PhRedBits

I am devastated to share the news that one of my heroes — and a woman who has had an enormous impact on wildlife conservation — Dr. Biruté Mary Galdikas has died. She was 79. I feel so grateful that I had the honor of spending time with her. Over the years, I have connected with so many of you over my love of orangutans (and elephants and mountain gorillas, of course); Dr. Biruté gets all the credit. Orangutans would likely be extinct were it not for Dr. Biruté’s pioneering and exhaustive work over the last six decades. Dr. Biruté was one of three women handpicked and mentored by legendary paleoanthropologist Louis Leakey to transform our understanding of the great apes. Jane Goodall studied chimpanzees, Dian Fossey studied gorillas, and Dr. Biruté dedicated her life to orangutans, and together they revolutionized primatology and the case for great ape intelligence, emotional depth, and conservation. While Jane Goodall proved that chimpanzees use tools, form complex social bonds, and possess a capacity for empathy once thought uniquely human, Dr. Biruté proved that orangutans are slow-breeding, highly intelligent, and extremely vulnerable. Dr. Biruté built the conservation model to try to save orangutans and dedicated her life to protecting them. Dr. Biruté is credited with conducting the longest-running longitudinal study by one principal investigator of any wild mammal in the world. She was the first to document the long orangutan birth interval, which averaged 7.7 years, and recorded over 400 types of food consumed by orangutans. Dr. Biruté’s research that fundamentally reshaped how scientists understood orangutans. Before her field studies, the orangutan was the least understood of the great apes. The orangutan population as it exists today, as fragile as it is, would not exist without her. Many conservationists go as far as saying the orangutan, our cousin, would likely be extinct or close to extinct were it not for Dr. Biruté’s discoveries and her sacrifice. Dr. Biruté took on palm oil conglomerates, illegal loggers, poachers, and gold miners. She did so often at great personal risk, including death threats and kidnapping, She remained in Borneo for over 40 years as an outspoken advocate for orangutans and the preservation of their rainforest habitat. In 1986, she founded Orangutan Foundation International, with sister organizations established in Australia, Indonesia, and the United Kingdom. We owe so much to Dr. Biruté and her incredible legacy.