Articles by Joseph Mayton
Revolutionary Zoologist Dian Fossey Remembered
Revolutionary zoologist Dian Fossey would have been 82-years-old this week had she not been murdered in her Rwanda cabin in 1985. Her life sparked a massive overhaul of how humanity views the other inhabitants on the planet and changed perceptions of the wild forever. Her memory was a call to action by many on social media websites, with many animal lovers praising the woman who helped make "animal rights cool again." For a decade and a half, Fossey studied mountain gorillas in the jungle region of the Virunga Volcanoes, a region that incorporates parts of Rwanda, Uganda and Congo. In the scientific community, she is credited with helping to change the public images of gorillas, made popular with such horror films as "King Kong." Tara Stoinski, chief scientific officer at The Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund International, told the Christian Science Monitor that without Fossey, nobody would have known that gorillas share much in common with humans, including families. "The mother gorilla shares a strong relationship with the offspring, and they mourn like us," said Dr. Stoinski. Fossey, long a symbol of the budding animal rights and environmental movements, has become a mainstay in the scientific community and a figurehead for those studying animals in their native habitats.
Oscars Go Arab with Nominations
The 2014 Academy Award nominations were announced this week and two highly popular Middle Eastern films have made the cut. Egyptian activist documentary "The Square" made the final cut for this year's top documentary, while Palestinian feature "Omar" also received a nod for Best Foreign Language Film.
