We had decided to follow one animal day after day, from sunrise till dark, never letting him out of our sight.

Now we became the first to discover what we had only suspected from occasional sightings. The large male

Aramutan does almost 100% of his long distance traveling on the ground.

This is Origin Stories, the Leaky Foundation podcast. I'm Meredith Johnson. Dr. Birate-Marie Galdicus passed away on March 24th,

26 at the age of 79. She spent more than 50 years studying orangutans in Borneo and fighting to protect them.

Before Biratea Galdicus, orangutans were the least understood of the great apes.

She changed that. She began her life's work in 1971 with mentorship from Louis Leakey and a modest Leaky

Foundation grant of $15,700 to support her first years in the field. She was the first to learn what they ate,

how they lived, how they moved, their long interbirth intervals, and so much more, including

the threats they were facing. Early on in her work, she started the first rehabilitation program

for orphaned and ex-captive orangutans.

In 1986, she founded Orangatam Foundation International to protect orangutans and preserve the

forests they depend on. Alongside her fellow trimates, Jane Goodall, and Diane Fosse,

she transformed our understanding of the Great Apes.

Her lifelong dedication inspired generations to care about orangutans and their forests and to pursue careers in the field she helped shape.

I had the honor and privilege of interviewing Biratea Galdecas in 2021

on the 50th anniversary of her study.

We're re-releasing this episode today in her honor.

When I was a child, I lived in Toronto, and this was many years ago, because you know, I'm 75 now,

and there wasn't much light pollution.

And my parents would allow me to go into our backyard.

And I would lay there in the early evening and look up at the stars that, you know, glistened above me,

...