Dian Fossey, the famed zoologist and gorilla researcher known for her book, Gorillas in the Mist (which was turned into a movie starring Sigourney Weaver as Fossey), is the subject of a worldwide Google doodle today on what would have been her 82nd birthday.
Fossey spent close to two decades studying gorillas before her untimely and brutal death. Fossey was murdered in 1985 at the age of 53. She was reportedly hacked to death by a machete.
Before she was killed, she had set up the Digit Fund, named after her favorite Gorilla named Digit, who was reportedly decapitated by poachers. After Fossey’s death, it was renamed the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund International. It continues to research gorillas, and runs the Karisoke Research Center.
Image via Google