Making Friends With Mountain Gorillas - Photo Gallery

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Making Friends With Mountain Gorillas

Originally published in the January 1970 issue of National Geographic.

/2008/07/archive/fossey-gorillas-1970/img/01-gorillas-males-watch.jpg /2008/07/archive/fossey-gorillas-1970/img/0160-gorillas-males-watch.jpg Photograph by Dian Fossey /2008/07/archive/fossey-gorillas-1970/img/02-fossey-gorillas-study.jpg /2008/07/archive/fossey-gorillas-1970/img/0260-fossey-gorillas-study.jpg Photograph by Robert M Campbell /2008/07/archive/fossey-gorillas-1970/img/03-fossey-cabin-visoke.jpg /2008/07/archive/fossey-gorillas-1970/img/0360-fossey-cabin-visoke.jpg Photograph by Robert M Campbell Two-room sheet-metal cabin on Mount Visoke shelters the author, who catches up on her notes after an eight-hour hike through damp undergrowth to observe gorillas. An African on her three-man staff chops firewood. The pit fire beside her burns day and night to dry clothes, heat water, and provide warmth in the chill air 10,000 feet up on the 12,000-foot mountain.

Two baby gorillas boarded temporarily in the cabin. To make them feel at home, Miss Fossey filled a room with foliage and installed trees. The babies played in the wire enclosure at right.

]]> /2008/07/archive/fossey-gorillas-1970/img/04-fossey-gorilla-hug.jpg /2008/07/archive/fossey-gorillas-1970/img/0460-fossey-gorilla-hug.jpg Photograph by Robert M Campbell Hairy hug from Pucker repays human kindness. Miss Fossey nursed both youngsters to health after their capture and imprisonment for zoo collectors.

"Our schedule would do justice to the fussiest maternity ward," she said of their care, which included formula preparation, burping, and bottle sterilizing.

]]> /2008/07/archive/fossey-gorillas-1970/img/05-fossey-gorilla-play.jpg /2008/07/archive/fossey-gorillas-1970/img/0560-fossey-gorilla-play.jpg Photograph by Robert M Campbell /2008/07/archive/fossey-gorillas-1970/img/06-fossey-gorilla-smile.jpg /2008/07/archive/fossey-gorillas-1970/img/0660-fossey-gorilla-smile.jpg Photograph by Robert M Campbell /2008/07/archive/fossey-gorillas-1970/img/07-cocoa-eat-leaves.jpg /2008/07/archive/fossey-gorillas-1970/img/0760-cocoa-eat-leaves.jpg Photograph by Robert M Campbell Galium. They have never been observed eating meat in the wild, unlike their kin the chimpanzees, who sometimes feast on baboons, monkeys, and bush pigs. ]]> /2008/07/archive/fossey-gorillas-1970/img/08-young-gorilla-climb.jpg /2008/07/archive/fossey-gorillas-1970/img/0860-young-gorilla-climb.jpg Photograph by Robert M Campbell /2008/07/archive/fossey-gorillas-1970/img/09-fossey-walk-gorillas.jpg /2008/07/archive/fossey-gorillas-1970/img/0960-fossey-walk-gorillas.jpg Photograph by Robert M Campbell /2008/07/archive/fossey-gorillas-1970/img/10-gorilla-group.jpg /2008/07/archive/fossey-gorillas-1970/img/1060-gorilla-group.jpg Photograph by Dian Fossey