Gaining the Trust of the Gorillas | Dian Fossey: Secrets in the Mist

less than 1m read

·Nov 11, 2024

KELLY STEWART: Dian Fossey was definitely a pioneer. I do not think that word has been overused. Before that, nobody had done a long-term study of gorillas. Nobody had studied them month after month and year after year.

IAN REDMOND: She wanted to be the scientist who began the first long-term field study of gorilla behavior in their society, and to take that as far as it would go.

NARRATOR: (READING FOSSEY'S JOURNAL) I've been following one guerrilla group round all month, and I'm now able to get within 30 to 60 feet of them. To be perfectly frank, I think they're quite confused as to my species.

IAN REDMOND: In order to study them and learn about the behavior, Dian had to get them used to her. And that process is called habituation, winning the trust. The habituation process is not nice, because you're upsetting this family of gorillas day after day after day. Dian's methods played on the gorillas' curiosity. So she would behave in ways that would elicit a curious rather than anger response. Like when she was climbing a tree to get a better look, she would deliberately ham it up. And she found that that got their attention.

NARRATOR: (READING FOSSEY'S JOURNAL) I've gotten them accustomed to me by aping them, and they are fascinated by my facial grimaces and other actions that I wouldn't be caught dead doing in front of anyone. I feel like a complete fool, but this technique seems to be working.

Graham Stephan; 2018 REALTOR® Magazine 30 Under 30 Applicant

8 Daily Habits That Changed My Life

View All

The Most Natural Truffle on Earth l Chef Wonderful and Marco Tallarico

What have you got here? One kilo black truffles! You can manufacture diamonds today, but most people don’t want those; they want the natural diamond. It took millions of years to make in the Earth. This is only by the hand of God. What’s very interesting…

Sun Tzu | The Art of War

If you know neither the enemy nor yourself, you will succumb in every battle. Sun Tzu War is part of life. It’s in the nature of most living organisms to engage in battle, defeat opponents, and to dominate. With humans, we see this happen in war, in bus…

The Bushmaster Breeds Killer Babies | National Geographic

A Bushmaster, the largest pit viper in the world, has a bite so venomous that humans have only a 25 percent survival rate. That is not good. She can sense the faintest chemical odors and vibrations in her environment. She has detected prey—would not want …

Interpreting expressions with multiple variables: Cylinder | Modeling | Algebra 2 | Khan Academy

We’re told that given the height h and volume v of a certain cylinder, Jill uses the formula ( r ) is equal to the square root of ( \frac{v}{\pi h} ) to compute its radius to be 20 meters. If a second cylinder has the same volume as the first but is 100 t…

2013 Berkshire Hathaway Annual Meeting (Full Version)

Morning kind of all worn out. We’re going to, well first of all, I really want to thank Brad Underwood. He puts the movie together every year, does a terrific job. [Applause] Andy Hayward and Amy are responsible for the cartoon. They also produce a Secret…

Facebook's (Meta's) Secret World Domination Plan

Almost half of the world’s population uses one of Mela’s services every month. Facebook and Instagram combined hold over 75 percent of the social media market share, and WhatsApp has become the world’s default instant messaging app. This is the story of h…

Gaining the Trust of the Gorillas | Dian Fossey: Secrets in the Mist

More Articles