Farley Mowat: Woman in the Mists: The Story of Dian Fossey and the Mountain Gorilla's of Africa (Canada, 1987): 367 blz: Uitgeverij Warner Books
"Woman
in the Mists" is een biografie over de Amerikaanse gorilla-onderzoeker
en natuurbeschermer Dian Fossey (1932-1985). Farley Mowat heeft voor
zijn biografie veel gebruik gemaakt van teksten die door Dian Fossey
zelf zijn geschreven. Om deze teksten te onderscheiden van zijn eigen
teksten zijn de teksten van Dian Fossey in het boek steeds vetgedrukt.
Dian
Fossey deed vanaf 1967 onderzoek naar de berggorilla's in het Virunga
Nationaal Park in Rwanda. Zij is onder primatologen beroemd geworden
door haar baanbrekende onderzoek. Tijdens haar onderzoek kreeg Dian
Fossey steeds meer te maken met illegale stroperij die veel gorilla's
het leven kostten. Daarom ging zij zich steeds meer richten op de
bestrijding van de stroperij en werd daarmee berucht. Na de dood van
Dian Fossey werd een speelfilm gemaakt over haar leven met als titel
"Gorilla's in de mist" en met als hoofdrolspeelster Sigourney Weaver.
"Woman
in the Mists" is een uitstekend geschreven biografie die goed de
dillema's weergeeft waarmee Dian Fossey te maken had. Dit boek stond op
mijn lijst met mijn favoriete biografieën, maar ik haal het daarvan af
omdat ik toch wel een naar gevoel overhoud aan het lezen ervan. Ik had
graag wat meer gelezen over het onderzoek dat Dian Fossey deed en veel
minder over haar activiteiten om het stropen tegen te gaan en de vele
doden die vallen onder de gorilla's. "Woman in the Mists" is een boek
dat geschreven moest worden, maar het laat een wrange smaak na.
De eerste ontmoeting van Dian Fossey met de berggorilla's:
- A group of about six adult gorillas stared apprehensively back at us through the opening in the wall of vegetation. A phalanx of enormous, half-seen, looming black bodies surmounted by shiny black patent-leather faces with deep-set warm brown eyes. They were big and imposing, but not monstrous at all. Somehow they looked more like members of a picnic party surprised by interlopers. Their bright gazes darted nervously from under their heavy brows as they tried to determine if we were dangerous. They were evidently wondering if it was safe to stay or if they had better run for it.
-
Our interview lasted about an hour. Dr. Leakey did most of the talking.
He praised Jane Goodall, then in her sixth year studying chimpanzees.
Using her as his prime example, he told me of his conviction that women
made far better field students of animals than men because of their
patience and capacity to give more fully of themselves.
-
... I had no training in anthropology, ethology, biology, zoology, or
any of the other "ologies." Leakey scoffed, "I have no use for
overtrained people. I prefer those who are not specifically educated for
this field since they go into the work with open minds and without
prejudice and preconceptions." Then I brought up my age - thirty-four.
"But this is the perfect age to begin such work," Leakey said. "You have
attained maturity and won't be apt to take rash actions."
- Some five minutes of "tracking" passed before I was aware that Alan was not behind me. Perplexed, I retraced my steps and found him patiently sitting at the very point where we had first encountered the trail.
With the utmost British tolerance and politeness, Alan said, "Dian, if you are ever going to contact gorillas, you must follow their tracks to where they are going rather than backtrack trails to where they've been." That was my first lesson in tracking, and one that I've never forgotten.
- As the gorillas began to reveal their individual personalities, Dian gave them names. First, No-nose: I think she is an old female, and she is the only one I've dared to name, but this is the only way I can think of her - she looks as if she has no nose. Then came Ferdinand, her name for a big blackback, followed by a whole rush of christenings: Pucker, Mzee, Solomon, Dora, Hugger, Scapegoat, Popcorn, Tagalong, Mrs. Moses, Cassius, Monarch ...
-
Their dung, too, provided invaluable clues to a group's proximity,
size, and composition, and even it's collective state of mind. The
freshness of a dung deposit could be tested by its relative warmth and
by the numbers of flies and/or eggs or maggots on it. Different-sized
gorillas left different-sized dung deposits, so a careful examination
revealed much about the number and ages of the animals in a given group.
As for the group's state of mind - dung from undisturbed gorillas had
the same general smell and consistency as horse manure, but gorillas in
flight or frenzy became diarrheic.
-
Dian later discovered that the order from the Cologne Zoo had been
filled at the cost of slaughtering all ten adults of a gorilla group as
they tried to protect their young on the south slopes of Mt. Karisimbi.
- In this, the fifth year of her study, Dian watched the group change and evolve through three deaths, three births, and the emigration of three young females. In the detailed recording and interpretation of such inter- and intra- group changes over long periods lay the unique value of Dian's study. But, as she was well aware, it would not be possible to claim that the social relationships of the mountain gorillas were really understood until the animals had been observed through several generations.
- Dian continued to view most of the students coming to work at Karisoke with a jaundiced eye. She especially disliked their bookbound softness and their youthful preoccupations with self, which she called "me-itis."
-
Dian learned how widespread her notoriety had become when she caught a
ride back to her hotel the next day with a group of Japanese
primatologists, who told her they had heard she had trained an army of
gorillas, which she led in armed attacks against poachers.
- "Nyiramacheballi! Nyiramachabelli!" - that not-so-adorable nickname they have given me - The Lone Woman of the Forest!
-
The focus of her life had already been narrowed by the tragedies of
Digit and the Zairean gorilla baby. With the loss of Uncle Bert and
Macho, she began directing almost the whole of her energies to defending
and preserving what remained of the Virunga gorilla population.
Everything else seemed relatively unimportant. The accumulation of
scientific data now seemed irrelevant to her. Even the writing of her
book became a distraction.
- For sure, I wonder why grown men would spend their lives looking at bones when they could look at animals in life. There have to be some kind of science I'll never understand.
- Data gathering surely is important, but things haven't changed that much from the days when scientists shot everything in sight to gather data. They built their reputations then on mainly dead animals. Now they use live animals too, but the principle is the same. Alive or dead, you use the data to pile up a lot of research papers until you've got enough to get "silverback" status.
Over haar boek "Gorillas in the Mist":
- This book is about gorillas, not people. It is not even about me, and there is too much "me-itis" in it already as a result of editorial decisions. I would prefer there be no people in at all, good or bad, but I guess that's too much to ask.
-
One of the deep-rooted causes for Dian's distaste for tourism in the
park was the disturbing possibility that the gorillas might contract
human diseases from the visitors.
