Galdikas was instrumental in expanding scientific knowledge on the orangutan’s social interactions, as well as in correcting erroneous observations that existed previous to her time in the field. Galdikas was tasked with studying the elusive behaviours of orangutans in the Kalimantan rainforest of Indonesia. She was an anthropology student named Birutė Galdikas. The third and final scientist to join the team encountered Leakey at one of his academic seminars in 1969. Through her work, Fossey also reported activities and behaviours previously undiscovered in gorillas. Leakey was seeking a new addition to the team for the study of gorillas in the Congo rainforest. Fossey and Leakey met in 1966, at a university lecture. The next woman to join Leakey’s mission was an American occupational therapist named Dian Fossey.
One of her more revolutionary findings was the discovery that chimpanzees make tools for activities such as feeding. In the field, Goodall quickly became aware of behaviours in chimps never before observed by any scientist. Leakey promised to fund her travels to western Tanzania to study the behaviour of chimpanzees. In 1957, he was contacted by a young English woman by the name of Jane Goodall, who had a great passion for wildlife and wished to discuss Leakey’s research with him. Leakey met and personally appointed the three women who would go on to fulfill this great vision over a period of twelve years. Leakey believed that the temperament and observational skills generally possessed by many women was ideal for this kind of research. To do this, Leakey decided to hire female scientists. Studying the behaviour of apes requires long periods of observation and extensive efforts to become accepted as allies by the apes.
His vision was to hire aides who would travel to the far corners of the world and study some of the largest families of extant apes. Leakey’s approach was to study the social interactions of primates.
The focus of his research was on human evolution. In the 1950s and 60s, paleoanthropologist Louis Leakey came up with a master plan to advance the emerging field of primatology.
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