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{{short description|American primatologist and conservationist (1932–1985)}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=July 2024}}
{{Infobox scientist
| image             = Dian Fossey sitting, Santa Barbara News-Press 1981-05-06 25.jpg
| caption           = Fossey in 1981
| birth_date        = {{birth date |1932|01|16}}
| birth_place       = [[San Francisco]], [[California]], U.S.
| death_date        = {{c.|{{Death date and age|1985|12|26|1932|01|16}}}}
| death_place       = [[Volcanoes National Park]], [[Rwanda]]
| death_cause       = Murder
| resting_place     = [[Karisoke Research Center]]
| fields            = {{ubl |[[Ethology]] |[[Primatology]]}}
| workplaces        = {{ubl |[[Karisoke Research Center]] |[[Cornell University]]}}
| signature         = Unterschrift Dian Fossey amerikanische Zoologin und Verhaltesforscherin.png
| education         = {{ubl |[[College of Marin]] |[[San Jose State University]] ([[Bachelor of Arts|BA]]) |[[Darwin College, Cambridge]] ([[Doctor of Philosophy|PhD]])}}
| thesis_title      = The Behaviour of the Mountain Gorilla
| thesis_url        = http://ulmss-newton.lib.cam.ac.uk/vwebv/holdingsInfo?bibId=8399
| thesis_year       = 1976
| doctoral_advisor  = [[Robert Hinde]]
| known_for         = Study and conservation of the [[mountain gorilla]]
}}
'''Dian Fossey''' (January 16, 1932 – {{c.|December 26, 1985}})<!--full dates in infobox, per MOS--> was an American [[primatologist]] and [[Conservationist movement|conservationist]] known for undertaking an extensive study of [[mountain gorilla]] groups from 1966 until her murder in 1985.<ref name="history">{{Cite web|title=World-renowned primatologist Dian Fossey is found murdered in Rwanda|url=https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/primatologist-dian-fossey-found-murdered-in-rwanda|access-date=July 21, 2020|website=HISTORY|date=August 8, 2019 |language=en|archive-date=July 21, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200721135846/https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/primatologist-dian-fossey-found-murdered-in-rwanda|url-status=live}}</ref> She studied them daily in the mountain forests of [[Rwanda]], initially encouraged to work there by [[paleoanthropologist]] [[Louis Leakey]]. ''[[Gorillas in the Mist (book)|Gorillas in the Mist]]'', a book published two years before her death, is Fossey's account of her scientific study of the [[gorilla]]s at the [[Karisoke Research Center]] and prior career. It was adapted into a [[Gorillas in the Mist|1988 film of the same name]].<ref name=WareBraukman>Ware, Susan; Braukman, Stacy (2004). ''Notable American Women: A Biographical Dictionary, Volume 5''. Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study. pp. 220–1. {{ISBN|0-674-01488-X}}.</ref>

Fossey was a leading primatologist, and a member of the [[The Trimates|"Trimates"]], a group of female scientists recruited by Leakey to study great [[ape]]s in their natural environments, along with [[Jane Goodall]] who studied [[chimpanzee]]s, and [[Birutė Galdikas]], who studies [[orangutan]]s.<ref name="NYT 5.1.81">{{Cite news|last=Robertson|first=Nan|date=May 1981|title=Three Who Have Chosen a Life in the Wild|periodical=[[The New York Times]]|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1981/05/01/style/three-who-have-chosen-a-life-in-the-wild.html|department=B|page=4|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190822173139/https://www.nytimes.com/1981/05/01/style/three-who-have-chosen-a-life-in-the-wild.html|archive-date=August 22, 2019}}</ref><ref name="nytimes 7.15.90">{{cite news |last=Willis|first=Delta|date=July 15, 1990|title=Some Primates Weren't To Be Trusted|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1990/07/15/books/some-primates-weren-t-to-be-trusted.html|work=The New York Times|access-date=July 30, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191201153104/https://www.nytimes.com/1990/07/15/books/some-primates-weren-t-to-be-trusted.html|archive-date=December 1, 2019}}</ref>

Fossey spent 20 years in Rwanda, where she supported conservation efforts, strongly opposed poaching and tourism in wildlife habitats, and made more people acknowledge the sapience of gorillas. Following the killing of a gorilla and subsequent tensions, she was murdered in her cabin at a remote camp in Rwanda in December 1985. Although Fossey's American research assistant was convicted ''in absentia'', there is no consensus as to who killed her.

Her research and conservation work helped reduce the downward population trend in mountain gorillas.

==Early life==
Fossey was born in [[San Francisco]], [[California]], the daughter of Hazel ([[née]] Kidd), a fashion model, and George Edward Fossey III, a real estate agent and business owner.<ref name=WareBraukman/><ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/102593177/marriage-of-fossey-kidd/|title=Marriage of Fossey|newspaper=Reno Gazette-Journal |date=August 29, 1928|pages=4|via=newspapers.com}}</ref> Her parents divorced when she was six.<ref name=innominate>{{cite web|url=http://www.innominatesociety.com/Articles/Karisoke%20Revisited.htm|title=Karisoke Revisited – A Study of Dian Fossey|publisher=innominatesociety.com|access-date=December 15, 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191118080845/http://www.innominatesociety.com/Articles/Karisoke%20Revisited.htm|archive-date=November 18, 2019}}</ref> Her mother remarried the following year, to businessman Richard Price. Her father tried to keep in contact, but her mother discouraged it, and all contact was subsequently lost.<ref name=webster>{{cite web|url=http://www.webster.edu/~woolflm/fossey.html|title=Dian Fossey|publisher=Webster.edu|access-date=December 14, 2009|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091205143418/http://www.webster.edu/~woolflm/fossey.html|archive-date=December 5, 2009}}</ref> Fossey's stepfather, Richard Price, never treated her as his own child. He would not allow Fossey to sit at the dining room table with him or her mother during dinner.<ref name="farley">Mowat, Farley. ''Woman in the Mists: The Story of Dian Fossey and the Mountain Gorillas of Africa''. New York, NY: Warner Books, 1987.</ref> A man adhering to strict discipline, Richard Price offered Fossey little to no emotional support.<ref>Washam, Cynthia. "Fossey, Dian." Environmental Encyclopedia. 4th ed. Vol. 1. Detroit: Gale, 2011. 701–703. Gale Virtual Reference Library. Web. February 28, 2013.</ref> In 1950, Richard and Hazel relocated with Dian to Marin County, the same county where her father George Fossey, now married to Mrs. Gladys Bove ([[née]] Kohler), resided.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.ancestry.com/discoveryui-content/view/256950264:62308|title=Dian Fassey in the 1950 United States Federal Census|website=www.ancestry.com |url-access=subscription|access-date=May 27, 2022}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.ancestry.com/discoveryui-content/view/256925688:62308|title=George Fossey in the 1950 United States Federal Census|website=www.ancestry.com |url-access=subscription |access-date=May 27, 2022}}</ref> George and Gladys later divorced. George Fossey's third and final marriage was to Kathryn Smith around 1959. Kathryn has mistakenly been cited as Dian's mother over the years.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.familysearch.org/search/ark:/61903/1:1:VGRB-NWP|title=Kathryn S Fossey in the California Death Index, 1940-1997 |website=www.familysearch.org |url-access=registration |access-date=May 27, 2022}}</ref>

