The campus opened in February 2022 adjacent to Rwanda’s Volcanoes National Park, where Fossey based her research. Its efforts are stronger than ever thanks to the 12-acre Ellen DeGeneres Campus of the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund, a new multibuilding campus funded by the comedian and talk-show host’s philanthropic Ellen Fund. Nearly 40 years later, the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund continues her life’s work by funding the conservation, protection, and study of gorillas and their habitats in Africa. But even in death, she would not be silenced.
The organization attributes this growth to conservation efforts by fearless gorilla protectors like Dian Fossey, a world-renowned primatologist who studied gorilla behavior in Africa’s Congo Basin for nearly 20 years before her untimely death in 1985.įossey was found murdered in her cabin at Karisoke, the gorilla research center she established in 1967 theories vary about the motive, including the widely held belief she was killed as revenge for her outspoken crusade against the illegal poaching of gorillas. After falling precipitously in the 20th century, the population of mountain gorillas in Central Africa has increased from 620 in 1989 to approximately 1,004 today, reports WWF.
The mountain gorilla-a subspecies known for its thick fur and high-elevation habitat-is the exception to the rule. Their numbers have been dwindling for decades due to habitat loss, poaching, and disease, according to the World Wildlife Fund (WWF), which says the populations of eastern and western lowland gorillas in Central Africa have declined by more than 50% and by more than 60%, respectively, since the 1990s. Gorillas help maintain the tropical rainforests that humans rely on for clean air, crop-nourishing rainfall, and life-giving medicines. Gorillas are grand, not only in size-the largest gorillas weigh up to 440 pounds-but also in significance. Green roofs, native plants, local materials, and a natural wastewater-treatment system are highlights of the project, which employed more than 2,400 Rwandans in its design and construction, accounting for 99% of project labor.Architecture, design, and build firm MASS Design Group developed a measurement framework for the campus that evaluated mission-driven impacts in five areas: environment, economy, education, equity, and emotion.The 12-acre Ellen DeGeneres Campus of the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund continues the legacy of primatologist Dian Fossey, embodying the principles of conservation and sustainability in every aspect of its design, construction, and operation.The Ellen DeGeneres Campus of the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund in Musanze, Rwanda.
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