Richy Maria Jacob
The documentary film, ‘She Walks with Apes,’ is an eye-opener. In an anthropocentric world, we barely take notice of other creatures who are also co-inhabitants of this planet. In many ways, we have made the lives of other species quite difficult. In an era where eco-feminists and other environmentalists have to continually fight to make the voices of those who can’t speak human language be heard, this documentary does a good job of narrating this concept. What is interesting in this documentary is the way in which it doesn’t merely stick to the past and its environmentalist pioneers but also incorporates the dynamic personalities who are involved in keeping the momentum going, including Biruté Galdikas.
Biruté Galdikas Always Had an Interest in Exotic Creatures and Primates
Born in Germany, but raised in Canada, Biruté Galdikas found her love for animals at a very young age. In fact, as per reports, she used to daydream about far-off forests and exotic creatures from the time she was a little girl. She thus attended the University of California-Los Angeles to study Anthropology, Zoology, and Psychology at both a Bachelor’s as well as a Master’s level. She was told of the dangers and difficulty of studying orangutans at the university. However, she was ready to take on the challenge. With the help of paleoanthropologist Louis Leaky, she acquired the financial basis to head to Indonesia. She had already tied the knot with Rod Brindamour by this point, yet her career was important for her too.
Biruté was among the first to observe that orangutans are fruit eaters and have made a detailed study of the various kinds of food they consume. This was only the beginning of other fundamental observations she made about this species of animals. Her top contributions include the number of years orangutan mothers spend nurturing their children, their behavior, birth interval, etc. To her surprise, what she also noticed was the rapid pace at which they were losing their habitats, primarily due to deforestation. The lethal palm oil plantations were turning orangutan babies into orphans. Hence, Galdikas set up a reserve to rehabilitate and release wild-born orangutans into the wild. She also raised funds through her Orangutan Foundation International. This was done so that she could buy wild forests to rehabilitate these animals.
Galdikas received Indonesia’s Hero for Earth Award for her work. The activist is nothing short of an icon as she has spent over 50 years in the forest of Borneo in Indonesia. Her determination to save orangutans from the face of extinction is strong. She has gone ahead to receive several other awards and mentions. She is also the author of several books, like ‘Reflections of Eden: My Years with the Orangutans of Borneo’ (1995), ‘Orangutan Odyssey’ (1999), and
‘Great Ape Odyssey’ (2005).
Biruté Galdikas Continues to Thrive in Her Work
The primatologist and conservationist continue to be the authority on all things orangutan even now. Galdikas, who is now 78, divides her time between Indonesia at Camp Leakey and Canada to serve as a part-time teacher at the Simon Fraser University in Vancouver. We should also mention Galdikas has three children from her two marriages. She was first married to Rod Brindamour, with whom she has a son called Binti Paul Galdikas Brindamour (born 1976). She later married Pak Bohap in 1981, a tribesman from Indonesia. They have two children – Fred Bohap (born 1982) as well as Jane Bohap (born 1985).
It’s imperative to note that over the years, Galdikas has even been featured in various documentaries like ‘Born to Be Wild 3D,’ ‘Nature,’ ‘Life and Times,’ and ‘The Last Trimate.’ Her aim was and remains to learn and shine a light upon all that there is to know about primates. So, she continues to work as the President of her foundation, the Orangutan Foundation International. In more ways than one, she also remains the only person who has invested hard and fast into understanding what it’s like for an orangutan in the wild and the innumerable challenges to stay alive in a world that is trying to take over their habitat.
Read More: Where is Jane Goodall Now?
