Jane Goodall's father gave her a stuffed toy chimpanzee called Jubilee for her first birthday. It became her favorite toy, foreshadowing her life's work.
Gallery of Jane Goodall
1942
Bournemouth, United Kingdom
Young Jane Goodall atop Daniel at Bushel's riding stable in Bournemouth, England. Eight-year-old Jane did chores at a stable near her home in Bournemouth to pay for riding lessons.
Gallery of Jane Goodall
The Goodall family at the Birches during World War II. Jane, Judy, father Mortimer, and mother Vanne.
Gallery of Jane Goodall
Young Jane Goodall
Gallery of Jane Goodall
Young Jane Goodall
Gallery of Jane Goodall
Bournemouth, United Kingdom
Jane Goodall with her kitten, Figaro, at her childhood home in Bournemouth, England.
College/University
Career
Gallery of Jane Goodall
1964
Jane Goodall with her husband Baron Hugo Van Lawick (Photo by Bentley Archive)
Gallery of Jane Goodall
1964
Jane Goodall with her husband Baron Hugo Van Lawick. (Photo by Bentley Archive)
Gallery of Jane Goodall
1964
3001 Connecticut Ave NW, Washington, DC 20008, United States
British primatologist Jane Goodall at the National Zoo in Washington DC with the zoo's eleven-month-old chimpanzee Lulu, 29th February 1964. (Photo by Popperfoto)
Gallery of Jane Goodall
1964
64 Cheyne Walk, Chelsea, London SW3 5LT, United Kingdom
British primatologist Jane Goodall marries wildlife photographer Hugo Arndt Rodolf, Baron van Lawick at the Chelsea Old Church in London, 28th March 1964. (Photo by Keystone)
Gallery of Jane Goodall
1965
Gombe Stream National Park, Tanzania
Jane Goodall appears in the television special "Miss Goodall and the World of Chimpanzees" originally broadcast on CBS, Wednesday, December 22, 1965. (Photo by CBS)
Gallery of Jane Goodall
1965
Gombe Stream National Park, Tanzania
Jane Goodall appears in the television special "Miss Goodall and the World of Chimpanzees" originally broadcast on CBS, Wednesday, December 22, 1965. Location, Gombe Stream National Park, Tanzania. (Photo by CBS)
Gallery of Jane Goodall
1965
Gombe Stream National Park, Tanzania
Jane Goodall appears in the television special "Miss Goodall and the World of Chimpanzees" originally broadcast on CBS, Wednesday, December 22, 1965. Location, Gombe Stream National Park, Tanzania. (Photo by CBS)
Gallery of Jane Goodall
1972
Gombe Stream National Park, Tanzania
Jane Goodall with one of her research subjects in the Gombe National Park in northern Tanzania.
Gallery of Jane Goodall
1974
British ethologist Jane Goodall sits outdoors and studies an African baboon, 1974. (Photo by Fotos International)
Gallery of Jane Goodall
1974
Tanzania
British ethologist Jane Goodall and an unidentified man stand outdoors observing a field of African baboons, 1974. (Photo by Fotos International)
Gallery of Jane Goodall
1974
Tanzania
Portrait of British anthropologist and expert on chimpanzees Jane Goodall standing outdoors in shorts and running her fingers through the hair of her seven-year-old son, Hugo Eric Louis Lawick, in the Gombe Reserve, east-central Africa. (Photo by Hulton Archive)
Gallery of Jane Goodall
1974
Tanzania
Portrait of British zoologist Jane Goodall watching her photographer husband, Baron Hugo Von Lawick, adjust a camera, to which a baboon is clinging, in the Gombe Reserve, east-central Africa. (Photo by Hulton Archive)
Gallery of Jane Goodall
1974
British anthropologist and primatologist Jane Goodall. (Photo by Fotos International)
Gallery of Jane Goodall
1976
Jane Goodall, English primatologist, ethologist, and anthropologist in 1976. (Photo by Apic)
Gallery of Jane Goodall
1987
Tanzania
Scientist Jane Goodall studies the behavior of a chimpanzee during her research on February 15, 1987, in Tanzania. (Photo by Penelope Breese)
Gallery of Jane Goodall
1987
Tanzania
Scientist Jane Goodall studies the behavior of a chimpanzee during her research on February 15, 1987, in Tanzania. (Photo by Penelope Breese)
Gallery of Jane Goodall
1987
Los Angeles, California, United States
Scientist Jane Goodall with the Tyler Award she had just received on May 2, 1987, in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Ann Summa)
Gallery of Jane Goodall
1995
Jane Goodall, English primatologist, ethologist, and anthropologist, with a chimpanzee in her arms, c. 1995 (Photo by Apic)
Gallery of Jane Goodall
1998
2901 Osceola Pkwy, Orlando, FL 32830, United States