Struggling with personal insecurity, Fossey turned to animals as a way to gain acceptance.<ref>"Fossey, Dian." The Scribner Encyclopedia of American Lives. Ed. Kenneth T. Jackson, Karen Markoe, and Arnold Markoe. Vol. 1: 1981–1985. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1998. 294–296. Gale Virtual Reference Library. Web. February 28, 2013.</ref> Her love for animals began with her first pet goldfish and continued throughout her life.<ref name="farley" /> At age six, she began riding horses, earning a letter from her school; by her college graduation in 1954, Fossey had established herself as an [[Equestrianism|equestrienne]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Dian Fossey Biography |url=https://gorillafund.org/who-we-are/dian-fossey/dian-fossey-bio/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230915134739/https://gorillafund.org/who-we-are/dian-fossey/dian-fossey-bio/ |archive-date=September 15, 2023 |access-date=July 17, 2024 |website=Dian Fossey |language=en-US}}</ref>

===Education and medical career===
Fossey attended [[Lowell High School (San Francisco)|Lowell High School]]. Following the guidance of her stepfather, she enrolled in a business course at the [[College of Marin]] in Kentfield. However, spending her summer on a ranch in [[Montana]] at age 19 rekindled her love of animals, and she enrolled in a pre-[[veterinary]] course in biology at the [[University of California, Davis]]. In defiance of her stepfather's wishes for her to attend a business school, Fossey decided to spend her professional life working with animals. Consequently, Fossey's parents failed to give her any substantial financial support in her adult life.<ref name="farley" /> She supported herself by working as a clerk at a [[White Front]] department store, doing other clerking and laboratory work, and laboring as a [[machinist]] in a factory.{{Citation needed|date=May 2020}}

Although Fossey had always been an exemplary student, she had difficulty with [[chemistry]] and [[physics]], and failed her second year of the program. She transferred to [[San Jose State University|San Jose State College]]<ref>{{Cite web |last=McPherson |first=Angie |date=January 18, 2014 |orig-date=January 18, 2014 |title=Zoologist Dian Fossey: A Storied Life With Gorillas |url=https://www.nationalgeographic.com/adventure/article/140116-dian-fossey-google-doodle-national-geographic-gorillas-birthday |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240717130726/https://www.nationalgeographic.com/adventure/article/140116-dian-fossey-google-doodle-national-geographic-gorillas-birthday |archive-date=July 17, 2024 |access-date=November 5, 2024 |website=Adventure |language=en}}</ref> where she became a member of [[Kappa Alpha Theta]] [[sorority]] and studied [[occupational therapy]], receiving her [[bachelor's degree]] in 1954.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://heritage.kappaalphatheta.org/page/notablethetas|title=Notable Thetas – Heritage – Kappa Alpha Theta|access-date=March 29, 2016|archive-date=October 19, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171019001306/http://heritage.kappaalphatheta.org/page/notablethetas|url-status=live}}</ref> Fossey began her career in occupational therapy.<ref>{{Cite web |last=McPherson |first=Angie |date=January 18, 2014 |orig-date=January 18, 2014 |title=Zoologist Dian Fossey: A Storied Life With Gorillas |url=https://www.nationalgeographic.com/adventure/article/140116-dian-fossey-google-doodle-national-geographic-gorillas-birthday |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240213085517/https://www.nationalgeographic.com/adventure/article/140116-dian-fossey-google-doodle-national-geographic-gorillas-birthday |archive-date=February 13, 2024 |access-date=July 17, 2024 |website=National Geographic |language=en}}</ref> She interned at hospitals in California and worked with [[tuberculosis]] patients.<ref name=GFDFL>{{cite web|url=http://gorillafund.org/page.aspx?pid=380|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100620175006/http://gorillafund.org/Page.aspx?pid=380|url-status=dead|archive-date=June 20, 2010|title=Dian Fossey – Biography|publisher=The Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund International|access-date=January 16, 2013}}</ref> Fossey had become a prizewinning [[Equestrianism|equestrian]], which drew her to [[Kentucky]] in 1955, and a year later took a job as an occupational therapist at the [[Kosair Crippled Children's Hospital]] in [[Louisville, Kentucky|Louisville]].<ref>{{cite book|last=Washam|first=Cynthia|title=Environmental Encyclopedia|year=2011|location=Detroit|publisher=[[Gale (publisher)|Gale]]|pages=701–703|edition=4th}}</ref>

Her shy and reserved personality helped her to work well with the children at the hospital.<ref>{{cite book|last=Jackson|first=Kenneth|title=The Scribener Encyclopedia|year=1998|publisher=Charles Scribner's Sons|location=New York|pages=294–296}}</ref> Fossey became close to her coworker Mary White "Gaynee" Henry, secretary to the hospital's chief administrator and the wife of one of the doctors, Michael J. Henry. The Henrys invited Fossey to join them on their family farm, where she worked with livestock daily and experienced the inclusive family atmosphere that had been missing for most of her life.<ref name=webster/><ref>{{cite book|title=The Scribner Encyclopedia of American Lives|year=1998|publisher=Charles Scribner's Sons|location=New York|page=294|editor1=Kenneth T. Jackson |editor2=Karen Markoe |editor3=Arnold Markoe }}</ref> During her free time she pursued her love of horses.<ref>{{cite book|title=Encyclopedia of World Biography|year=2004|location=Detroit|publisher=[[Gale (publisher)|Gale]]|pages=23–24|edition=2nd}}</ref>

==The Leakeys and the Congo==
===Journey to Africa===

Fossey turned down an offer to join the Henrys on an African tour due to lack of finances,<ref name=webster/> but in 1963 she borrowed $8,000 (one year's salary), took out her life savings<ref name=McPherson>{{cite web|last1=McPherson|first1=Angie|title=Zoologist Dian Fossey: A storied life with gorillas|url=http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2014/01/140116-dian-fossey-google-doodle-national-geographic-gorillas-birthday/|website=National Geographic|access-date=September 3, 2014|date=January 18, 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200105191834/https://www.nationalgeographic.com/news/2014/1/140116-dian-fossey-google-doodle-national-geographic-gorillas-birthday/|archive-date=January 5, 2020}}</ref> and went on a seven-week visit to Africa.<ref name=innominate/> In September 1963, she arrived in [[Nairobi]], [[Kenya]].<ref name=GFDFL/> While there, she was introduced to [[safari]] guide John Alexander,<ref name=innominate/> who became her guide for the next seven weeks through Kenya, [[Tanzania]], [[Republic of the Congo (Léopoldville)|Democratic Republic of Congo]], and [[Rhodesia]], now [[Zimbabwe]]. Their route included visits to [[Tsavo]], East Africa's largest national park; the saline lake of [[Manyara]], famous for attracting giant flocks of [[flamingo]]s; and the [[Ngorongoro Crater]], well known for its abundant wildlife.<ref name=GFDFL/> The final two sites for her visit were [[Olduvai Gorge]] in [[Tanzania]] (the archeological site of [[Louis Leakey|Louis]] and [[Mary Leakey]]); and [[Mount Mikeno|Mt. Mikeno]] in Congo, where, in 1959, American zoologist [[George Schaller]] had carried out a yearlong pioneering study of the mountain gorilla. At Olduvai Gorge, Fossey met the Leakeys while they were examining the area for [[hominid]] [[fossil]]s. Leakey talked to Fossey about the work of English primatologist [[Jane Goodall]] and the importance of long-term research on the [[great ape]]s.<ref name=GFDFL/>

