When Dian Fossey first began her work in 1967, only a few hundred mountain gorillas were left in the wild. She established the Karisoke Research Center in Rwanda's Volcanoes National Park, nestled between Mount Karisimbi and Mount Bisoke. Initially, her mission was pure primatological research, focused on understanding these magnificent creatures through habituation. Fossey patiently spent years earning the gorillas' trust, even adopting techniques like "knuckle-walking" to mimic them and make t

It’s World Gorilla Day! 🌍 🦍 Today marks the very special day that Dian Fossey founded her Karisoke Research Center in Rwanda 57 years ago – the longest-running research center dedicated to gorilla conservation. Dian originally projected that mountain gorillas would be extinct by the year 2000. Today, they are the only non-human great ape increasing in number. That’s a big win! But, we are not finished. With only about 1,000 mountain gorillas left on the planet and a rapidly declining populatio