Delia Akeley
Delia Julia Akeley (* 1875 in Beaver Dam, Dodge County, Wisconsin, † 1970), also known by her nickname Mickie, was an American explorer and writer.
Life
She was born as the daughter of Irish immigrants Patrick and Margaret (nee Hanberry ) Denning.
In 1902, she married Carl Ethan Akeley the taxidermist, who worked earlier in the Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago and later in the American Museum of Natural History in New York. She accompanied him on expeditions for hunting and collecting samples and exhibits for the museum, where he worked.
Some of these exhibits are part of the most important collections of African regions of both museums, among other things includes a copy of the family of African elephants to the Delia shot for the New York Museum.
On a hunting elephants in Kenya for the American Museum of Natural History Carl Akeley was attacked by a bull elephant while he was traveling with porters and helpers. The troops believed that he could do nothing more for him, which is why they fled. But Carl had survived and was saved thanks to the immediately fled with two of the porters hurrying to him Delia. He was seriously injured, but was taken to a hospital despite the difficult transport in adverse terrain. She nursed him as he almost died on the blackwater fever. After his recovery, the Akeley returned in 1920 returned to New York, accompanied by a monkey named " JT Jr. " as a pet, they had picked up during their expedition.
Carl Akeley began in New York to take care of preparations for his scientific dioramas and became known with the likewise Africa for research purposes prepared end Mary Jobe. Delia was from their research at J. T. sequestrated, the monkey turned out not only to be quite intelligent, but also very jealous. What exactly led to this is not known, however, tensions developed between the couple that led to divorce in 1923. Carl married in 1924 Mary Jobe and then broke up with her to the study of mountain gorillas to Africa, where he died in 1926 from an illness.
After her divorce and Delia traveled from 1924 continue to Africa, but this time for his own expeditions on which they focused more on the ethnography of the retracted tribes such as the Pygmies living in the forest. She was one of the first people from the Western world, which crossed the desert between Kenya and Ethiopia, and discovered the river Tana, she sailed from the Indian Ocean from a dugout canoe. They also lived for a few months with the Pygmies of the Ituri rainforest in Zaire.
Delia Akeley died in 1970 at the age of 95 years. Your autobiographical works were called in the original Jungle Portraits and All True! . She was also one of the first authors who wrote a non- anthromorphische, but psychological insight granted biography other primates: " JT Jr. " The Biography of an African Monkey. Her achievements, the discovery of an unknown Antelope and one species belongs ..
Along with Christina Dodwell, Mary Kingsley, Florence Baker, and Alexandrine Tinne was one of the five Biographierten in the book by Margo McLoone, Women explorers in Africa.