Tribute to Dr. Biruté Mary Galdikas
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Tuesday, March 24, 2026
Media Contact:
Janice Gleason Skow
Treasurer of the Board
Orangutan Foundation International
(831) 917-1710
janiceskow@gmail.com
Dr. Biruté Mary Galdikas, the World’s Leading Expert on Orangutans and the Last Living Trimate, Passes Away at 79, Closing an Era of Conservation Icons
Dr. Biruté Mary Galdikas, founder of Orangutan Foundation International and world conservation hero, dedicated nearly 55 years of her life to researching and protecting orangutans and their rainforest home. She inspired millions with her message that humans are one with nature and that we must protect the natural world for our own survival.
(Los Angeles, CA) – It is with grieving hearts that Orangutan Foundation International (OFI) shares the loss of our guiding star, Dr. Biruté Mary Galdikas, after a hard-fought battle with lung cancer. Dr. Galdikas died in the early morning hours of Tuesday, March 24, 2026, in Los Angeles, California, with loved ones by her side. She was just seven weeks shy of her 80th birthday.
Dr. Galdikas’ passing marks the closing of an era of legendary conservation icons. She was the last survivor of the “Trimates” or “Leakey’s Angels,” a group of pioneering women researchers that also included Dr. Jane Goodall and Dr. Dian Fossey, who studied chimpanzees and gorillas, respectively. These three women, initially mentored and supported by famed paleoanthropologist Dr. Louis Leakey, revolutionized humankind’s understanding of our closest living relatives in the animal kingdom and, in turn, ourselves.
Dr. Galdikas will be remembered for her singular determination and passion for protecting Asia’s only great ape, the orangutan. Dr. Galdikas often emphasized that orangutans were not quite our ancestors, but almost. She intimately understood that they represent the closest living hominid to our shared ancestor, those who never left the “Garden of Eden” – their tropical rainforest home.
Dr. Galdikas began her longitudinal study of Bornean orangutans in 1971 at Camp Leakey, which she named in honor of her mentor, in what is now Tanjung Puting National Park in Central Kalimantan (Indonesian Borneo). Her behavioral and ecological research constituted the longest individually led study on a single species in history. Trudging through waist-deep swamp from before dawn until after dark, Dr. Galdikas pioneered individual focal follows on orangutans and learned more about them in her first four years at Camp Leakey than had ever been known before. Her initial discoveries, including documenting the vast array of fruit and vegetation eaten by wild orangutans, observing their record-holding long interbirth interval, and elucidating social behavior and daily activity patterns, form the foundation of the world’s understanding of orangutans and their unique place in the tree of life.
To add to this monumental achievement, Dr. Galdikas also immediately became the de facto expert and a trusted partner to the Indonesian government by establishing the first large-scale and long-term orangutan rehabilitation efforts in Indonesia. Her complete commitment to nurturing the often traumatized and abused orphaned orangutans who had been held in captivity allowed them a second chance at a life in the wild. Her undying love for these individual orangutans gave her unprecedented access into the minds of orangutans. As she cared for orphans, often simultaneously following and studying wild orangutan mothers, she was able to cross boundaries never before breached between our two species. This intimate connection fueled Dr. Galdikas’ spiritual mission to protect orangutans’ primordial existence in the wild.
Dr. Galdikas’ passion and unwavering dedication for over five decades in Indonesia positioned her as the world’s leading expert on orangutans and gave her a platform from which she passionately advocated. Alongside many other achievements, spearheading the redesignation of Tanjung Puting as a National Park and leading the first-ever Great Apes of the World Conference in 1991 brought orangutans to the global stage and solidified orangutans as an Indonesian icon and treasure. Her efforts most certainly single-handedly preserved the largest remaining population of wild orangutans that remains today.
Dr. Galdikas was a Full Professor at Simon Fraser University in Burnaby, Canada, beginning in 1981, and Professor Extraordinaire at the National University in Jakarta, Indonesia, beginning in the 1970s. She supervised hundreds of students from Indonesia, Canada, and around the world as they conducted their own field research at Camp Leakey. She taught courses on human origins, primate behavior, and the great apes to thousands of students over the decades. Dr. Galdikas traveled the world to share her experiences and knowledge, and to emphasize the urgent need to protect tropical rainforests, which constitute orangutans’ only home. Her life and work were highlighted in many films, docuseries, news articles, and other media features. She inspired and enabled countless others to pursue their own conservation efforts. She has been awarded some of the greatest accolades in conservation, including the Tyler Award, the Explorers Medal, the Order of Canada, and the Indonesian Satya Lencana and Kalpataru honors for service to the country, presented directly by the President of Indonesia.
Dr. Galdikas’ efforts in Indonesia have grown to include hundreds of local people, mostly indigenous, who carry forward Dr. Galdikas’ orangutan research and rehabilitation as well as forest protection work, all in collaboration with the Indonesian Forestry Department. Her efforts are continued through her organization, Orangutan Foundation International (OFI), and the newly established Indonesian OFI Foundation, led by her son Frederick Bohap Galdikas, who is uniquely poised to follow through with the next chapter of Dr. Galdikas’ mission.
As the last of the iconic “Trimates,” Dr. Galdikas’ death marks the closing of an era. The three heroines pushed boundaries in science, broke male-dominated expectations, and inspired generations of women and men to save our planet and to achieve seemingly unachievable goals. As this era closes, so too a new era begins. One in which it is up to all of us to take the example set by these incredible women, pull together, and preserve the great apes and the natural world that we all depend on for a sustainable future.
Dr. Galdikas’ indomitable spirit pushed her to continue working and advocating right up to the very end. Day and night, she thought of the orangutans to whom she dedicated her life. Her passion and drive to study and save orangutans have inspired millions around the world. All of us, as a part of her legacy at OFI and her large extended family in Indonesian Borneo, have made a vow to continue her mission for orangutans, the forest, and the world. It was Dr. Galdikas’ final wish to be returned to her home in Borneo and buried next to her late Dayak husband, Pak Bohap bin Jalan. She will return to the forest she loved so dearly. As the Mother of Orangutans and our consummate Hero, she will remain in our hearts and minds as we carry her vision for orangutan survival into the future.