Although Fossey had broken her ankle while visiting the Leakeys,<ref name=GFDFL/> by October 16, she was staying in Walter Baumgartel's small hotel in [[Uganda]], the Travellers Rest. Baumgartel, an advocate of gorilla conservation, was among the first to see the benefits that tourism could bring to the area, and he introduced Fossey to Kenyan wildlife photographers [[Joan Root|Joan]] and [[Alan Root]]. The couple agreed to allow Fossey and Alexander to camp behind their own camp, and it was during these few days that Fossey first encountered wild mountain gorillas.<ref name=GFDFL/> After staying with friends in Rhodesia, Fossey returned home to Louisville to repay her loans. She published three articles in ''[[The Courier-Journal]]'' newspaper, detailing her visit to Africa.<ref name=innominate/><ref name=GFDFL/>

===Research in the Congo===
[[File:Virunga Mountain Gorilla 1.jpg|thumb|left|upright=1.1|Gorilla mother with infant in [[Virunga National Park]] in the Congo]]

When Leakey made an appearance in Louisville while on a nationwide lecture tour, Fossey took the color supplements that had appeared about her African trip in ''[[The Courier-Journal]]'' to show to Leakey, who remembered her and her interest in mountain gorillas. Three years after the original safari, Leakey suggested that Fossey could undertake a long-term study of the gorillas in the same manner as [[Jane Goodall]] had with chimpanzees in Tanzania.<ref name="farley"/> Leakey lined up funding for Fossey to research mountain gorillas, and Fossey left her job to relocate to Africa.<ref>{{cite book |title=The Scribner Encyclopedia of American Lives|year=1998|publisher=Charles Scribner's Sons|location=New York|pages=294–296|editor1=Kenneth T. Jackson |editor2=Karen Markoe |editor3=Arnold Markoe }}</ref>

After studying [[Swahili language|Swahili]] and auditing a class on [[primatology]] during the eight months it took to get funding and her visas, Fossey arrived in Nairobi in December 1966. With the help of Joan Root and Leakey, Fossey acquired the necessary provisions and an old canvas-topped [[Land Rover]] which she named "Lily". On the way to the Congo, Fossey visited the [[Gombe Stream National Park|Gombe Stream Research Centre]] to meet Goodall and observe her research methods with chimpanzees.<ref name=GFDFL/> Accompanied by photographer Alan Root, who helped her obtain work permits for the [[Virunga Mountains]], Fossey began her field study at Kabara, in the Congo in early 1967, in the same meadow where Schaller had made his camp seven years earlier.<ref name="Montgomery136">{{Harvnb|Montgomery|p=136}}</ref> Root taught her basic gorilla tracking, and his tracker Sanwekwe later helped in Fossey's camp. Living in tents on mainly tinned produce, once a month Fossey would hike down the mountain to "Lily" and make the two-hour drive to the village of Kikumba to restock.<ref name=GFDFL/>

Fossey identified three distinct groups in her study area, but could not get close to them. She eventually found that mimicking their actions and making grunting sounds reassured them, together with submissive behavior and eating of the local celery plant.<ref name="Montgomery136"/> She later attributed her success with habituating gorillas to her experience working as an occupational therapist with children with autism.<ref name="farley"/> Like George Schaller, Fossey relied greatly on individual "noseprints" for identification, initially via sketching and later by camera.<ref name=GFDFL/>

Fossey had arrived in the Congo in locally turbulent times. Known as the [[Belgian Congo]] until its independence in June 1960, unrest and rebellion plagued the new government until 1965, when Lieutenant General [[Joseph-Désiré Mobutu]], by then commander-in-chief of the national army, seized control of the country and declared himself president for five years during what is now called the [[Congo Crisis]]. During the political upheaval, a rebellion and battles took place in the [[Kivu]] Province. On July 9, 1967, soldiers arrived at the camp to escort Fossey and her research workers down, and she was detained at [[Rumangabo]] for two weeks. Fossey eventually escaped through bribery to Walter Baumgärtel's Travellers Rest Hotel in [[Kisoro]], where her escort was arrested by the Ugandan military.<ref name=GFDFL/><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.gorillafund.org/dian_fossey/ |title=About Dian Fossey – Info about the Life of Dian Fossey |publisher=Gorillafund.org |date=November 16, 2013 |access-date=January 16, 2014 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100612232428/http://gorillafund.org/dian_fossey/ |archive-date=June 12, 2010 }}</ref>
Advised by the Ugandan authorities not to return to Congo, after meeting Leakey in Nairobi, Fossey agreed with him against [[Us embassy|US Embassy]] advice to restart her study on the [[Rwanda]]n side of the [[Virunga Mountains|Virungas]].<ref name=GFDFL/> In Rwanda, Fossey had met local American expatriate [[Rosamond Carr]], who introduced her to [[Belgium|Belgian]] local Alyette DeMunck; DeMunck had a local's knowledge of Rwanda and offered to find Fossey a suitable site for study.<ref name=GFDFL/>

==Conservation work in Rwanda==
[[File:Visoke.jpg|upright=1.15|thumbnail|right|Fossey established her research camp in the foothills of [[Mount Bisoke]].]]
[[File:Dian Fossey, pomona-progress-bulletin-1968-01-25 0004.jpg|thumb|right|upright|Fossey circa 1968]]

On September 24, 1967, Fossey founded the [[Karisoke Research Center]], a remote [[rainforest]] camp nestled in [[Ruhengeri]] province in the saddle of two volcanoes. For the research center's name, Fossey used "Kari" for the first four letters of [[Mount Karisimbi]] that overlooked her camp from the south, and "soke" for the last four letters of [[Mount Bisoke]], the slopes of which rose to the north, directly behind the camp.<ref name=GFDFL/><ref name="pbs">{{cite web|url=https://www.pbs.org/wnet/nature/the-gorilla-king-more-on-dian-fossey-and-her-research/737/|title=More on Dian Fossey and Her Research|date=June 11, 2008|website=Nature|publisher=PBS|access-date=August 24, 2020|archive-date=June 29, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200629150044/https://www.pbs.org/wnet/nature/the-gorilla-king-more-on-dian-fossey-and-her-research/737/|url-status=live}}</ref> Established {{convert|3000|m|ft}} up Mount Bisoke, the defined study area covered {{convert|25|km2|mi2}}.<ref>{{cite magazine|url=http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2008/07/archive/fossey-gorillas-1981/dian-fossey-text/2|title=Dian Fossey text|magazine=National Geographic|access-date=December 14, 2009|archive-date=March 20, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160320052351/http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2008/07/archive/fossey-gorillas-1981/dian-fossey-text/2|url-status=dead}}</ref> She became known by locals as Nyirmachabelli, or Nyiramacibiri, roughly translated as "The woman who lives alone on the mountain."<ref name="Montgomery130">{{Harvnb|Montgomery|p=130}}</ref>

Unlike the gorillas from the Congo side of the Virungas, the Karisoke area gorillas had never been partially habituated by Schaller's study; they knew humans only as [[poachers]], and it took longer for Fossey to be able to study the Karisoke gorillas at a close distance.<ref name="Montgomery138">{{Harvnb|Montgomery|p=138}}</ref> Fossey attempted to habituate the gorillas by copying their actions. Over time the gorillas became accustomed to Fossey. As she explained to the BBC in 1984: "I'm an inhibited persona and I felt that the gorillas were somewhat inhibited as well, so I imitated their natural, normal behaviour like feeding, munching on celery stalks or scratching myself."
<ref name="bbc"/>

Fossey made discoveries about gorillas including how females transfer from group to group over the decades, gorilla [[Animal communication#Auditory|vocalization]], [[Gorilla#Social structure|hierarchies and social relationships]] among groups, rare infanticide, gorilla diet, and how gorillas [[nutrient recycling|recycle nutrients]].<ref name="Montgomery149">{{Harvnb|Montgomery|p=149}}</ref> Fossey's research was funded by the Wilkie Foundation and the Leakey Home, with primary funding from the [[National Geographic Society]].<ref name="Mowat200">{{Harvnb|Mowat|pp=200–1}}</ref>

