These gals shocked the world with their intellect and restored it with their actions. Could you be the next Dr. Jane Goodall? Why not take a leaf out of their books?

It is no news to anyone that Charles Darwin and his lesser-known counterpart Alfred Russel Wallace kick-started the naturalist movement in the 19th century with the Theory of Evolution. They were followed by the likes of John Muir, Theodore Roosevelt and later Steve Irwin and Sir David Attenborough who have shaped the way we view wildlife and taught us to appreciate the natural world.

Given their influence, it is easy to assume it has always been a male dominated field, but many of the biggest contributors to the enthusiasm environmental science receives today is owed to feverish female conservationists.

5. Rachel Carson - Pesticide Prevention

American marine biologist and author, Rachel Carson enlightened the world on the impact of harmful pesticides like DDT to wildlife and national food production.

She wrote four international best sellers, with her book "Silent Spring" renowned for revolutionising the environmentalist movement. She also achieved The National Book Award, John Burroughs Medal and various other honours including a posthumous Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1980.

Career and Education

Born in 1907, Carson quickly developed an interest in writing and by age ten her first story was published in St Nicholas’ Magazine entitled “A battle in the clouds”. After graduating high school, she was granted a scholarship to Pennsylvania College for Women where she’d choose passion over prowess by switching her English major to Biology; she became one of just three women on the course. 

Three years after receiving her zoology masters at John Hopkins University, she completed her civil service exams and landed a part time job at the Bureau of Fisheries where she was later promoted to aquatic biologist. Ten years later she quit her job to write full-time and her game-changing book ‘Silent Spring’ was published just two years before her death to cancer aged 64.

Challenges

Despite her achievements and writing ability, Carson's life was far from easy. She was forced to quit her doctorate program in order to work and support her family during the great depression and helped raise her two child nieces when her sister died in 1937. Additionally, she adopted her niece's son when she died aged 31.

She was ridiculed throughout her career by large chemical companies and government officials, accusing her of communism and describing her as "hysterical" and "a spinster". She was also labelled "emotional" for using naturalist language, but despite this sexist criticism she continued to write even whilst battling breast cancer.

Legacy and Influence

In 1972, ten years after Carson's death, DDT was banned in the US. The founders of the charities Greenpeace and Friends of the earth were inspired by her work. The silent spring institute, a facility that determines environmental causes of breast cancer, was named in her honour alongside the Rachel Carson National Wildlife Refuge.

Her work continues to be referred to in scientific studies to date and it is even known that she was planning on writing a book about the 'mystery' of rising sea levels before her death, which we now know to be a consequence of global warming.

Facts

• Carson had a dog named Rags and a cat named Jeffie

• She was queer as confirmed by over 900 love letters sent to Dorothy Freeman

4. Dian Fossey - Gorilla Guru

Dian Fossey was an american primatologist and conservationist who prevented the drastic decline of mountain gorillas in Rwanda and encouraged a global attitude shift against poaching in Africa that remains to this day.

Her remarkable research uncovered insights about gorilla morphology and behaviour that paved the way for modern primate conservation programmes.

Career and Education

Fossey was born in San Francisco California, 1932 and lived with her fashion model mother and her stepfather who was a wealthy businessman. Being deprived of attention due to their busy careers and her fathers controlling behaviour, she resorted to her love of animals to pass the time.

In 1950 she began studying to be a veterinarian at UCLA but later switched her major to occupational therapy at San Jose College when she struggled with chemistry and physics. After graduating, she worked at Korair Children's' Hospital for eleven years but always dreamed of travelling to Africa.

In 1966, she made the bold decision of taking out an $8000 loan and spending her life savings on a trip around Africa, where she observed Jane Goodall at work and met archaeologists Mary and Louis Leakey. Famous for their discoveries of hominid fossils and tools, the Leakey's saw Fossey's potential and funded her studies on mountain gorillas. She travelled back and forth to Cambridge university where she completed her doctorate before remaining in Rwanda until her tragic murder in 1985.

Challenges

Fossey struggled financially despite holding down a steady income throughout her adult life, but risking what she did have led to the life-changing trip that kick-started her conservation career. She suffered with emphysema later in life which made it difficult to travel long distances on foot due to shortness of breath but continued to work in the mountains.

She formed special bonds with the gorillas in her care and suffered with depression and alcoholism after a gorilla named digit was shot by poachers. This encouraged her to start the digit fund, now known as the Dian Fossey fund which is based in the Karisoke Research Centre in Rwanda.

She consistently fought against the ideologies of dangerous poachers and the tourism industry in order to protect primate habitats and gorilla populations. Due to these controversies, many theories as to why or who killed Fossey transpired. Her research assistant, Wayne McGuire, was convicted for her murder despite a lack of evidence; his alleged motive being to steal the manuscript for her second book.

