 The couple divorced in 1981 and Alan Root settled in Nairobi after the divorce was finalized.Born in Nairobi in 1936 as Joan Wells-Thorpe, Root was the daughter of Edmund Thorpe, a British banker who immigrated to Kenya to start a new life and became a successful coffee planter.Mother Lilian (Johnnie) Thorpe née Walker

Decades before wildlife films such as "March of the Penguins", Joan and Alan Root pioneered filming animal migrations without interference from human actors.