Understanding the Great Apes: Fifty Years with Orangutans

Members and guests will have the rare opportunity to hear fellow Phi Bete, Dr. Birute Mary Galdikas, an internationally celebrated conservationist and academic, talk about her life and work in a Zoom virtual program. She is considered the world authority on wild orangutans and their rain forest habitat, and is celebrating fifty years with the orangutans of Borneo.  Mentored by famed anthropologist, Louis Leakey, she joined the ranks of fellow “Trimates,” Jane Goodall, who worked with chimpanzees, and Dian Fossey, who studied gorillas.

Dr. Galdikas earned her Bachelor’s Degree in Psychology and Zoology, jointly awarded by UCLA, where she graduated Phi Beta Kappa and the University of British Columbia. Both her Master’s Degree and Ph.D. in Anthropology are from UCLA.  She has written several books, including a memoir, Reflections of Eden published by Little, Brown & Co. She is a Full Professor at Simon Fraser University in British Columbia, and Professor Extraordinaire at Universitas Nasional in Jakarta, Indonesia. She is a founder and President of the Orangutan Foundation International (OFI), which helps fund her work rehabilitating orphaned orangutans and advocating for the preservation of their rainforest habitat, which is rapidly being destroyed by loggers, agricultural plantations, gold miners, and conflagration.  Because of poaching and habitat destruction, viable orangutan populations are on the edge of extinction, thus the critical nature of her work.  Twice on the cover of National Geographic, Dr. Galdikas has also been featured in Life, The New York Times, The Washington Post, the Los Angeles Times, as well as several documentaries, including the IMAX film, Born to Be Wild 3D, narrated by Morgan Freeman. She has received numerous honors and awards.  To learn more about her important work, visit OFI’s website: https://orangutan.org.

This program is FREE for members and their guests. Zoom link will be included in your registration confirmation email.