Legacy and Influence

The Dian Fossey Fund continues to protect gorillas in the wild and,

thanks to the efforts of their team, the mountain gorilla population has risen by over 800 individuals since her death. There has been no known gorilla poaching in Rwanda since 2002. Her book "Gorillas in the mist" was published in 1983 but continues to be a bestseller and was made into a film in 1988 which made $61.1 million from box office sales.

Facts

• Fossey was known as 'Nyiramachabelli', meaning the woman that lives alone on the mountain, by Rwandan locals and it is inscribed on her gravestone.

• In 1967, she was captured by rebel soldiers during the civil war and forced to give up her land rover and cash in exchange for her freedom

3. Mollie Beattie - Wolf Warrior

Mollie Beattie was the first female director of the US Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) and reiterated the importance of biodiversity and ecosystems to human health as well as wildlife conservation.

She helped build 15 wildlife refuges throughout Alaska and developed the successful reintroduction of grey wolves in west America and Yellowstone National Park. The endangered species act and the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge are still in motion today thanks to her efforts before her life was tragically cut short aged 49.

Career and Education

Beattie was born in New York on 27th April 1947 to parents Eugene and Patricia. Her father passed a way when she was just 16 but this didn't stop her from working hard in school and attending university. After obtaining a bachelors degree in philosophy in 1968 at Marymount College, Beattie went on to study a masters in forestry in Vermont.

Between 1983 and 1990 she worked various jobs as a programme director, commissioner and land manager for rural enterprises and government organisations. In 1991, Beattie completed a second masters in public administration at Harvard. She was appointed as director of the USFWS in 1993.

After becoming director, Beattie began a golden age for conservation in North America. She immediately got to work on 100 habitat conservation plans and shifted the national priority from saving endangered species individually to the protection of entire ecosystems. She worked on numerous reintroduction programmes, including the first grey wolf in the conservation success story of Yellowstone National Park. Beattie left the role in 1996 due to ill health and died of brain cancer a month later on 27 June.

Challenges

During her early career Beattie fought relentlessly against economist views and for the preservation of environmental protection laws. She worked with farmers and rural landowners to encourage a mutual relationship with wildlife and sustainable living.

When Beattie became director of the USFWS, many people questioned whether she was up to the challenge. Being a woman in power, she faced many criticisms from senators at the US state congress. She describes her experience in an article from High Country News from 1994 entitled "Can she save ecosystems?".

Although struggling with brain cancer in her final years, Beattie made every second count and worked tirelessly to make a difference.

Legacy and Influence

Alaska's Arctic Wildlife Refuge was renamed the Mollie Beattie Wilderness in 1996 as tribute to her work. It covers 8 million acres of protected land across the US and supports numerous threatened ecosystems. It is an essential patch for migratory birds, deer and elk. It also protects the habitats of vulnerable species like the polar bear and the endangered desert tortoise.

Thousands of people working for different non-profits and refuges began to understand and implement the link between wildlife, habitats and human health thanks to Beatties work.

The human stewardship responsibility is still relevant today as we face even bigger threats to our natural life support systems. Modern scientists are consistently reiterating Beatties future-first mindset by encouraging people to take action to prevent the harmful effects of climate change on the human race.

Facts

• Mollie Beattie was made a Woman's History Month honouree in 2009

• Her book "Working with your woodland: A land owners guide" was published in 1983 and is still selling copies to date

• The Crystal Creek Pack (the first wolves at Yellowstone) was renamed Mollie's Pack in 2000.

2. Dr Daphne Sheldrick - Empress of Elephants

British/Kenyan writer, conservationist and veterinarian Daphne Sheldrick rehabilitated elephants and rhinos for 30 years and founded the Sheldrick Wildlife Trust. Working alongside her husband at Nairobi National Park, she helped raise over 230 orphaned elephants and invented the only successful formula for elephant milk.

She was awarded an MBE from Queen Elizabeth II and MBS from the President of Kenya for her efforts.

Career and Education

She was born on 4th June 1934 on a farm in the Kenyan rift valley to parents Marjorie and Brian Jenkins who had moved from Britain to South Africa and then settled in Kenya. She attended Nallaru Primary with her three siblings and then Kenya High School of which she graduated in 1950. Sheldrick was offered a university bursary but declined to marry Bill Woodley, a game warden at Nairobi National Park, aged 19.

In 1955 she landed a job as co-warden of Tsavo National Park where, despite them both being married, she fell in love with her boss David Sheldrick. Unsatisfied with her relationship, she divorced Bill and became a Sheldrick in the same year by marrying David.

During her time at Tsavo, she rescued and raised many orphaned animals from dikdiks to rhinos. After numerous heartbreaking attempts at hand rearing elephant calf's, Sheldrick finally came up with a formula in the mid-seventies which contained coconut oil as a fat substitute. She tested this on Aisha, the youngest elephant in her care and it worked a miracle on the little tyke.

Feeling triumphant with her discovery, Sheldrick returned to Nairobi in 1976 to continue her work with the animals there. However, her contentment was stripped away as her husband, David, passed away a year later of a heart attack. Following David's death, Sheldrick set up the David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust in his honour which runs elephant orphanages in both parks.

After completing her doctorate in veterinary medicine at Glasgow University and continuing her work at the trust, Daphne Sheldrick passed away on 12th April 2018, aged 83.

Challenges

Throughout her career Sheldrick was facing a continuous battle against poachers and fought hard to protect the orphans against the same fate as their parents. The loss of calves whilst working on the right formula was heart wrenching as the emotional intelligence of the elephants shone through in their mourning behaviours. Experiencing so much grief is what encouraged sheldrick to keep going until she finally found a solution that saved hundreds of lives.

Legacy and Influence

Angela Sheldrick, David and Daphne's daughter, and her husband continue to run the Sheldrick Wildlife Trust and oversee the work at the elephant orphanages. The trust also works to expand wilderness protection areas and engage in community projects in rural schools which provide food for vulnerable Kenyan children.

Various TV shows such as "Elephant Diaries" and "Born to be wild" feature the Sheldricks, the trust and their stories.

Daphne wrote a bestselling autobiography entitled "An African love story: Love, Life and Elephants" which was published in 2012.

Facts

• Sheldrick was made a dame in 2006

• Her first pet was a young bush buck

1. Dr. Jane Goodall - Chimp Champion

English zoologist, primatologist and anthropologist Jane Goodall spent 55 years studying chimpanzees in Tanzania and made groundbreaking discoveries about their behaviour.

She rebuilt the bridge between humans and primates by executing her work in a way that inspired people to view chimps with empathy and understanding. Goodall observed them by earning their trust and forming bonds that replicated those of human relationships.

Career and Education

Goodall was born on 3rd April 1934 in London. Her mother was an author and her father was an engineer, and after Jane they had another girl named Judith. As a child Jane loved animals. She would play with her neighbours dog 'Rusty', she had a stuffed chimp named 'Jubilee' which she carried everywhere with her and her favourite book was 'The Story Of Dr Dolittle.'

After finishing secondary school Goodall went to secretarial school in South Kensington and worked various jobs including as a film production assistant in order to save money for an Africa trip.

Once arriving at Kenya she stayed with a friend until she met Louis Leakey (archaeologist) who offered her a job as his secretary in 1957. After some enthusiasm and insight from Leakey, Goodall returned home to save, fundraise and prepare to study primates in Tanzania.

In May 1960, Leakey encouraged the Wilkie brothers to fund Goodall's research at the Gombe Stream Reserve and she got to work immediately. In 1964, Jane earned her Bachelor of Arts in Natural Sciences and then her PhD in ethology (animal behaviour) at Cambridge in 1966 before returning to Gombe for the next 20 years.

After attending a primatology conference in 1986, Goodall learnt about the importance of conservation. She set up numerous refuges for orphaned and ex-lab chimps and went on to create the Jane Goodall Institute in 1977. Now, she travels the world sharing her findings and educating young people, government officials and scientists to protect, restore and research the natural world.

Challenges

Initially, Goodall could not afford to go to university and worked hard in mundane occupations before finally pursuing her passion. Her early research was delayed as she contracted a bad case of malaria at Gombe and would often hike miles without finding a single ape.

People would mock Jane for her emotive language when describing chimps and did not understand the connections she had made. The academics at Cambridge were not impressed when she described the chimps as 'friends' and found it peculiar that she had given them names.

'David Graybeard' was the first chimp that gained her trust at Gombe, he passed away from pneumonia in 1968. However, without the loss of group members, Jane would not have discovered that chimps mourn and adopt the orphaned infants of their loved ones.

Discoveries

• Chimps are omnivorous - they hunt bush pigs, other primates and small mammals

• Chimps can experience grief and show compassion

• Chimps form strong maternal bonds and love for their siblings

• Chimps use basic tools such as sticks to remove termites from logs

• Some chimps kill each other and engage in wars between rival groups

  
  

Honours

• Dr Jane Goodall received many awards such as the Kyoto Prize, Hubbard Medal and Tyler Prize for Environmental Achievement

• She was named the UN Messenger of Peace in 2002

• She was made a dame in 2003