Diane Fossey's interest in the mountain gorillas began when she was young. Diane first began studying the gorillas of the African Rain Forest at the Parc des Virungas in Zaire, but she soon had to move her study site to the Parc des Volcans in Rwanda. It was there where she set up the Karisoke Research Center. Diane began her studies of the mountain gorillas there in 1967. The mountain gorillas are endangered and are becoming closer and closer to extinction every day. Dr Fossey wanted to find a way to help these gorillas. She created a study of how all of the gorillas lived so that she could better understand them and what

might be done so that the population downfall could recover. Diane found that poaching, bad land management, and captivity were the main problems the gorillas were facing.

Population problems were also beginning to increase in the Rwanda territory. Land was becoming more and more valuable. People soon began to use the Parc des Volcans for their own personal space for farming and living. This took away valuable space away from the gorillas. Each family of gorillas needs a certain amount of space in order to survive and reproduce. Each gorilla family claims its own territory. When the territory is taken away, competition can become a huge problem, which can lead to stress and more gorilla deaths. Less land also means less food and shelter for the gorillas. Another problem Diane faced with the gorillas was zoo's wanting baby gorillas for their displays. Zoos would hire poachers to capture baby mountain gorillas. The way in which a gorilla family works is the adult silverback will protect its family until death. During the capture of these infants would often lead to just that. The adult silverback and often many others in the family would die trying to protect the young. The gorillas have no chance against humans. Without an

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Approximate Pages = 3 (250 words per page double spaced)