 FACT: Diane did not try to convince Leakey to send her to Africa,  nor did she volunteer to remove her appendix, quite the opposite: In  1966, Leakey contacted Fossey and urged her to study gorillas in the  wild as an experiment. At first Fossey was reluctant citing her lack  of experience, but eventually agreed upon further coercion. To test  her enthusiasm Leakey asked Fossey to have her appendix removed in  the pretense of health measures which she then did.