Casual portrait of gorilla specialist Jane Goodall at Disney's Animal Kingdom opening. (Photo by Ray Fisher/The LIFE Images Collection)
Gallery of Jane Goodall
2002
9712 CP Groningen, Netherlands
British environmentalist Jane Goodall poses for a portrait at the garden of Groningen University at the Sharing the Planet conference on June 14, 2002, in Groningen, Netherlands. (Photo by Michel Porro)
Gallery of Jane Goodall
2002
1776 D St NW, Washington, DC 20006, United States
Jane Goodall gives her National Geographic lecture at DAR Constitution Hall on April 11, 2002, in Washington, DC. Goodall's first lecture for National Geographic was held at Constitution Hall decades before. (Photo by David S. Holloway)
Gallery of Jane Goodall
2003
Avondale, Pennsylvania, United States
Jane Goodall speaks to a Roots and Shoots group on October 3, 2003, in Avondale, Pennsylvania. (Photo by David S. Holloway)
Gallery of Jane Goodall
2003
1595 Spring Hill Rd #550, Vienna, VA 22182, United States
Jane Goodall poses for photos at the Jane Goodall Institute on February 18, 2003, in Silver Spring, Maryland. The Jane Goodall Institute has since moved its headquarters to Arlington, Virginia. (Photo by David S. Holloway)
Gallery of Jane Goodall
2006
Bradleys Head Rd, Mosman NSW 2088, Australia
A Chimpanzee jumps at a glass screen as primatologist Jane Goodall holds a press conference at Taronga Zoo on July 14, 2006, in Sydney, Australia. (Photo by Ian Waldie)
Gallery of Jane Goodall
2009
Broadway &, Whitehall St, New York, NY 10004, United States
Jane Goodall, Founder of the Jane Goodall Institute and a UN Messenger of Peace speaks at Jane Goodall's Roots & Shoots International Day of Peace at Bowling Green Park and Liberty Island on September 20, 2009, in New York City. (Photo by Duffy-Marie Arnoult)
Gallery of Jane Goodall
2010
555 Xizang Middle Rd, Huangpu, Shanghai, China
Jane Goodall, British primatologist, ethologist, anthropologist, and UN Messenger of Peace attends a semi-centennial global celebration of her work at Marriott Hotel on September 26, 2010, in Shanghai, China. (Photo by Visual China Group)
Gallery of Jane Goodall
2015
701 Mission St, San Francisco, CA 94103, United States
Primatologist and anthropologist Jane Goodall attends the Vanity Fair New Establishment Summit at Yerba Buena Center for the Arts on October 7, 2015, in San Francisco, California. (Photo by Michael Kovac)
Gallery of Jane Goodall
2016
760 United Nations Plaza Manhattan, New York City, New York 10017 United States
Jane Goodall and actor Leonardo DiCaprio at the General Assembly before the United Nations Peace Bell Ceremony held every year on this day in the Japanese Garden on the grounds of United Nations Headquarters. (Photo by Giles Clarke)
Gallery of Jane Goodall
2018
Exeter Cres, Bournemouth BH2 5DD, United Kingdom
Jane Goodall attends a special screening of BAFTA-nominated National Geographic documentary "Jane" in her hometown at Odeon Bournemouth on January 9, 2018, in Bournemouth, United Kingdom. (Photo by Jeff Spicer)
Gallery of Jane Goodall
2019
1998 Broadway, New York, NY 10023, United States
Jane Goodall attends Disneynature and The Cinema Society host a special screening of "Penguins" at AMC Lincoln Square Theater on April 14, 2019, in New York City. (Photo by Paul Bruinooge)
Gallery of Jane Goodall
2019
6121 Sunset Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90028, United States
Jane Goodall attends the National Geographic Documentary Films' premiere of "Sea of Shadows" at NeueHouse Los Angeles on July 10, 2019, in Hollywood, California. (Photo by Jean Baptiste Lacroix)
Gallery of Jane Goodall
2019
Windsor SL4 1NJ, United Kingdom
Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex, and Jane Goodall hold hands as he attends Dr. Jane Goodall's Roots & Shoots Global Leadership Meeting at Windsor Castle on July 23, 2019, in Windsor, England. (Photo by Kirsty Wigglesworth)
Gallery of Jane Goodall
2019
6121 Sunset Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90028, United States
Jane Goodall attends the National Geographic Documentary Films' premiere of "Sea of Shadows" at NeueHouse Los Angeles on July 10, 2019, in Hollywood, California. (Photo by David Livingston)
Jane Goodall's father gave her a stuffed toy chimpanzee called Jubilee for her first birthday. It became her favorite toy, foreshadowing her life's work.
