GHOSTS IN THE MIST

Tonight I am working an overnight shift and to while away the hours I checked out the departmental library. Jackpot! Theses from everyone who has ever graduated from Cambridge's Sub-Department of Animal Behaviour. And so I found myself flipping through Dian Fossey's thesis, complete with original photos - some of which have been reproduced for her books - of her work with mountain gorillas.

Turning those pages was exciting (a little piece of history, right in my hands!) and spooky at the same time. For those of you unfamiliar with Dian's story, she was a zoologist who spent almost 20 years studying the behaviour of gorillas in Africa. She waged a public, international battle with poachers that eventually cost her her life; Dian was found murdered in her hut in the jungle in the early 1980s. Today's blog title is derived from the movie based on her life (and the title of one of her books): Gorillas in the Mist.

I was awed not only by Dian's thesis, but those of Jane Goodall (famous for her work with chimpanzees), Don Broom (one of the most prominent research ethologists and animal welfare scientists in the world), and many other of the biggest names in ethology (basically, the objective study of animal behaviour). Again, I realized that Cambridge is no ordinary place; it is academic hallowed ground. Just as I get blase about this town and university, another name, big discovery or piece of history pops up to humble me all over again.

P.S. Yes, I realize that I am a nerd.