Dr Birutė Galdikas spent almost 50 years studying solitary and elusive orangutans in Borneo, at a time when no one believed it possible. Her pioneering work transformed scientific understanding of the great apes and their behavior.
She passed on March 24 at the age of 79.
Dr. Galdikas was one of three women who revolutionised the study of great apes in the 1970s – along with Dr Jane Goodall who observed chimpanzees in Tanzania, and Dr Dian Fossey who studied gorillas in Rwanda. Together, they were called the “Trimates”.
At a time when women were rarely given such opportunities in science, these three women offered a window into the lives of our closest living ancestors.
Their work helped bring global attention to the protection of chimpanzees, gorillas, and orangutans and inspired generations of conservationists.
Now, as this chapter comes to a close, the question isn’t just what they discovered, but what comes next.
This story first appeared on Mongabay
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