In 1970, she appeared on the cover of [[National Geographic Magazine]], which brought tremendous attention to her work.<ref name="bbc">{{cite news|last=Hogenboom|first=Melissa|date=December 26, 2015|title=The Woman Who Gave Her Life to Save the Gorillas|url=http://www.bbc.com/earth/story/20151226-the-woman-who-gave-her-life-to-save-the-gorillas|work=BBC|access-date=August 1, 2020|archive-date=June 27, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200627032228/http://www.bbc.com/earth/story/20151226-the-woman-who-gave-her-life-to-save-the-gorillas|url-status=live}}</ref>

Fossey was often hostile to Africans who entered into the protected area, even shooting roaming cattle.<ref name="bbc"/>

By 1980, Fossey, who had obtained her PhD at [[Cambridge University]] in the UK, was recognized as the world's leading authority on the physiology and behavior of mountain gorillas, defining gorillas as being "dignified, highly social, gentle giants, with individual personalities, and strong family relationships."<ref name=webster/> Fossey lectured as professor at Cornell University in 1981–83. Her bestselling book ''Gorillas in the Mist'' was praised by [[Nikolaas Tinbergen]], the Dutch ethologist and ornithologist who won the 1973 [[Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine]]. Her book remains the best-selling book about gorillas.<ref name="farley"/>

Many research students left after not being able to cope with the cold, dark, and extremely muddy conditions around Karisoke on the slopes of the Virunga Volcanoes, where paths usually had to be cut through six-foot-tall grass with a machete.<ref name="Montgomery131">{{Harvnb|Montgomery|pp=131–2}}</ref>

===Opposition to poaching===
While [[hunting]] had been illegal in the national park of the [[Virunga Volcanoes]] in Rwanda since the 1920s, the law was rarely enforced by park conservators, who were often bribed by [[poachers]] and paid a salary less than Fossey's own African staff.<ref name="farley"/> On three occasions, Fossey wrote that she witnessed the aftermath of the capture of infant gorillas at the behest of the park conservators for zoos; since gorillas will fight to the death to protect their young, the kidnappings would often result in up to 10 adult gorillas' deaths.<ref name="farley"/> Through the [[Digit Fund]], Fossey financed patrols to destroy poachers' traps in the Karisoke study area. In four months in 1979, the Fossey patrol, consisting of four African staffers, destroyed 987 poachers' traps in the research area's vicinity.<ref name="Mowat223">{{Harvnb|Mowat|p=223}}</ref> The official Rwandan national park guards, consisting of 24 staffers, did not eradicate any poachers' traps during the same period.<ref name="Mowat223"/> In the eastern portion of the park not patrolled by Fossey, poachers virtually eradicated all the park's [[elephant]]s for [[ivory]] and killed more than a dozen gorillas.<ref name="Mowat223"/>

Fossey helped in the arrest of several poachers, some of whom served prison sentences.<ref name="Mowat174"/>

In 1978<!-- In the book, National Geographic The Covers (ISBN 978-1-4262-1388-5), on page 103 it states that Dian Fossey tended to Coco and Pucker Puss in the spring of 1969. -->, Fossey attempted to prevent the export of two young gorillas, Coco and Pucker, from Rwanda to the [[Cologne Zoological Garden|zoo]] in [[Cologne, Germany]]. During the capture of the infants at the behest of the Cologne Zoo and Rwandan park conservator, 20 adult gorillas had been killed.<ref name="Mowat74">{{Harvnb|Mowat|pp=74–8}}</ref> The infant gorillas were given to Fossey by the park conservator of the [[Virunga Volcanoes]] for treatment of injuries suffered during their capture and captivity. With considerable effort, she restored them to a semblance of health. Over Fossey's objections, the gorillas were shipped to Cologne, where they lived nine years in captivity, both dying in the same month.<ref name="farley"/> She viewed the holding of animals in "prison" ([[zoo]]s) for the entertainment of people as unethical.<ref name="fossey">Fossey, Dian : ''Gorillas in the Mist''. 1983</ref>

While gorillas from rival groups on the mountains that were not part of Fossey's study had often been found poached five to ten at a time, and had spurred Fossey to conduct her own anti-poaching patrols, Fossey's study groups had not been direct victims of poaching until Fossey's favorite gorilla, Digit, was killed in 1978. Later that year, the [[Silverback#Group life|silverback]] of Digit's Group 4, named for Fossey's Uncle Bert, was shot in the heart while trying to save his son, Kweli, from being seized by poachers cooperating with the Rwandan park conservator.<ref name="Mowat187">{{Harvnb|Mowat|pp=187–190}}</ref> Kweli's mother, Macho, was also killed in the raid, but, as a result of Uncle Bert's intervention, Kweli was not captured; however, three-year-old Kweli died, slowly and painfully, of [[gangrene]], from being brushed by a poacher's bullet.<ref name="fossey"/><ref name="Mowat187"/>

According to Fossey's letters, ORTPN (the Rwandan national park system), the [[World Wildlife Fund]], [[African Wildlife Foundation]], Fauna Preservation Society, the Mountain Gorilla Project and some of her former students tried to wrest control of the Karisoke research center from her for the purpose of tourism, by portraying her as unstable. In her last two years, Fossey claimed not to have lost any gorillas to poachers; however, the Mountain Gorilla Project, which was supposed to patrol the [[Mount Sabyinyo]] area, tried to cover up gorilla deaths caused by poaching and diseases transmitted through tourists. Nevertheless, these organizations received most of the public donations directed toward gorilla conservation.<ref name="farley"/> The public often believed their money would go to Fossey, who was struggling to finance her anti-poaching and anti-[[bushmeat]] hunting patrols, while organizations collecting in her name put it into tourism projects and, as she put it, "to pay the airfare of so-called conservationists who will never go on anti-poaching patrols in their life." Fossey described the two philosophies as her own "active conservation" or the international conservation groups' "theoretical conservation."<ref name="Mowat174"/>

===Killing of Digit and escalating tensions===
{{Further|Digit Fund}}
[[File:The Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund International.JPG|thumb| The Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund International in [[Rwanda]]]]
Sometime during the day on [[New Year's Eve]] 1977, Fossey's favorite gorilla, Digit, was killed by poachers. As the sentry of study group 4, he defended the group against six poachers and their dogs, who ran across the gorilla study group while checking [[antelope]] traplines. Digit took five spear wounds in ferocious self-defense and managed to kill one of the poachers' dogs, allowing the other 13 members of his group to escape.<ref>{{cite news|last=Fossey|first=Dian|date=April 1981|title=The Imperiled Mountain Gorilla: A Grim Struggle for Survival|url=https://www.nationalgeographic.com/magazine/article/mountain-gorillas-virunga-peril-dian-fossey|work=National Geographic Magazine|access-date=July 30, 2020|archive-date=June 22, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200622000403/https://www.nationalgeographic.com/magazine/1981/04/mountain-gorillas-virunga-peril-dian-fossey/|url-status=live}}</ref> Digit was decapitated, and his hands cut off for ashtrays. He was twelve years old.<ref name="bbc"/> After his mutilated body was discovered by research assistant [[Ian Redmond]], Fossey's group captured one of the killers. He revealed the names of his five accomplices, three of whom were later imprisoned.<ref>{{cite magazine|url=http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2008/07/archive/fossey-gorillas-1981/dian-fossey-text/6|title=Dian Fossey text – P6|magazine=National Geographic|access-date=December 14, 2009|archive-date=April 24, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160424225502/http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2008/07/archive/fossey-gorillas-1981/dian-fossey-text/6|url-status=dead}}</ref> Fossey later described Digit's killing as the "saddest event in all my years of sharing the daily lives of mountain gorilla."<ref name="bbc"/>

