Began long-term orangutan field study in Indonesia

In September 1971, Birutė Galdikas departed for Indonesia and began the fieldwork that would become the longest continuous study of any wild orangutan population by a single principal investigator. Although the exact day is not documented in the provided sources, the month itself is well established as the moment her life’s defining scientific commitment began.

This was a landmark in primatology because orangutans were then among the least understood great apes. Galdikas entered the forests of Borneo at a time when long-term, immersive field studies of endangered primates were still rare, especially for women scientists undertaking remote tropical research. Her work involved extraordinary physical and logistical barriers: difficult terrain, disease risk, isolation, and the challenge of observing a largely arboreal and elusive species in the wild.

The study she launched in Indonesia did more than generate data. It established a major base for orangutan science and conservation, helped document orangutan behavior across decades, and became a model for combining research with habitat protection. In historical terms, this September 1971 departure marks the beginning of a scientifically and culturally consequential field program that permanently changed knowledge of great apes and helped make orangutan conservation a global concern.