Gorillas in the Mist

A detailed Summary of Gorillas in the Mist

Gorillas in the Mist by Dian Fossey is an excellent account of her thirteen years studying gorillas in the Virungas Mountains. Gorillas in the Mist shows the public that gorillas were not the evil monsters that we have come to think of them as. Through careful research Dain Fossey was able to bring an understanding to the eyes of the public about gorilla behavior, social structure, and the gorilla's individualism.

Dian Fossey started her research in September of 1963. Fossey's original goals were to meet the mountain gorillas of Mt. Mikeno in the Congo, as well as meet with Dr. Leaky. While her goal was to do a short-term study, but after meeting Dr. Leaky she was persuaded to undergo a long-term study. Her first attempt at this study ended badly; she fell into a hole not more than one day into her study and broke her leg. She would return to the states and then after three years return to Africa. She returned in 1966, and began her study of the gorillas of the Virungas at the Kabara Research site. A year later Fossey was pushed from Zaire by civil war and never returned to the Zaire side of the mountain range. This political unrest effected her study of the gorillas greatly. She had already establ

The gorillas that Dian Fossey studied all showed a gentle side often not seen from unhabituated gorillas. Dian Fossey stated that gorillas need for contact between members gave them a peaceful way about them. Grooming is a form of contact between group members that is not so much a way of keeping the fur of gorillas clean but a vital social skill that is used as a form of contact between members. This contact between members of a group seemed to comfort the gorillas, and add to the group's cohesion. Through numerous contacts the younger members of the group often groomed Fossey. We often are lead to think of gorillas as a fearful beast that would kill a human at the first site of them. From this research Fossey was able to abolish this myth. Why would a man-killing beast initiate contact with a human only to comfort her?

The female gorillas have a dominance pattern as well. The most dominant female is usually the one that has been in the group the longest, and spends most of her time grooming the dominant silverback. Fossey stated that groups without a dominant Silverback leader faired far worse, because they were unable to locate food as well as protect themselves from other groups. Throughout her studies Fossey's had observed numerous groups of gorillas ranging from a lone Silver or Blackback to groups as big as twenty-one with as many as two Silverbacks.

I believe Dian Fossey printed her findings into a simple and easy to read text so that just about every person that could read could get the meaning out of it. The title itself adds to the meaning of the book. Gorillas have been kept in the mist forever. There has never been a study done before like this to open the public's eyes to this endangered species. The way she writes is almost child like. Making it very easy to understand as well as making the text enjoyable to read. The tone she uses throughout the book also helps the reader to keep pushing through the text even if she sometimes gets carried away with scientific terminology. Dian Fossey skips about from chapter-to-chapter introducing the reader to groups and individual gorillas that she

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Approximate Word count = 1430
Approximate Pages = 6 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: Science