The event plunged Fossey into depression. She isolated herself in her cabin, consuming large amounts of alcohol and cigarettes.<ref name="bbc"/>

Fossey subsequently created the [[Digit Fund]] (now the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund International in the US)<ref>This organization is unaffiliated with the Gorilla Organization in the UK, which uses Dian's name although it no longer funded her work after Digit's death.</ref> to raise money for anti-poaching patrols.<ref name="fossey"/> In addition, a consortium of international gorilla funds arose to accept donations in light of Digit's death and increased attention on poaching.<ref name="Mowat187"/> Fossey mostly opposed the efforts of the international organizations, which she felt inefficiently directed their funds towards more equipment for Rwandan park officials, some of whom were alleged to have ordered some of the gorilla poachings in the first place.<ref name="Mowat187"/>

The deaths of some of her most studied gorillas caused Fossey to devote more of her attention to preventing poaching and less on scientific publishing and research.<ref name="Mowat187"/> Fossey became more intense in protecting the gorillas and began to employ more direct tactics: she and her staff cut animal traps almost as soon as they were set; frightened, captured and humiliated the poachers; held their cattle for ransom; burnt their hunting camps and even burnt the mats from their houses.<ref name=innominate/>{{Better source needed|reason=A better source than an unattributed article by the "Innominate Society" is needed if you want to accuse someone of kidnapping, torture, and vandalism...|date=September 2017}}

Fossey was reported to have captured and held Rwandans she suspected of poaching. She allegedly beat a poacher's testicles with [[Urtica dioica|stinging nettles]].<ref>[https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/style/longterm/movies/videos/gorillasinthemistpg13hinson_a0c8cc.htm Washington Post, Gorillas in the mist film review] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170330024303/http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/style/longterm/movies/videos/gorillasinthemistpg13hinson_a0c8cc.htm |date=March 30, 2017 }} Retrieved January 16, 2014.</ref> In a letter to a friend, she wrote, "We stripped him and spread eagled him and lashed the holy blue sweat out of him with nettle stalks and leaves..."<ref name="bbc"/> She even reportedly kidnapped and held for ransom the child of a suspected poacher.<ref name="bbc"/><ref name="vanity">{{cite news|last=Shoumatoff|first=Alex|date=January 1, 1995|title=The Fatal Obsession of Dian Fossey|url=https://www.vanityfair.com/style/1986/09/fatal-obsession-198609|magazine=Vanity Fair|location=New York City|access-date=August 2, 2020|archive-date=September 27, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200927145448/https://www.vanityfair.com/style/1986/09/fatal-obsession-198609|url-status=live}}</ref> After her murder, Fossey's ''National Geographic'' editor, Mary Smith, told Shlachter that on visits to the United States, Fossey would "load up on firecrackers, cheap toys and magic tricks as part of her method to mystify the (Africans)  in order to hold them at bay."<ref>Shlachter, Barry. "A Neighborhood Feud? The strange life and gruesome death of Dian Fossey", July 8, 1986, ''Boston Phoenix''</ref> She wore face-masks and pretended to practice black magic to scare away poachers.<ref name="bbc"/>

Writing in ''[[The Wall Street Journal]]'' in 2002, the journalist [[Tunku Varadarajan]] described Fossey at the end of her life as colorful, controversial, and "a racist alcoholic who regarded her gorillas as better than the African people who lived around them".<ref name=innominate/><ref>{{cite web |first=Tunku|last=Varadarajan |url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB1015200880517583680 |title=Giants of the Jungle |work=The Wall Street Journal |date=March 4, 2002 |access-date=January 16, 2014 |archive-date=January 19, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150119112835/http://www.wsj.com/articles/SB1015200880517583680 |url-status=live }}</ref>

==Murder and burial==
[[File:Tombe Dian Fossey.jpg|thumb|Fossey's grave at Karisoke, alongside those of her gorilla friends]]
In the early morning of December 27, 1985, Fossey was discovered murdered in the bedroom of her cabin located at the far edge of the camp in the [[Virunga Mountains]], Rwanda.<ref name="People 1986">{{Cite news|last=Brower|first=Montgomery|date=February 1986|title=The Strange Death of Dian Fossey|periodical=[[People (magazine)|People]]|url=http://www.people.com/people/archive/article/0,,20092973,00.html|access-date=January 16, 2014|archive-date=August 27, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160827060711/http://www.people.com/people/archive/article/0,,20092973,00.html|url-status=live}}</ref> Her body was found face-up near the two beds where she slept, roughly {{convert|7|ft|m|0}} away from a hole that her assailant(s) had apparently cut in the wall of the cabin. Wayne Richard McGuire, Fossey's last research assistant at Karisoke, was summoned to the scene by Fossey's house servant and found her bludgeoned to death, reporting that "when I reached down to check her vital signs, I saw her face had been split, diagonally, with one [[machete]] blow."<ref name="People 1986"/> The cabin was littered with broken glass and overturned furniture, with a 9{{nbsp}}mm handgun and ammunition beside her on the floor.<ref name="People 1986"/> Her cabin had been ransacked.<ref name="bbc"/> However, robbery was evidently not the motive for the crime, as Fossey's valuables were still in the cabin, including her passport, handguns, and thousands of dollars in U.S. bills and traveler's checks.<ref name="People 1986"/><ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/magazine-30313306|title=Dian Fossey: The woman who lived with gorillas|work=BBC News|access-date=March 29, 2016|archive-date=April 2, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160402043831/http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-30313306|url-status=live}}</ref>

The last entry in her diary read:<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.dian-fossey.com/|title=Dian Fossey|publisher=dian-fossey.com|access-date=December 14, 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091227101004/http://www.dian-fossey.com/|archive-date=December 27, 2009|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref name="history"/>
{{blockquote|quote=When you realize the value of all life, you dwell less on what is past and concentrate more on the preservation of the future.}}

Fossey is buried at Karisoke,<ref name=Darkness>{{cite web |url=http://www.kirasalak.com/Darkness.html |title=PLACES OF DARKNESS: AFRICA'S MOUNTAIN GORILLAS |last=Salak |first=Kira |publisher=National Geographic Adventure |access-date=October 2, 2008 |archive-date=October 22, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181022232116/http://www.kirasalak.com/Darkness.html |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name=DarknessPhotos>{{cite web |url=http://www.kirasalak.com/PhotosRwandaGorillas.html |title=Photos from "PLACES OF DARKNESS: AFRICA'S MOUNTAIN GORILLAS" |last=Salak |first=Kira |publisher=National Geographic Adventure |access-date=October 2, 2008 |archive-date=July 4, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180704193814/http://www.kirasalak.com/PhotosRwandaGorillas.html |url-status=live }}</ref> in a site that she herself had constructed for her deceased gorilla friends. She was buried in the gorilla graveyard next to Digit, and near many gorillas killed by poachers. Memorial services were also held in New York City, Washington, D.C., and California.<ref name="Montgomery162">{{Harvnb|Montgomery|pp=162–3}}</ref>

===Aftermath===
After Fossey's murder, her entire staff was arrested. This included Rwandan Emmanuel Rwelekana, a tracker who had been fired from his job after he allegedly tried to kill Fossey with a machete, according to the government's account of McGuire's trial. All were later released, except Rwelekana, who was later found dead in prison, allegedly having hanged himself.<ref name="farley"/><ref name="Kraft-1986"/>

