fair sex are doing amazing work in primatology , the report of monkeys , apes , prosimians , and even man . Although many are work on furthering our understanding of our close relatives , we will take a flavor at just a few of them .

1. Vanessa Woods

Vanessa Woodsis a aboriginal of Australia , a research scientist at Duke University , a author for The Discovery Channel , and an advocate forbonobos , apes that closely resemble chimpanzees . scan about Woods research in the Congo atBonobo Handshakeand followher blogat Psychology Today .

2. Francine Patterson

Francine " Penny " Pattersonbegan an experiment as a graduate student in 1972 . Almost 40 year later , the experimentation is still going ! Patterson received permission from the San Francisco Zoo to wreak with aone - year - older gorillaon language learning . So Patterson began training little Koko to expend American Sign Language . The Gorilla gorilla start using words within a couple of weeks , and now has a vocabulary of over a one thousand intelligence in"Gorilla Sign Language " , a slightly modified frame of American Sign Language . lick with Koko led Patterson to foundThe Gorilla Foundation , a non - profit organisation dedicate to the preservation of the lowland Gorilla gorilla .

3. Sue Savage-Rumbaugh

Sue Savage - Rumbaughspent 30 long time as a language researcher at the University of Georgia , during which clip she taught a bonobo namedKanzitocommunicatethrough the habit of pictograms . Savage - Rumbaugh is now doing words enquiry atThe Great Ape Trust , a inquiry gist in Des Moines , Iowa . The trust is home to six bonobos and six orangutans .

4. Claudine Andre

Claudine Andreis a Belgian research worker who grew up in the Congo . She volunteer at the Kinshasa Zoo and became enamored with Pan paniscus . In 1994 she foundedLola Ya Bonobo , a asylum for orphan Pan paniscus in the Democratic Republic of Congo . The 60 pygmy chimpanzee sheltered there were mostlyconfiscated from poachers . Andre also foundedFriends of Bonobosto support the sanctuary and is essay to find style to return orphaned imitator to the natural state .

5. Sarah Hrdy

Sarah B. Hrdyis an anthropologist with the University of California at Davis . Her research into human organic evolution led her to canvas prelate , starting with the demeanor ofHamuman Langursin India . Since then , Hrdy uses other archpriest as well to develop theories that contribute to the investigation ofhuman sociobiologyand evolution . Despite a shortage of vowels , she has written ahalf - dozen bookson the subject ofmotherhoodin human and other primates .

6. Sally Boysen

Sally Boysenis a psychology professor at Ohio State University . She analyse cognitive development in great emulator , peculiarly themathematicalabilities of chimpanzee . She begin learn chimpanzees to count in 1984 . She afterward worked onteach several chimps to read , including one namedSheeba , who inhabit with Boysen for almost all her life .

7. Mireya Mayor

Mireya Mayoris an anthropologist who studies primates and other wildlife in Africa . In 2000 , she observe a mouse lemur that is theworld ’s minuscule prelate , a find that led to the establishment ofa interior park in Madagascarto economize the tiny animal . A formerMiami Dolphins cheerleader , Mayor welcome her Ph.D. from Stony Brook University in 2008 . She is a host atNat Geo Wildwhere her showMystery Gorillasis now run . Mayor ’s new seriesWild Nightswill premier in August . Her escapade will be chronicle in a forthcomingbook .

8. Birute Galdikas

Birute Galdikashas dedicate her aliveness to orang ; their subject area , protection , and conservation . She was born in Germany to Lithuanian parents and grew up in Toronto . Galdikas welcome herPhD in anthropologyat UCLA . She launched her dream of studying orangs in Borneo with the help of renowned anthropologist Louis Leakey in 1971 , and became one of " Leakey ’s Angels " . Since then , Galdikas has been based in Asia . She foundedThe Orangutan Foundation Internationalin 1986 to fund orangutan inquiry . Galdikas is n’t a grinder to everyone in Indonesia , where she struggle for acreage to be set away for the apes , and fights against those who wish to use the land formore profitable endeavors . She is now a citizen of Indonesia , but spends a few months every twelvemonth pedagogy at Simon Fraser University in Burnaby , British Columbia . She is also a full professor at Universitas Nasional in Jakarta .

9. Dian Fossey

Dian Fosseywas another ofLeakey ’s Angels . Fossey lived in Rwanda for 18 years studying the mountain gorilla in its natural habitat . She come on and befriended a colony of gorillas , gaining their corporate trust over time , and was even accepted as a penis of their chemical group . Over the years , Fossey wrote about her relationship with the gorillas , which lead to the supporting of her work throughthe Digit Fund(named after her preferent jejune Gorilla gorilla ) , which later grew into the organizationThe Gorilla Fund . Fossey ’s conservation effort were not receive by Ruandan poacher , whom she fought tooth and nail . She was found murdered in her cabin in 1985 . The crime was never work out . Fossey had already compose the bookGorillas in the Mist , which becamea major apparent motion picturein 1988 .

10. Jane Goodall

The third phallus of Leakey ’s Angels here , Jane Goodallis currently the Prime Minister authority on chimpanzees . Goodall first move to Africa from her native England in 1957 . There , she contact and impress Louis Leakey , who hired her to do research on chimpanzee . Goodall began her research at Gombe , Tanganyika ( now Tanzania ) . Over the years , she documented the societal structure of a chimpanzee colony and reported on it for National Geographic Magazine . Goodall foundedthe Jane Goodall Institutein 1977 . The foundation works to conserve area where chimpanzees can flourish , and funds explore into our apprehension of these apes who are so close related to to us . In 1994 , Goodall also foundedTACARE , an organisation dedicate to help the masses of Tanzania . Now 76 , she travels the world to educate people about emulator and upgrade funds for chimpanzee conservation .

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