Dr. Mary Galdikas
Scientist, conservationist, educator: for almost four decades Dr. Biruté Mary Galdikas has studied and worked closely with the orangutans of Indonesian Borneo in their natural habitat, and is today the world's foremost authority on the orangutan. Born of Lithuanian parents, she grew up in Canada and the USA and her life pursuit was inspired at the age of six by her library book, Curious George, and its unlikely protagonist: an unruly monkey! She earned her bachelor's degree in psychology and zoology and her master's degree in anthropology at UCLA. It was there, as a graduate student that she first met Kenyan anthropologist Dr. Louis Leakey and spoke with him about her desire to study orangutans.
Although Dr. Leakey seemed disinterested at first, Galdikas persuaded him of her passion. After three years, Dr. Leakey finally found the funding for Galdikas' orangutan studies, as he had previously done with both Jane Goodall and Dian Fossey for their respective studies on chimpanzees and mountain gorillas.
She arrived in one of the world's last wild places, Tanjung Puting Reserve in Indonesian Borneo in 1971. There were no telephones, roads, electricity, television, or regular mail service at that time. Before she left the U.S., she was told by her professors and others that it "couldn't be done"; she wouldn't be able to study orangutans in the wild. They were too elusive and wary, living almost entirely in deep swamps. Before long, however, her hard work and determination had paid off. She set up "Camp Leakey," named after her mentor and began documenting the ecology and behavior of the wild orangutans.
Dr. Galdikas has lectured extensively on the orangutans and their tropical rain forest habitat to thousands of people and numerous institutions in Indonesia and throughout the world. Her dedication not only to understand the nature of the orangutan but also to preserve the creature's rapidly diminishing natural habitat extends to the people, culture, and environment as well. After 40 years in Tanjung Putting now a national park, Galdikas has conducted the longest continuous study by one principal investigator of any wild mammal in the world.
Featured twice on the cover of National Geographic, and the author of scores of scientific articles and reviews, Galdikas has published four books, including her autobiography, Reflections of Eden. Galdikas has also co-edited scientific volumes and served as Book Reviews editor for a primatological journal. Galdikas has been featured in New York Times, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, and numerous television documentaries such as CBC's The Third Angel, Connie Chung's Eye to Eye, and In the Wild with Julia Roberts. The most recent documentaries include Kusasi, From Orphan to King; the Mel Gibson narrated film, The Last Trimate; and the upcoming IMAX film, "Born to be Wild" in 3D, narrated by Morgan Freeman.
Dr. Galdikas is Professor Extraordinaire at the Universitas Nasional in Jakarta and Full Professor at Simon Fraser University in British Columbia, Canada. She has supervised the field research of almost 100 Indonesian biology students.