Dr birute galdikas biography of donald

Lithuanian-Canadian primatologist, conservationist (born )

Birutė Marija Filomena Galdikas or Birutė Mary Galdikas, OC (born 10 May ), is a Lithuanian-Canadian^[1]anthropologist, primatologist, conservationist, ethologist, and author.

She is a professor at Simon Fraser University. In the field of primatology, Galdikas is recognized as a leading authority on orangutans.^[2] Prior to her field study of orangutans, scientists knew little about the species.^[3]

Early life

Galdikas was born on 10 May in Wiesbaden, West Germany.^[4] Her parents, Antanas and Filomena Galdikas, were Lithuanian refugees fleeing the Soviet occupation of the Baltic states following World War II.

When Galdikas was two years old, the family moved to Canada in ,^[4] when her father signed a contract to work in copper mining in Quebec. The following year, they relocated to Toronto, where Galdikas grew up.

Her father worked as a miner and a co