Google marked Dian Fossey’s 82nd birthday today.  Dian was one of the earliest zoologists to document the lives of Mountain Gorillas in central Africa.  In 1970 she published an article in National Geographic called “Making Friends With Mountain Gorillas”.  The article is one of the first to tell the story of everyday gorilla life.

In 1983 she published Gorillas in the Mist, a memoir that combined her scientific work with her personal experiences.  The book was made into the 1988 film of the same name, starring Sigourney Weaver.

Among her legacies was to launch the Digit Fund, a charitable organization named for one of her favourite gorilla research subjects.  After her death in 1985, the fund evolved into Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund in the United States and the Gorilla Organization in Europe.

If this sounds like good fodder for a graphic novel, then look no further than Primates: The Fearless Science of Jane Goodall, Dian Fossey, and Birute Galdikas written by Jim Ottaviani and drawn by Maris Wicks.