Rwandan courts later tried and convicted Wayne McGuire ''[[trial in absentia|in absentia]]'' for her murder. The alleged motive was that McGuire murdered Fossey in order to steal the manuscript of the sequel to her 1983 book, ''Gorillas in the Mist''. At the trial, investigators said McGuire was not happy with his own research and wanted to use "any dishonest means possible" to complete his work. McGuire had returned to the United States in July 1987,<ref name="Kraft-1986">{{Cite news|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1986-12-19-mn-3576-story.html|title=American Found Guilty in Absentia of Rwanda Killing of Gorilla Expert Fossey|last=Kraft|first=Scott|date=December 19, 1986|newspaper=Los Angeles Times|language=en-US|issn=0458-3035|access-date=April 15, 2016|archive-date=April 28, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160428130659/http://articles.latimes.com/1986-12-19/news/mn-3576_1_dian-fossey|url-status=live}}</ref> and because no [[extradition]] treaty existed between the U.S. and Rwanda at that time, McGuire did not return to Rwanda.<ref name="farley"/> His penalty was death by shooting.<ref name="nyt"/>

Following his return to the U.S., McGuire gave a brief statement at a news conference in [[Century City]], Los Angeles, saying Fossey had been his "friend and mentor", calling her death "tragic" and the charges "outrageous".<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1986-08-30-me-14231-story.html |title=Suspect Denies Killing Famous Naturalist; Conspiracy Hinted |author=Eric Malnic |newspaper=[[Los Angeles Times]] |date=August 30, 1986 |access-date=January 16, 2014 |archive-date=January 16, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140116222018/http://articles.latimes.com/1986-08-30/local/me-14231_1_dian-fossey |url-status=live }}</ref> Thereafter, McGuire was largely absent from public notice until 2005, when news broke that he had been accepted for a job with the Health and Human Services division of the [[Government of Nebraska|State of Nebraska]]. The job offer was revoked upon discovery of his relation to the Fossey case.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.wowt.com/news/headlines/1363897.html |title=Job Offer Rescinded |publisher=[[WOWT]] |date=March 14, 2005 |access-date=January 16, 2014 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140116182005/http://www.wowt.com/news/headlines/1363897.html |archive-date=January 16, 2014 }}</ref>

Other theories about her murder persist: that the perpetrators were poachers taking revenge, that Zaïrois hit men were hired to kill her for her presumed-valuable research notes, that there were political motives, that she was killed by a panicked burglar who was hired to steal a protective talisman that Fossey had taken from a poacher,<ref name="vanity" /> that her killer was hired by a person or group whose interests would be negatively affected by Fossey's campaign to prevent exploitation of the Parc National de Volcans,<ref name="farley"/> or that Fossey had potentially damning evidence of gold-smugglers.<ref name="bbc"/>

A will purporting to be Fossey's bequeathed all of her estate (including the proceeds from the film ''[[Gorillas in the Mist]]'') to the Digit Fund to underwrite anti-poaching patrols. Fossey did not mention her family in the will, which was unsigned. Her mother, Hazel Fossey Price, successfully challenged the will.<ref name="farley"/> New York State Supreme Court Justice Swartwood threw out the will and awarded the estate to her mother, including about $4.9 million in royalties from a recent book and upcoming movie, stating that the document "was simply a draft of her purported will and not a will at all." Price said she was working on a project to preserve the work her daughter had done for the mountain gorillas in Rwanda.<ref>[https://apnews.com/ad6d4dc91efe7570eacc23504461cec6 AP News Report] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170810091755/http://www.apnewsarchive.com/1988/Judge-Rules-Dian-Fossey-s-Will-Invalid/id-ad6d4dc91efe7570eacc23504461cec6 |date=August 10, 2017 }}. (January 15, 1988). ''Ruling On Fossey's Will''</ref>

In 2001, [[Protais Zigiranyirazo]], who was suspected of ordering Fossey's murder, was arrested in Belgium for his alleged role in the planning of the [[Rwandan genocide|1994 Rwandan genocide]].<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2001/jul/28/andrewosborn |title=Fossey murder suspect arrested |work=The Guardian |date=July 29, 2001 |access-date=October 16, 2024 |last1=Osborn |first1=Andrew }}</ref>

==Personal life and views==
[[File:Darwin College - geograph.org.uk - 1333608.jpg|thumb|Fossey attended [[Darwin College, Cambridge|Darwin College]] at [[University of Cambridge|Cambridge]].]]
During her African safari, Fossey met Alexie Forrester, the brother of a [[Rhodesian]] she had been dating in Louisville; Fossey and Forrester later became engaged. In her later years, Fossey became involved with ''[[National Geographic]]'' photographer [[Bob Campbell (photographer)|Bob Campbell]] after a year of working together at Karisoke, with Campbell promising to leave his wife.<ref name=innominate/> Eventually the pair grew apart through her dedication to the gorillas and Karisoke, along with his need to work further afield and on his marriage.

In 1970, studying for her Ph.D. at [[Darwin College, Cambridge]], she discovered she was pregnant and had an abortion, later commenting that "you can't be a cover girl for ''National Geographic'' magazine and be pregnant."<ref name=innominate/> She graduated with a Doctor of Philosophy in [[Zoology]] in 1976.{{Citation needed|date=October 2023}} Fossey had other relationships throughout the years and always had a love for children.<ref name="nytimes 7.15.90"/>

Since Fossey would rescue any abused or abandoned animal she saw in Africa or near Karisoke, she acquired a [[menagerie]] in the camp, including a monkey, Kima, who lived in her cabin, and a dog, Cindy.

Fossey held Christmas parties every year for her researchers, staffers, and their families, and she developed a friendship with [[Jane Goodall]].<ref name="Mowat269">{{Harvnb|Mowat|pp=269}}</ref>

===Health===
Fossey had been troubled by lung problems from an early age and, later in her life, developed advanced [[emphysema]] brought on by years of heavy [[health effects of tobacco|cigarette smoking]].<ref>{{cite news |title=Gorillas' Protector on the Hunt for Poachers |newspaper=[[The Palm Beach Post]] |via=[[Newspapers.com]] |date=October 24, 1985 |access-date=October 12, 2023 |page=B8 |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-palm-beach-post-dian-fosseys-lung-p/133354856/ |quote=A tall Californian, Fossey has emphysema. Nonetheless, she chain-smokes the local Impala brand of cigarettes.}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=Naturalist Dian Fossey Slain at Camp in Rwanda—American Was Expert on Mountain Gorillas; Assailants Hunted |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1985-12-29-mn-25922-story.html |newspaper=Los Angeles Times |date=December 29, 1985 |access-date=April 10, 2010 |archive-date=July 7, 2012 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20120707221955/http://articles.latimes.com/1985-12-29/news/mn-25922_1/2 |url-status=live }}</ref> As the debilitating disease progressed—further aggravated by the high mountain elevation and damp climate—Fossey found it increasingly difficult to conduct field research, frequently experiencing shortness of breath and requiring the help of an oxygen tank when climbing or hiking long distances.<ref>{{cite news |title=In Search of Dian Fossey's Ghost: a "Gorillas in the Mist" Pilgrimage |first=Georgianne |last=Nienaber |url=http://www.articlesengine.com/Article/In-Search-of-Dian-Fossey-s-Ghost--a--Gorillas-in-the-Mist--Pilgrimage/3214/1 |publisher=articlesengine.com |date=April 14, 2006 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110707165431/http://www.articlesengine.com/Article/In-Search-of-Dian-Fossey-s-Ghost--a--Gorillas-in-the-Mist--Pilgrimage/3214/1 |archive-date=July 7, 2011 }}</ref>

===Opposition to tourism===
Fossey strongly opposed [[wildlife tourism]], as gorillas are susceptible to [[Anthroponotic disease|human anthroponotic diseases]] like [[influenza]] from which they have limited immunity. Fossey reported several cases in which gorillas died because of diseases spread by tourists. She also viewed tourism as an interference into their natural wild behavior.<ref name="farley"/> Fossey also criticized tourist programs, often paid for by international conservation organizations, for interfering with both her research and the peace of the mountain gorillas' habitat, and was concerned that Jane Goodall was inappropriately changing her study of chimpanzees' behavior.<ref name="Mowat174">{{Harvnb|Mowat|pp=174–5}}</ref>

{{as of|2016}}, the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund International promotes tourism, which they say helps to create a stable and sustainable local community dedicated to protecting the gorillas and their habitat.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://gorillafund.org/travel|title=Visit Gorillas – The Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund International|access-date=March 29, 2016|archive-date=March 26, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160326064641/http://gorillafund.org/travel|url-status=live}}</ref> In addition to scientific research, the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund's Ellen DeGeneres Campus also supports Rwanda's ecotourism sector.<ref>{{Cite web |title=The Ellen DeGeneres Campus of the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund |url=https://gorillafund.org/ellencampus/ |access-date=November 3, 2023 |website=Dian Fossey |language=en-US}}</ref>

==Legacy==
After her death, Fossey's Digit Fund in the US was renamed the [[Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund International]].<ref>{{cite web|title=Dian Fossey's legacy|url=http://gorillafund.org|work=Biography|publisher=The Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund International|access-date=January 16, 2014|archive-date=May 17, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190517061340/https://gorillafund.org/|url-status=live}}</ref> The [[Karisoke Research Center]] is operated by the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund International, and continues{{when|date=January 2022}} the daily gorilla monitoring and protection that she started.

Fossey is generally credited with reversing the downward trend in the mountain gorilla population. Due to poaching, gorilla populations declined from 450 in 1960 to just 250 in 1981. However, Fossey's "war on poaching" saw the final confirmed killing of a gorilla in 1983. By the late 1980s, the population had risen to 280. It continues to rise, as of 1987.<ref name="nyt">{{cite news|last=Brooke|first=James|date=May 22, 1987|title=Kinigi Journal; Rwanda Gorillas Are Again King of the Mountain|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1987/05/22/world/kinigi-journal-rwanda-gorillas-are-again-king-of-the-mountain.html|work=The New York Times|access-date=August 24, 2020|archive-date=February 21, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180221175240/http://www.nytimes.com/1987/05/22/world/kinigi-journal-rwanda-gorillas-are-again-king-of-the-mountain.html|url-status=live}}</ref> Fossey's research, and the following publicity, spawned "gorilla tourism".<ref name="pbs"/>

Between Fossey's death and the 1994 [[Rwandan genocide]], Karisoke was directed by former students, some of whom had opposed her.<ref name="farley"/> During the genocide and subsequent period of insecurity, the camp was completely [[looting|looted]] and destroyed. Today only remnants are left of her cabin. During the [[Ituri conflict|civil war]], the [[Virunga National Park#Human conflict|Virunga National Park]] was filled with refugees, and [[illegal logging]] destroyed vast areas.

In 2014, the 82nd anniversary of Fossey's birth was commemorated by a [[Google Doodle]].<ref>{{cite web |title=Dian Fossey's 82nd Birthday |url=https://doodles.google/doodle/dian-fosseys-82nd-birthday/ |website=Google Doodle Archives |access-date=December 27, 2018|url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200520151137/http://www.google.com/doodles/dian-fosseys-82nd-birthday|archive-date=May 20, 2020 }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last=Staff and agencies|date=January 16, 2014|title=Dian Fossey's birthday celebrated with a Google doodle|url=https://www.theguardian.com/science/2014/jan/16/dian-fossey-google-doodle-gorillas|work=The Guardian|location=London|access-date=July 30, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191215040420/https://www.theguardian.com/science/2014/jan/16/dian-fossey-google-doodle-gorillas|archive-date=December 15, 2019}}</ref>

===In media and books===
[[Universal Pictures|Universal Studios]] bought the film rights to ''Gorillas in the Mist'' from Fossey in 1985, and [[Warner Bros.|Warner Bros. Studios]] bought the rights to "the Dark Romance of Dian Fossey", a work by [[Harold Hayes|Harold T. P. Hayes]], despite its having been severely criticized by [[Rosamond Carr]]. As a result of a legal battle between the two studios, a co-production was arranged. Portions of the story and the Hayes article were adapted for the film ''[[Gorillas in the Mist]]'', starring [[Sigourney Weaver]], who played Fossey, along with [[Bryan Brown]], and John Omirah Miluwi. The book covers Fossey's scientific career in great detail and omits material on her personal life, such as her affair with photographer [[Bob Campbell (photographer)|Bob Campbell]], played by Bryan Brown. In the film, the affair with Campbell forms a major subplot. The Hayes article preceding the movie portrayed Fossey as a woman obsessed with gorillas, who would stop at nothing to protect them. The film includes scenes of Fossey's ruthless dealings with poachers, including a scene in which she sets fire to a poacher's home.<ref>{{cite news|author=Variety Staff|date=December 31, 1987|title=Gorillas in the Mist – The Story of Dian Fossey|url=https://variety.com/1987/film/reviews/gorillas-in-the-mist-the-story-of-dian-fossey-1200427577/|work=Variety|access-date=July 30, 2020|archive-date=August 25, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200825211659/https://variety.com/1987/film/reviews/gorillas-in-the-mist-the-story-of-dian-fossey-1200427577/|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|last=Rule|first=Sheila|date=September 18, 1988|title=Luring Apes From Mist To Movies|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1988/09/18/movies/luring-apes-from-mist-to-movies.html|work=The New York Times|access-date=August 25, 2020|archive-date=November 13, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201113060910/https://www.nytimes.com/1988/09/18/movies/luring-apes-from-mist-to-movies.html|url-status=live}}</ref> Weaver [[Golden Globe Award for Best Actress in a Motion Picture – Drama#1980s|won a Golden Globe Award]] and [[Academy Award for Best Actress#1980s|earned an Oscar nomination for Best Actress]] for her performance in the film.

