Pioneering Wildlife Veterinarian & Gorilla Conservation Innovator
Born 1970
🇺🇬 Uganda Environmental & EnergyGladys Kalema-Zikusoka was born in 1970 in Uganda, a nation whose remarkable biodiversity includes the critically endangered mountain gorilla. Growing up during a turbulent period in Ugandan history, Kalema-Zikusoka developed a deep love for wildlife and a determination to protect Uganda's natural heritage. In a country where few women pursued scientific careers, and virtually none worked with wildlife, she would become Uganda's first wildlife veterinarian and a pioneering force in gorilla conservation.
Mountain gorillas are among the world's most endangered primates, with only about 1,000 individuals remaining in the wild, found exclusively in the Virunga Mountains spanning Uganda, Rwanda, and the Democratic Republic of Congo, plus Uganda's Bwindi Impenetrable Forest. These gentle giants share 98% of their DNA with humans, making them vulnerable to human diseases—a fact that would become central to Kalema-Zikusoka's conservation work.
As a young woman, Kalema-Zikusoka excelled in sciences and pursued veterinary medicine at the University of London, one of the few African women studying veterinary science at that institution. She specialized in wildlife health, recognizing that Africa's spectacular wildlife faced unprecedented threats from habitat loss, poaching, disease, and human-wildlife conflict. After completing her degree, she returned to Uganda determined to apply her skills to protecting her nation's endangered species.
In the mid-1990s, Kalema-Zikusoka joined Uganda Wildlife Authority as the nation's first wildlife veterinarian. She faced enormous challenges: limited resources, vast territories to cover, diverse species requiring different expertise, and the complex intersection of wildlife health with human activities. Unlike domestic animal veterinarians who work in clinics with controlled environments, wildlife vets must work in the field under difficult conditions, dealing with wild animals that can be dangerous and unpredictable.
Kalema-Zikusoka quickly focused on mountain gorillas as her priority. These magnificent primates faced multiple threats, but disease emerged as particularly dangerous. Gorillas live in family groups led by dominant silverback males, caring for their young with extraordinary tenderness and displaying complex social behaviors. But their genetic similarity to humans made them vulnerable to human diseases—respiratory infections, intestinal parasites, even Ebola could devastate gorilla populations.
The rise of gorilla tourism complicated disease risks. Tourism was economically crucial—visitors from around the world paid significant fees for the privilege of spending an hour observing wild gorillas, generating revenue that supported conservation and local communities. But every tourist contact created disease transmission risks. Humans visiting gorillas could transmit colds, flu, or other infections that might prove deadly to gorillas who lacked immunity. Kalema-Zikusoka recognized that managing this disease risk was essential to both gorilla conservation and sustainable tourism.
In 2003, Kalema-Zikusoka developed innovative health monitoring systems specifically designed for mountain gorillas. Traditional veterinary approaches—capturing animals for examination, taking blood samples, conducting physical exams—were impractical and dangerous for wild gorillas. Capture stressed the animals enormously and risked injury to both gorillas and humans. Kalema-Zikusoka needed non-invasive methods that could track gorilla health without disturbing them.
She pioneered the use of fecal sample analysis to monitor gorilla health. Gorilla droppings contain enormous information about the animal's health: parasites indicate infection loads, bacterial composition reveals digestive health, and stress hormones show physiological responses to threats. By collecting and analyzing fecal samples from habituated gorilla groups—families accustomed to human observers—Kalema-Zikusoka could track health trends without ever touching the animals.
She trained park rangers and trackers to recognize signs of illness in gorillas: coughing, lethargy, skin lesions, unusual behavior. Early detection allowed rapid response. If gorillas showed symptoms of serious illness, Kalema-Zikusoka could intervene with veterinary treatment before diseases spread through family groups. She developed protocols for when intervention was appropriate and when nature should take its course, balancing conservation goals with avoiding excessive human interference in wild populations.
Kalema-Zikusoka's research revealed a crucial insight: gorilla health and human health in communities surrounding gorilla habitat were intimately connected. Communities living near protected areas often lacked access to basic healthcare. When people were sick with respiratory infections or intestinal diseases, they could transmit these to gorillas during encounters in the forest or through environmental contamination. Protecting gorillas required improving human health in surrounding communities.
This realization led Kalema-Zikusoka to found Conservation Through Public Health (CTPH) in 2003, an organization pioneering the "One Health" approach that recognizes the interconnection between wildlife health, human health, and environmental health. CTPH provided healthcare services to communities living near gorilla habitat, including disease treatment, family planning, hygiene education, and preventive medicine. Healthier human communities meant reduced disease transmission to gorillas.
The program also addressed economic needs. Communities often viewed gorillas as competition—gorillas sometimes raided crops, and protected areas restricted where people could farm or gather resources. CTPH helped communities benefit from gorilla tourism through employment as guides and trackers, craft sales to tourists, and community tourism revenue sharing. When communities gained economically from living gorillas, they became conservation partners rather than viewing wildlife as a burden.
Kalema-Zikusoka's monitoring system proved its value through disease outbreak detection and response. In the early 2000s, she detected a scabies outbreak affecting several gorilla families in Bwindi. Scabies, caused by parasitic mites, creates intense itching and skin lesions. In gorillas, severe cases could prove debilitating or fatal, particularly for young gorillas. The outbreak likely originated from human contact—scabies is common in humans living in poverty with limited hygiene facilities.
Kalema-Zikusoka led an intervention campaign, treating affected gorillas with anti-parasitic medication administered through dart guns. This required getting close enough for accurate dart placement while avoiding disturbing the gorillas or endangering human teams. She successfully treated the outbreak, preventing its spread to other gorilla families. Simultaneously, CTPH provided scabies treatment to affected human communities, addressing the source of transmission.
She also responded to respiratory disease outbreaks, a constant concern given gorillas' vulnerability to human respiratory infections. When gorillas showed symptoms of colds or flu, Kalema-Zikusoka assessed severity, treated serious cases, and implemented temporary closures of gorilla tourism to prevent further human contact while gorillas recovered. These interventions required balancing conservation needs against tourism revenue—a politically difficult but essential decision to protect gorilla health.
Kalema-Zikusoka's comprehensive approach to gorilla conservation achieved remarkable results. Mountain gorilla populations, which had declined to approximately 600 individuals in the 1990s, grew to over 1,000 by the 2020s. This represents one of conservation's rare success stories—a critically endangered species recovering from the brink of extinction. While multiple factors contributed to this recovery, effective disease management through Kalema-Zikusoka's monitoring systems played a crucial role.
Her work demonstrated that conservation succeeds when it addresses human needs alongside wildlife protection. Communities that benefited economically from gorilla tourism and received healthcare services through CTPH became conservation advocates. Poaching declined as communities gained legal income from conservation. Habitat destruction slowed as people understood gorilla forests' economic value. Conservation became a source of community pride rather than resentment.
Kalema-Zikusoka's research also contributed scientific knowledge about gorilla health, disease ecology, and human-wildlife disease transmission. She published extensively in scientific journals, trained veterinary students and conservation professionals, and advised government policy on wildlife disease management. Her work influenced conservation approaches throughout Africa, demonstrating how integrating human and wildlife health could achieve better outcomes than treating them separately.
Kalema-Zikusoka became an international leader in "One Health" approaches to conservation—the recognition that human health, animal health, and environmental health are interconnected and must be addressed holistically. This concept, now widely accepted in conservation and public health, was pioneering when Kalema-Zikusoka began implementing it in the early 2000s. Her work provided proof of concept that addressing human health needs could advance wildlife conservation.
She advocated globally for community-centered conservation approaches. Speaking at international conferences, she challenged traditional conservation models that excluded local communities or treated them as conservation obstacles rather than partners. She argued persuasively that conservation must improve human lives to succeed long-term, that local communities should benefit from wildlife and participate in management decisions, and that conservation investments should include community healthcare and economic development.
Her approach gained particular relevance during the COVID-19 pandemic, when the connection between wildlife, human health, and disease transmission became globally apparent. Kalema-Zikusoka's years of work preventing disease transmission between gorillas and humans provided valuable lessons for managing zoonotic disease risks worldwide. She consulted with international health organizations on preventing spillover of diseases between wildlife and human populations.
As Uganda's first wildlife veterinarian and a pioneering woman in conservation science, Kalema-Zikusoka has inspired countless young African women to pursue careers in science and conservation. In a field historically dominated by white men from Western countries, she demonstrated that African women could lead conservation efforts in their own countries, bringing local knowledge, cultural understanding, and deep commitment that outside conservationists often lacked.
She has mentored numerous students and young professionals, particularly women, supporting their development as conservation scientists and practitioners. She advocates for increasing African leadership in conservation organizations and ensuring that conservation decisions reflect priorities and knowledge of people actually living with wildlife. Her success challenges stereotypes about who can be a scientist and who should lead conservation.
Kalema-Zikusoka continues leading Conservation Through Public Health, which has expanded from gorilla conservation to address wildlife health and human-wildlife coexistence across Uganda and internationally. Her organization provides healthcare to thousands of people annually, monitors health in multiple wildlife species, and promotes conservation approaches that benefit both wildlife and communities. Her work exemplifies how scientific innovation, combined with compassion for both animals and people, can achieve remarkable conservation successes.
Dr. Kalema-Zikusoka's gorilla monitoring systems and One Health approach have helped mountain gorilla populations grow from near extinction to over 1,000 individuals, while improving health and livelihoods for thousands in surrounding communities.
Dr. Gladys Kalema-Zikusoka's legacy lies not just in the specific gorilla monitoring systems she developed, but in fundamentally transforming how conservation is practiced in Africa and globally. Her "One Health" approach—recognizing that human health, wildlife health, and environmental health are interconnected—has become increasingly influential worldwide, particularly as zoonotic diseases like COVID-19 have highlighted these connections.
Her work demonstrated conclusively that conservation succeeds when it improves human lives. Communities that gain economically from wildlife tourism and receive healthcare services become conservation partners. People who see tangible benefits from protected areas support conservation rather than resenting restrictions. Her model of community-centered conservation has influenced approaches throughout Africa and other biodiverse regions where people and wildlife coexist.
The mountain gorilla population recovery stands as one of conservation's remarkable successes. These magnificent primates, reduced to perhaps 250 individuals in the 1980s, have more than quadrupled to over 1,000 today. While many factors contributed—anti-poaching efforts, habitat protection, tourism revenue, international support—Kalema-Zikusoka's disease management and community health programs played crucial roles in this achievement.
As an African woman leading conservation in her own country, Kalema-Zikusoka has inspired countless young people, particularly women, to pursue conservation careers. She demonstrates that local people can lead conservation efforts in their countries, bringing cultural understanding and deep commitment that outside conservationists often lack. Her success challenges the historical pattern of conservation being led and funded by Westerners rather than Africans.
Looking forward, Kalema-Zikusoka's holistic approach to conservation becomes increasingly relevant as human populations grow, climate change intensifies, and wildlife faces mounting pressures. Her model shows that conservation can be a force for human development rather than conflicting with it, that protecting wildlife can improve human welfare, and that communities become the most effective guardians of wildlife when they benefit from conservation. This vision offers hope that humanity and wildlife can thrive together rather than in opposition.
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