Gorillas In The Mist
Clip | 3m 39sVideo has Closed Captions
Who was Dian Fossey and what was her impact on wildlife conservation? Mikayla Daniels has more.
Host Mikayla Daniels takes an in depth look at the life of Dian Fossey. Her contributions to wildlife conservation in the Rwanda jungles may have single handedly saved the mountain gorillas native to that region.
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SATURDAY NIGHT CINEMA is a local public television program presented by KSPS PBS
Gorillas In The Mist
Clip | 3m 39sVideo has Closed Captions
Host Mikayla Daniels takes an in depth look at the life of Dian Fossey. Her contributions to wildlife conservation in the Rwanda jungles may have single handedly saved the mountain gorillas native to that region.
Problems playing video? | Closed Captioning Feedback
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Welcome to my web comments on the Saturday Night Cinema airing for “Gorillas In The Mist” from 1988.
This film is about Dian Fossey and her study of gorillas and activism.
But who is she and why did you decide to go to Africa?
I'm going to spend this web extra diving into the woman that this film was based on.
She was born in Fairfax, California in 1932.
By her own account, her childhood with her mother and stepfather was not a happy one.
She was always drawn to animals and in adolescence, especially to horses.
She was denied her dream of veterinary school because of her grades.
Fossey graduated from San Jose State with a degree in occupational therapy.
Later on, inspired by tales from friends of hers, she decided to make a trip to Africa.
Borrowed money and just set off for the land of her dreams.
After meeting Louis Leakey and his wife Mary at the research center, she ended her journey with a visit to the Kabara Meadow and had her first sighting of the mountain gorillas.
She was never the same again.
She later explained that it was their individuality combined with the shyness of their behavior, that remained the most captivating impression of this first encounter with the greatest of the great apes.
Leakey, always on the lookout for good workers, recruited her for the study of the mountain gorillas.
With virtually no training, Fossey became one of the world's foremost primatologists.
She was the first person to record the social structure of African mountain gorillas, interact with them and form strong, affectionate bonds with separate individuals.
Gradually, Fossey moved from fascinated observer to passionately aggressive conservationist, determined to protect her gorillas at all costs.
Acting almost alone, she saved them from extinction.
Today, the mountain gorillas are still threatened by habitat destruction, but their numbers have increased.
Fossey brought their plight to the attention of the entire world, making an enormous contribution to animal protection and ecological movements.
Acquaintances who witnessed Fossey's descent into erratic and cruel behavior, towards people in her later years, thought that she had gone mad.
Some thought that the muder of Digit unhinged her.
Actress Sigourney Weaver, who studied Fossey's life to prepare for the role, said, “I don't think she really lost it.
Her friends, who loved her dearly, sometimes thought she was acting crazy, but crazy with a small ‘c.
She was desperate.
The government wasn't supporting her.
Her own scientific community wasn't supporting her.
She didn't have anyone with whom she was sharing her life to balance her.
No one to say, well, Dian, here's another way of doing it.” Living in horrid conditions and without money and support made Dian overjoyed when she sold the rights to “Gorillas In The Mist” to Universal Studios in 1985 for $150,000.
She used the money to keep up the anti-poaching patrols and maintain her camp.
However, she was killed later that year.
Fossey was buried next to her beloved Digit, and among the other gorillas she had cared for.
Along with flowers, mourners brought plants the gorillas love to eat and threw them on her coffin.
At the memorial service for Dian Fossey at the National Geographic offices in Washington D.C., Jane Goodall eulogized, “I don't think it's too much to say.
If Diane hadn't been there, there might be no mountain gorillas in Rwanda today.” Thank you for checking out my web comments on the life of Dian Fossey.
And be sure to tune in to Saturday Night Cinema on KSPS PBS.
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