His Name Was Digit Trivia Quiz

Answer: Mt. Visoke

Dian Fossey had been observing, and habituating, Mountain Gorillas on Mt. Visoke for sometime when she spotted Digit in Group 4. Digit was two years old when Dian first saw him. According to Dian, "he was then a playful little ball of disorganized black fluff, from which protruded two button-like velvet brown eyes, full of mischief and curiosity." Digit was observed by Dian for over ten years, and she came to see him as nearly human.

Answer: 6 years

Digit was six years old when he had his first sexual encounter. Dian thought Digit was bashful during this experience, and smiled. When he was in fights with rival males, and suffered wounds, Dian was there to witness it.

Answer: True

In 1970, Dian was touched by Peanuts, a male Mountain Gorilla, but this wasn't an involvement. The involvement came in 1972, when Digit took Dian's glove in his hand and sniffed it, then took her pencil and notepad and looked at it for a long time. Then Digit snuggled up next to Dian and fell asleep.

Answer: No

In 1976, at the age of 11, Digit became a silverback. This brought fear to Dian, because she knew that silverbacks would defend their family group to the death. When Digit became a silverback, he was made a watchdog for Group 4. His job was to stay on the periphery of the group, assisting the dominant silverback in the protection of the other animals.

Answer: Ian Redmond

On December 31, 1977, Ian Redmond, a researcher at Karisoke, came upon Digit's mutilated body. His head and hands were chopped off, and he had six spear wounds to his body.

Answer: 6

When the poachers came upon Group 4, Uncle Bert, the dominant silverback, led the family group to safety. Meanwhile, Digit, Uncle Bert's assistant, stayed back to deal with the poachers. The six men and their dogs viciously attacked Digit with spears and clubs, before killing him and chopping off his head and hands. Digit saved his family at the cost of his life.

Answer: False

Digit fought off six men to the best of his abilities, but sadly, he was unable to defeat them. But before he died, he managed to kill one of the poachers' dogs. After Dian viewed Digit's mutilated body, she wrote: "I cannot allow myself to think of his anguish, his pain, and the total incomprehension he suffered of knowing what humans were doing to him."

Answer: Digit's head would be hacked off

Dian and Ian Redmond formulated a plan. The plan called for a poster to be distributed, identical to the Rwanda travel poster, but with one startling difference. In the new poster Digit's head would be hacked off to show that the Rwanda government didn't care about the Mountain Gorillas.

Answer: In the gorilla graveyard behind Karisoke

Digit's body was brought to the Karisoke Research Centre, and placed in the gorilla graveyard. This is a place behind Dian's cabin that had become the burial ground for all murdered gorillas. It is also where Dian was buried at when she was murdered in 1985.

Answer: Digit Fund

The Digit Fund was established in 1978, to help handle the contributions that were pouring in as a result of Digit's death. Digit did not die in vain. Because of this famous Mountain Gorilla, the world became aware of the plight of these majestic animals.

After Dian's murder in 1985, the fund was renamed The Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund. All information can be found in the books "The Dark Romance of Dian Fossey" by Harold T. P. Hayes, "Woman in The Mist" by Farley Mowat, "Gorillas in The Mist" by Dian Fossey, and The Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund.