But Leakey was relentless. With unflagging enthusiuasm and larger-than-life charisma, he mustered the support to send, not one, but three women into the jungles of Africa and Asia, to do what had never been done. They would live with the great apes, be accepted by their society, and painstakingly observe and record their most intricate behaviors. It would take years and impossible patience. Leakey was convinced that only a woman could pull off such a feat.

He dispatched Jane Goodall to Gombe Stream, Tanzania in 1960; Dian Fossey to Karisoke, Rwanda in 1967; and Birute Galdikas to Camp Leakey, Borneo in 1971, to study chimps, gorillas, and orangutans respectively. None of "Leakey's Trimates," as they became known, had prior academic training or experience in field biology. They were, therefore, untainted by preconceptions. It was just the way he wanted it - three driven women with blank slates.

The trimates would vindicate Leakey. All three obtained doctorates in primatology from leading universities (Oxford, Colgate, and U.C.L.A.) and established research stations that are still churning out data in 2015. This work has been hailed as some of the most important in the history of Western science, and as an aside has sparked a worldwide interest in the plight of the great apes, all three endangered.