Fossey is considered a saint by the God's Gardeners, a fictional religious sect that is the focus of [[Margaret Atwood]]'s 2009 novel ''[[The Year of the Flood]]''.<ref>{{cite news |last=Nienaber |first=Georgianne |title=Did Margaret Atwood's "Saint Dian Fossey" Predict Current Atrocities in Congo? |url=https://www.huffpost.com/entry/did-margaret-atwoods-sain_b_301686 |access-date=October 12, 2023 |work=[[HuffPost]] |date=September 28, 2009}}</ref>

In December 2017, ''Dian Fossey: Secrets in the Mist'', a three-hour series, aired on the [[National Geographic Channel]]. The series tells the story of Fossey's life, work, murder and legacy, using archive footage and still images, interviews with people who knew and worked with her, specially shot footage, and reconstruction.<ref>{{cite web|title=National Geographic Dian Fossey: Secrets In The Mist|url=https://www.natgeotv.com/za/shows/natgeo/dian-fossey-secrets-in-the-mist#synopsis|website=National Geographic TV|access-date=November 26, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190703005042/https://www.natgeotv.com/za/shows/natgeo/dian-fossey-secrets-in-the-mist|archive-date=July 3, 2019|url-status=live}}</ref>

In ''A Forest in the Clouds: My Year Among the Mountain Gorillas in the Remote Enclave of Dian Fossey'' (Pegasus Books, 2018) John Fowler describes Fossey's remote mountain gorilla camp, Karisoke Research Center, a few years prior to her murder, telling the story of the unraveling of Fossey's Rwandan facility as pressures mount in an effort to extricate Fossey from her domain. Fowler represents Fossey as a chain-smoking, hard-drinking woman who bullied her staff and students in her efforts to hold on to her reputation as scientist and savior of the mountain gorillas.<ref>{{Cite book|url = https://books.google.com/books?id=T4nIuwEACAAJ|title = A Forest in the Clouds|isbn = 9781643131412|last1 = Fowler|first1 = John|date = June 11, 2019| publisher=Pegasus Books |access-date = December 10, 2020|archive-date = January 24, 2021|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20210124204258/https://books.google.com/books?id=T4nIuwEACAAJ|url-status = live}}</ref>

==See also==
{{commons category}}
{{Portal|Republic of the Congo|Primates|Biology}}
* [[List of animal rights advocates]]
* [[List of unsolved murders (1980–1999)]]
* [[The Trimates]] (Leakey's Ladies, Leakey's Angels)
** {{annotated link|Birutė Galdikas}}
** {{annotated link|Jane Goodall}}

==Selected bibliography==

===Books===
*{{cite book |last=Fossey |first=Dian |author-mask=2 |title=Gorillas in the Mist |url=https://archive.org/details/gorillasinmist00dian |url-access=registration |publisher=Houghton Mifflin |location=Boston, Mass |year=1983 |isbn=9780395282175 |oclc=9132014}}
*{{cite book |editor1-last=Allen |editor1-first=Thomas |editor1-link=Thomas B. Allen (author) |title=The marvels of animal behavior |chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/marvelsofanimalb19alle |chapter-url-access=registration |publisher=National Geographic Society |location=Washington |year=1972 |isbn=9780870441059 |chapter=Living with mountain gorillas |last=Fossey |first=Dian |author-mask=2 |oclc=694851776 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/marvelsofanimalb19alle/page/208 208–229]}}
*{{cite book |first1=Diane |last1=Fossey |author-mask1=2 |first2=A.H. |last2=Harcourt|editor1-last=Brock |editor1-first=T. H. |editor1-link=Tim Clutton-Brock |title=Primate ecology : studies of feeding and ranging behaviour in lemurs, monkeys, and apes |publisher=[[Academic Press]] |location=London New York |year=1977 |isbn=9780323143899 |id={{OCLC|682070368|7332815836}} |pages=415–447 |doi=10.1016/B978-0-12-176850-8.50019-6|oclc=682070368 }}
*{{cite book |first1=Diane |last1=Fossey |author-mask1=2 |editor1-last=Hamburg |editor1-first=David A. |editor1-link=David A. Hamburg |editor2-first=Elizabeth R |editor2-last=McCown |title=The Great apes |publisher=Benjamin/Cummings Pub. Co |location=Menlo Park, Calif |year=1979 |isbn=9780805336696 |oclc=398030913 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/greatapes0000unse_n7y7/page/139 139–186] |url=https://archive.org/details/greatapes0000unse_n7y7/page/139 }}
*{{cite book |first1=John|last1=Fowler|title= A Forest in the Clouds: My Year Among the Mountain Gorillas in the Remote Enclave of Dian Fossey|publisher=Pegasus Books |isbn=9781681776330|year=2018}}

===Scholarly articles===
*{{cite journal |last=Fossey |first=Dian |author-mask=2 |title=An amiable giant: Fuertes's gorilla |journal=The Living Bird |issn=0459-6137 |oclc=1783015 |pages=21–22 |date=Summer 1982}}
*{{cite journal |last=Fossey |first=Dian |author-mask=2 |title=Mountain gorilla research, 1974 |journal=Research Reports – National Geographic Society |volume=14 |pages=243–258 |year=1982 |issn=0077-4626 |oclc=1586425|location=Washington, DC}}
*{{cite journal |last=Fossey |first=Dian |author-mask=2 |title=Mountain gorilla research, 1971–1972|journal=Research Reports – National Geographic Society 1971 |department=Projects |volume=12 |pages=237–255 |year=1980 |issn=0077-4626 |oclc=1586425|location=Washington, DC}}
*{{cite journal |last=Fossey |first=Dian |author-mask=2 |title=Mountain gorilla research, 1969–1970|journal=Research Reports – National Geographic Society 1969 |department=Projects |volume=11 |pages=173–176 |year=1978 |issn=0077-4626 |oclc=1586425|location=Washington, DC}}
*{{cite thesis |last=Fossey |first=Dian |author-mask=2 |title=The Behaviour of the Mountain Gorilla |year=1976 |publisher=University of Cambridge |id={{OCLC|60364345|500444186}}}}
*{{closed access}} {{cite journal |last=Fossey |first=Dian |author-mask=2 |title=Observations on the home range of one group of mountain gorillas (''Gorilla gorilla beringel'') |journal=Animal Behaviour |volume=22 |issue=3 |date=August 1974 |pages=568–581 |issn=0003-3472 |doi=10.1016/S0003-3472(74)80002-3 |oclc=191252756}}
*{{closed access}} {{cite journal |last=Fossey |first=Dian |author-mask=2 |title=Vocalizations of the mountain Gorilla (''Gorilla gorilla beringei'') |journal=Animal Behaviour |volume=20 |issue=1 |date=March 1972 |pages=36–53 |issn=0003-3472 |doi=10.1016/S0003-3472(72)80171-4|oclc=191252756}}

==References==
===Citations===
{{Reflist|21em}}

===Works cited===
{{Refbegin}}
*{{cite book |title=Woman in the Mists: The Story of Dian Fossey and the Mountain Gorillas of Africa |last=Mowat |first=Farley |author-link=Farley Mowat |year=1987 |publisher=Warner Books |location=New York, NY |isbn=0-446-51360-1 |page=[https://archive.org/details/womaninmists00mowa/page/380 380] |url=https://archive.org/details/womaninmists00mowa|url-access=registration |ref=CITEREFMowat}}
*{{cite book |title=Walking with the Great Apes |last=Montgomery |first=Sy |year=1991 |publisher=Houghton Mifflin Co |location=Boston, MA |isbn=0395515971 |page=[https://archive.org/details/walkingwithgreat00mont/page/280 280] |url=https://archive.org/details/walkingwithgreat00mont/page/280 |ref=CITEREFMontgomery |url-access=registration }}
{{Refend}}

==External links==
*{{IMDb name|id=0287638|name=Dian Fossey}}
*[http://www.gorillafund.org/ Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund International]
*[http://ippl.org/ International Primate Protection League]
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20080701214434/http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2008/07/archive/fossey-gorillas-1970/dian-fossey-text Fossey's first article for National Geographic, 1970]
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20110725024934/http://labanimals.awionline.org/pubs/Quarterly/Fall2001/fossey.htm Murder in the Mist solved? Animal Welfare Institute Quarterly]
*[http://www.huffingtonpost.com/georgianne-nienaber/fox-owned-inational-geogr_b_112699.html This article gives some information about the degradation of Dian's relationship with National Geographic Society prior to her death]
*[https://findingaids.smith.edu/repositories/2/resources/1089 Dian Fossey papers] at the [[Sophia Smith Collection]], Smith College Special Collections

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Fossey, Dian}}
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