Alongside her studies of orangutans living in the wild, she established Camp Leakey as a care and rehabilitation centre to dozens of orphaned orangutans whose mothers were shot for food, or by poachers involved in the pet trade. In the early 1990s, however, these efforts brought controversy. The orphaned apes often proved difficult to control; some even attacked guests and staff members, and there were concerns that rehabilitated animals could spread human diseases to wild populations. Though she continued with her work elsewhere, rehabilitation is no longer practised at Camp Leakey.
Biruté Galdikas’s contributions to science and conservation were recognised through numerous honours and awards. In 1995 she was made an Officer of the Order of Canada. She served as senior adviser to Indonesia’s Ministry of Forestry from 1996 to 1998, and in 1997 received the Kalpataru Award, Indonesia’s highest honour for environmental leadership.
Her first marriage, to Rod Brindamour, was dissolved in 1979, and in 1981 she married Pak Bohap bin Jalan, a Bornean Dayak tribesman, who died in 2022. She had a son from her first marriage and a son and daughter from her second.
Biruté Galdikas, born May 10 1946, died March 24 2026