Home / Science / Orangutan Champion Biruté Galdikas Dies at 79
Orangutan Champion Biruté Galdikas Dies at 79
3 Apr
Summary
- Galdikas studied and preserved orangutans in Borneo for half a century.
- She was one of three prominent great ape researchers, called the 'trimates'.
- Her foundation helped reintroduce over 500 orangutans to the wild.
Biruté Galdikas, a pioneering primatologist renowned for her lifelong dedication to orangutans, passed away on March 24 in Los Angeles at the age of 79. She died from lung cancer.
Arriving in Borneo in 1971, Galdikas embarked on a remarkable journey to study and protect wild orangutans, becoming one of the foremost authorities on the species. Her work, often conducted in remote and challenging environments, shed critical light on the behavior and conservation needs of these great apes.
Mentored by paleoanthropologist Louis Leakey, Galdikas was famously grouped with Jane Goodall and Dian Fossey as the "trimates," women who profoundly advanced the study of great apes. She established the Orangutan Foundation International in 1986, a key organization in her extensive conservation efforts.
Galdikas's initiatives included pushing for national park status for her research area, promoting eco-tourism, and working to secure forest land for orangutan protection. Her foundation facilitated the reintroduction of over 500 orangutans into the wild, a mission that evolved from her initial research goals.
Her legacy is marked by significant contributions to primatology and a passionate commitment to preventing orangutan extinction, which she described as an "animal holocaust."
