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15 | W aterloo C hronicle | T hursday,N ovem ber 29,2018 w aterloochronicle.ca W in te rA ct iv iti es There's irony in the sto- ry of Dr. Anne Innis Dagg, whose pioneering efforts to research giraffes in Africa back in 1956 never really stood out at the time, though there's no denying she stuck her neck out. Her research at the age of 23 predated that of En- glish primatologist Jane Goodall by about four years. Yet, only now are people "going bananas" over a documentary that tells Dagg's story and that of the animals she began studying more than six de- cades ago. "It really is very good," said Dagg, 85, from her home in Waterloo. Dagg said she's fielding requests from dozens of people wanting to talk to her. "Now I'm excited, and I've had to say yes, but eventually I'll have to stop," she said. The Woman Who Loves Giraffes, directed by Ali- son Reid, premièred at the Atlantic Film Festival in Halifax earlier this year. And it sold out at the Zonta Film Festival in Waterloo earlier this month, win- ning the audience award. "Every single seat was taken, which had never happened before," Dagg noted. The film will again be screened at the Princess Cinema from Nov. 27 to Dec. 2, with weekend mati- nees added to accommo- date demand. "This is kind of Anne's homecoming," said execu- tive producer Paul Zimic. "As it pertains specifically to documentary film, the big message is that Anne went off in the 1950s to study giraffes in the wild and was a pioneer who brought back an incredible body of work that ended up turning into papers she wrote for top scientific journals." In her day, Dagg said it was rare for a woman to earn a PhD, and during her studies she attempted to become a professor. She applied for tenure to continue her studies at the University of Guelph, but was told she didn't have the proper qualifications. She applied to the University of Waterloo and was told there was no point if she had a family and husband to provide for her. A battle at the Ontario Human Rights Commission result- ed in further rejection. "We realize our proxim- ity to the universities where she had tried to go and continue her studies, but we know things have changed," Zimic said. "We want to bring Anne's ca- reer awareness to these young people who are studying out there and show them the people that have pioneered and fought their way to move educa- tion forward for women, es- pecially in the sciences." Dagg's husband, Ian, who headed the physics de- partment at the University of Waterloo, wouldn't go in- to battle with her for vari- ous reasons, not the least of which was allowing the credibility of her work to stand alone and speak for itself. "I think he was just em- barrassed and wished I'd stop it," said Dagg, whose father was Harold Innis, former professor of politi- cal economy at the Univer- sity of Toronto and argu- ably one of the most nota- ble economists in Canadi- an history. But no matter her pedi- gree, personal and profes- sional connections, includ- ing many backers, Dagg couldn't break through at the time due to a sexist aca- demic system. Instead, she wrote books based on what she'd witnessed in Africa's wild. The Giraffe: Its biology, be- haviour and ecology, is still used as a bible by zookeep- ers and giraffologists around the globe. What was the discovery that stood out most? "There was the homo- sexual behaviour," Dagg laughed. "And I remember being awfully embar- rassed. "I thought, if I told a man, I didn't know what to expect. So I didn't tell any- body (at first)." Nothing had ever been published about giraffes, let alone giraffe homosexu- ality. However, Dagg said she later wrote a paper on the subject. "You know, things like this were just an eye-open- er for me," she said. As a young biologist, Dagg travelled alone by ship to Elizabethville, South Africa. Then by car, and eventually by foot, she went to the north end of the country to study giraffes in the wild. She was the first person, male or female, to ever study animals in the wild in Africa. More than half a centu- ry later, film director Ali- son Reid heard about Dagg's story and her return trip to Africa back in 2013, when she retraced her trail-blazing journey. The Woman Who Loves Giraffes features footage shot back in the 1950s on the ranch where Dagg stayed, adding to the depth of the story and the genu- ineness of her approach then and now, Zimic said. Dagg never wanted to hurt animals, but wanted to study their movement and gait. The way they mi- grated, also their eating habits and social tenden- cies. She hadn't collected internal biological infor- mation until she was of- fered the body of a giraffe by a ranger, and at that point conducted some lim- ited studies. To this day, however, the world owes most of what it knows about giraffe beha- viour to Dagg. Following the documen- tary screenings at the Prin- cess, people can participate in a short Q and A. Dagg al- so hopes people will donate to help save giraffes, which are in decline due to war and famine in the same ar- eas she conducted her re- search decades ago. "People get displaced from their homes, they be- come migrant and walk around, and they just don't have access to the food they had before," Zimic ex- plained. "So, if they see a gi- raffe and they are all starv- ing, they say, 'Well, we have to kill it.'" If they need to kill a gi- raffe to survive, how do you fight that? Dagg wonders. "You want them (the people) to live." Like a powerful docu- mentary should, Zimic be- lieves the film is resonating with audiences, with Dagg's experiences and re- search juxtaposing a first- hand look at the devastat- ing reality giraffes face to- day. The Woman Who Loves Giraffes is now being screened in locations across Canada, and Dagg has appeared on various daytime television shows with the likes of Marilyn Denis, Ben Mulroney, and Anna Maria Tremonti, among others. The film won't be avail- able on iTunes until March. 'THE WOMAN WHO LOVES GIRAFFES' AT PRINCESS CINEMA, NOV. 27 TO DEC. 2 Anne Dagg, pictured here at home, is the subject of a documentary about her decades of research. Bill Jackson/Metroland BILL JACKSON bjackson@kitchenerpost.ca WHAT'S ON DOCUMENTARY SCREENINGS A 'HOMECOMING' FOR WATERLOO'S DR. ANNE INNIS DAGG SIGN UP FOR OUR WEEKLY NEWSLETTER AT WATERLOOCHRONICLE.CA