Gorillas in the Mist is based on the autobiographical 1983 book by naturalist Dian Fossey. Fossey is inspired by famed anthropologist Louis Leakey to devote her life to the study of primates. Fossey becomes fascinated with the lives and habits of the rare mountain gorillas of the Ugandan wilderness in Africa. Fossey develops a means of communicating with the gorillas and becomes obsessed with the beasts' well-being. She is appalled by the poaching of the gorillas for their skins. She complains to the Ugandan government, which dismisses her by explaining that poaching is the only means by which some of the Ugandan natives can themselves survive. She doesn't accept this, and becomes a animal-rights activist, burning down the poachers' villages and staging a mock execution of one of the offenders.Dian Fossey first established family groups, which she simply referred to as “Groups”. She proved that gorillas have social bonds that are very family oriented. The gorilla groups consisted of as many as two to twenty one members. These groups consisted of one dominating male Silverback gorilla; some times a few females, and possibly some Blackback males. Unlike popular assumption the dominant Silverback is not always the only Silverback in any one group, but is always the strongest and largest Silverback within the group. The dominating Silverback is usually born into his group and becomes the dominant male after the old dominating male Silverback has died. . The dominant Silverback is the leader of his group. He guides his group throughout the mountains, and he also provides protection for the younger and weaker members of the group. The dominant Silverback has breeding rights to all the females of the group. The Silverback is also the first to breed with the females of the group and often the only to breed; this insures the Silverback that the next generation will be of his seed. The order within the group’s structure is m...
