenya, Zimbabwe, Tanzania and Congo, and met Louis, a paleoanthropologist, in the Odwe Valley of Tanzania. Li Ji, Li Ji's team is looking for ancient human fossils there.

In addition to studying the evolutionary history of ancient humans, Li Ji also firmly believes that humans and apes have a common ancestor. He hopes to prove his idea by observing the existing primates and collecting primate fossils. He sponsored Jenny. Goodall went to Tanzania to study chimpanzees, and Fossey went to Africa this year, which is also Goodall's third year in Tanzania. Although Fauci didn't visit Goode on this trip, she met two wildlife photographers. With the help of Xiaosheng, Fauci followed two photographers to see mountain gorillas for the first time. Love at first sight? .

Become Jenny? Goodall's sister's money and time forced Fauci to return to America from Africa. Because of her love, she published her experiences in Africa, especially her brief contact with mountain gorillas. 65438-0966, Li Ji went to the United States to give a lecture. After the lecture, Fauci visited him and showed his article to Ricky. Li Ji suggested that Fauci return to Africa to conduct long-term and in-depth research on gorillas, and expressed his willingness to fund this research.

This is exactly what Fauci wants. She spent eight months learning Swahili and primate knowledge, 1966 65438+ February. Three years after bidding farewell to Africa, Fauci returned to Kenya. This time, she first went to Goodall and learned some basic observation skills and methods from Goodall.

From left to right: gorilla researcher Diane? Fossey; Chimpanzee researcher Jenny? Goode; Orangutan researcher Biruti? Jia Dickas

1September, 967, Fauci finally began to study mountain gorillas. She went to the area between two dormant volcanoes in the Virunga Mountains and set up two tents at an altitude of 3,000 meters, using the names of the two volcanoes? Karisimbi Mountain and? Bisque Mountain named a slightly crude tent, which is the beginning of today's Carrizzo Research Center. She lives in the research center with three assistants, two of whom are locals who are familiar with the environment. Because it is far from the nearest village, it takes about four hours to drive back and forth, so Fauci goes down the mountain to replenish once a month and buys food for one month at a time.

On the first day of her observation, Fauci successfully met a gorilla basking in the sun, but when she heard some noises, the gorilla hid in the forest. With the help of local people, four groups of gorillas gradually became the fixed observation objects of Fauci.

What is Fauci's observation of mountain gorillas? Participatory? Yes, although she could only watch from a distance at first, she spent a lot of time imitating the behavior of gorillas to gain the trust of gorilla groups, especially their leaders. This imitation includes physical learning, such as walking, sitting and lying like a gorilla; There is also convergence in eating habits, such as eating the same food; Fauci also learned to sound, shout and so on like a mountain gorilla, and finally she successfully integrated into it.

Perhaps women are more emotional creatures, which is of great benefit in contact with primates. Fauci observed 5/kloc-0 mountain gorillas from four families. She identified these almost identical gorillas by the shape of her nose. Like Goodall, Fauci named every mountain gorilla. What's her favorite one? Numbers? Male mountain gorilla.

Diane. Foch sum number

The first contact with numbers originated from Fauci and numbers? An outsider? . As a human being, Fauci is strange to mountain gorillas, and Digit is marginalized by his group for some reason, so Fauci and Digit become friends. Numbers give Fauci a lot of inspiration. For example, one morning, Fauci found Dicky looking in the mirror and dancing to himself. When Dickie became the leader of this group, Fauci was completely accepted. However, in 1978, Digit was killed by poachers. When Fauci found it, Digit's head and hands were gone, and he was covered with bruises. Foch was so sad that he buried his finger on the edge of the camp.

1983, Fauci's book Gorilla in the Fog and a documentary of the same name came out. These two works describe in detail the research results over the years. People have an unprecedented understanding of mountain gorillas through Fauci's description: they have families and small groups; Gentle personality, only when threatened will enter the fighting state; Almost only eat leaves, roots and other plants; Emotional.

Fauci's observation and study of mountain gorillas in the murdered mountain cabin is always accompanied by threats from local poachers. At that time, long-term poaching had made the mountain gorillas face the survival dilemma, and the number once dropped from 475 in the 1960s to less than 300. Fauci predicted that if poaching is not prohibited, mountain gorillas will be extinct within 30 years. Therefore, Fauci should not only conduct scientific observation, but also confront poachers and take the injured gorillas back to the camp for care.

In the mountain gorilla colony, there are traps set by poachers to trap underage gorillas. Once Fauci discovers these traps, he will dismantle them, which also attracts poachers? Hate it? .

1985 65438+On February 26th, on the morning after Christmas, people found dead Fauci in Carrizzo's cabin in the Woods, with shocking scars on his face.

No one knows who did it, but people speculate that poachers are the most likely. Fauci is buried next to Digit's grave, and there are many other mountain gorillas' graves not far away. It can be said that Fauci was accompanied by mountain gorillas from the age of 30 until his death.

1988, Fauci's story was made into a movie "Gorilla in the Fog: Diane? The adventures of Signie who plays Fauci? Sigourney weaver won the Oscar nomination for best actress for this film, and more people learned about Fauci and mountain gorillas through this film.

Now, compared with when Fauci studied wild mountain gorillas, their numbers have almost doubled. Some people think that Fauci's research on mountain gorillas is not profound, but it is because of her observation that people have an understanding of mountain gorillas from 0 to 1. If it weren't for Fauci's knowledge gained through observation and his resistance to poachers, they might have disappeared long before we really knew them.