Gorillas in the mist: Dian Fossey

When we speak of heroes, we always tend to think of either super heroes or those Hollywood super humans. But do we ever speak of the real-life heroes like DIAN FOSSEY and Jane Goodall??? Well.. that's what we're here for. After you read this article, maybe... maybe... you would adore Dian for her work, and in turn her most loved creatures, the GORILLAS.







Rwanda is a beautiful place in east-central Africa. It looked more beautiful when Dian lived there for years and years doing what she does best... studying Gorillas.

Dian became interested in gorillas after watching them in the wild and after her friend told her about those magical creatures. So she embarked on a journey to Rwanda to study gorillas after taking a loan in 1963, inspite of having breathing trouble and fear of heights. In 1967, she founded the karisoke Research Center, a remote camp rain forest nestled in the V mountains in Ruhengeri province, Rwanda. Dian instantly became a celebrity when her photo appeared in the cover page of national geographic magazine.


Usually, observing wild and untamed animals is a tedious and a dangerous task, let alone interacting with them. But Dian not only interacted with them, but was also became one among Gorilla families.

In the photo taken in 1970, on the right, a young Gorilla is seen playing with Dian Fossey. The Silverbacks (Male gorillas) and other females wont tolerate a stranger near their offsprings. Now we know how Dian used to work and her commitment towards saving those precious lives.



Here, we see Dian Fossey and a silverback huddled together. If you've watched the movie, TARZAN, you'll probably know how strong and how very protective a silverback can be of its group or clan.

Now lemme tell you how strong a silverback can be: A silverback can lift an average Sedan off the ground. Surpirised???

The same silverback is seen with Dian as if they belong to the same family. Of course Gorillas and humans are almost similar.It's just us humans that don't understand this very similarity. And yet we call ourselves superior.






During her research, Dian had developed an intimate relationship with one of the male Gorillas named DIGIT. They were friends of the best kind. Everyday Digit would play with Dian as if there was nothing to worry about.....until.... he was decapitated for the price of $20 by poachers in 1977. Dian was heart broken. Everything she had cared for all these years had been taken away from her.
She then created the DIGIT FUND with the intent to raise money for anti-poaching patrols.

Dian campaigned all her life against poaching of animals and at one point of time, went against corrupt politicians and even the govt. against their conservation policies. Fossey strongly supported "active conservation"—for example anti-poaching and preservation of natural habitat—as opposed to "theoretical conservation", which includes the promotion of tourism. She was also strongly opposed to zoos, as the capture of individual animals all too often involves the killing of their family members.

Of course, that was the reason that led to her mysterious death. It was cold blooded murder. 53 year old Fossey was brutally murdered in the bedroom of her cabin on December 26, 1985. Her skull had been split by a panga, a tool widely used by poachers, which she had confiscated years earlier and hung as a decoration on the wall of her living room adjacent to her bedroom. Fossey was found dead beside her bed and 2 meters away from the hole in the cabin that was cut on the day of her murder. The violent nature of the wound, there was relatively little blood in her bedroom, leading some to believe that she was killed before the head-wound was inflicted, as head wounds, even superficial ones, usually bleed profusely.

Dian Fossey was buried in the same graveyard which she had constructed for gorillas that were victims of poaching and illegal trading.


Finally, Dian rests in peace with her most close friends. But her work still goes on. Dian Fossey fund is being used to protect the gorillas of Rwanda today.

People like Dian Fossey and Jane Goodall are the real ANGELS ON EARTH.


NOTE: Dian Fossey started her work after learning about Jane Goodall who is also a conservationist like Dian, but specializes in Chimanzees. Jane can actually communicate with wild Chimps and even make friends with them. Sounds interesting right?



REFERENCE: Wikipedia

Slithering Satan???

"My very opening article is about this gentle, yet legendary creature of our planet: the snake. I've started with this article because, all over the world, this ecstatic creature is in the apex of misconception."


"First they are cowards. Next they are bluffers. Then they are warriors."




The above said phrase is very true when it comes to snakes. Unbelievable??? Well, believe it! Mythologies have always projected the serpent as the BAD GUY since the day Eve ate that apple from the damned tree of knowledge.

It is also pretty easy to see why snakes are a symbol of evil in Man's eyes in the today's world. They're legless, scaly, slithering all the time, they have scary fangs and so on. Some snakes like the BLACK MAMBA can even stand as tall as an average human being. They're fast, striking many a blow in a single second. They're poisonous, killing or paralyzing a huge animal in seconds and they seem to be unscrupulous.

CREEPY!

Snakes look creepy only because they use a different way of locomotion than used by other creatures. But there's a secret to it that not many of us know. Due to this trait, snakes have the ability to out swim a fish and out climb a monkey. Rosy Boas can crawl vertical rock faces. Sidewinders move sideways across desert sand dunes. Black mambas are the fastest of snakes moving at 10 to 16 kmph of speed.

SCARY EYES AND TONGUE!

Well just think of James Bond or Ethan Hunt. Imagine the cool gadgets these agents have with them:

• A night vision goggles.
• Infra red heat sensors.

Well, believe it or not, a snake has got it all. And it has got something these agents have not : Chemical sensing. It can track down its prey using the chemicals left behind by it. Cool !!!


As for the tongue, it is used to taste the air for a possible meal. Well, if you're near a serpent and you see it flickering it's tongue, the snake is just getting to know you. It captures your odour molecules and thus deciding if you are a prey, a predator or just a mate.

HISSING, RATTLING AND TOWERING:

Snakes can definitely look and sound scary but only if they want to. Snakes are not aggressive by nature, in contrast they're actually REACTIVE. They just try to protect themselves of possible enemies by warning them. Rattle snakes warn enemies using their rattles and Cobras raise their hoods. They basically want to catch your attention before you trample over them.

FINAL WORDS:

If you do nothing, the snakes will surely try to get away, and if they warn you are try to strike at you its only because they feel threatened because of your presence.


So what to do if you are faced with a deadly snake? The best ting you could probably do is to do absolutely NOTHING and let the snake get away.

MESSAGE: In India, Cobras are used for street entertainment by poor people in order to earn a living. The snake's fangs are removed, just in case it bites. But its the fangs that release venom and the venom is used by the cobra and other snakes to digest their meals. Without the fangs, and in turn the venom, you cant expect the snake to live more than a week.
So next time, you watch any such street shows involving snakes and especially cobras, please don't contribute.