Young Jane Goodall atop Daniel at Bushel's riding stable in Bournemouth, England. Eight-year-old Jane did chores at a stable near her home in Bournemouth to pay for riding lessons.
3001 Connecticut Ave NW, Washington, DC 20008, United States
British primatologist Jane Goodall at the National Zoo in Washington DC with the zoo's eleven-month-old chimpanzee Lulu, 29th February 1964. (Photo by Popperfoto)
64 Cheyne Walk, Chelsea, London SW3 5LT, United Kingdom
British primatologist Jane Goodall marries wildlife photographer Hugo Arndt Rodolf, Baron van Lawick at the Chelsea Old Church in London, 28th March 1964. (Photo by Keystone)
Jane Goodall appears in the television special "Miss Goodall and the World of Chimpanzees" originally broadcast on CBS, Wednesday, December 22, 1965. (Photo by CBS)
Jane Goodall appears in the television special "Miss Goodall and the World of Chimpanzees" originally broadcast on CBS, Wednesday, December 22, 1965. Location, Gombe Stream National Park, Tanzania. (Photo by CBS)
Jane Goodall appears in the television special "Miss Goodall and the World of Chimpanzees" originally broadcast on CBS, Wednesday, December 22, 1965. Location, Gombe Stream National Park, Tanzania. (Photo by CBS)
Portrait of British anthropologist and expert on chimpanzees Jane Goodall standing outdoors in shorts and running her fingers through the hair of her seven-year-old son, Hugo Eric Louis Lawick, in the Gombe Reserve, east-central Africa. (Photo by Hulton Archive)
Portrait of British zoologist Jane Goodall watching her photographer husband, Baron Hugo Von Lawick, adjust a camera, to which a baboon is clinging, in the Gombe Reserve, east-central Africa. (Photo by Hulton Archive)
British environmentalist Jane Goodall poses for a portrait at the garden of Groningen University at the Sharing the Planet conference on June 14, 2002, in Groningen, Netherlands. (Photo by Michel Porro)
Jane Goodall gives her National Geographic lecture at DAR Constitution Hall on April 11, 2002, in Washington, DC. Goodall's first lecture for National Geographic was held at Constitution Hall decades before. (Photo by David S. Holloway)
1595 Spring Hill Rd #550, Vienna, VA 22182, United States
Jane Goodall poses for photos at the Jane Goodall Institute on February 18, 2003, in Silver Spring, Maryland. The Jane Goodall Institute has since moved its headquarters to Arlington, Virginia. (Photo by David S. Holloway)
A Chimpanzee jumps at a glass screen as primatologist Jane Goodall holds a press conference at Taronga Zoo on July 14, 2006, in Sydney, Australia. (Photo by Ian Waldie)
Broadway &, Whitehall St, New York, NY 10004, United States
Jane Goodall, Founder of the Jane Goodall Institute and a UN Messenger of Peace speaks at Jane Goodall's Roots & Shoots International Day of Peace at Bowling Green Park and Liberty Island on September 20, 2009, in New York City. (Photo by Duffy-Marie Arnoult)
Jane Goodall, British primatologist, ethologist, anthropologist, and UN Messenger of Peace attends a semi-centennial global celebration of her work at Marriott Hotel on September 26, 2010, in Shanghai, China. (Photo by Visual China Group)
701 Mission St, San Francisco, CA 94103, United States
Primatologist and anthropologist Jane Goodall attends the Vanity Fair New Establishment Summit at Yerba Buena Center for the Arts on October 7, 2015, in San Francisco, California. (Photo by Michael Kovac)
760 United Nations Plaza Manhattan, New York City, New York 10017 United States
Jane Goodall and actor Leonardo DiCaprio at the General Assembly before the United Nations Peace Bell Ceremony held every year on this day in the Japanese Garden on the grounds of United Nations Headquarters. (Photo by Giles Clarke)
Jane Goodall attends a special screening of BAFTA-nominated National Geographic documentary "Jane" in her hometown at Odeon Bournemouth on January 9, 2018, in Bournemouth, United Kingdom. (Photo by Jeff Spicer)
Jane Goodall attends Disneynature and The Cinema Society host a special screening of "Penguins" at AMC Lincoln Square Theater on April 14, 2019, in New York City. (Photo by Paul Bruinooge)
6121 Sunset Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90028, United States
Jane Goodall attends the National Geographic Documentary Films' premiere of "Sea of Shadows" at NeueHouse Los Angeles on July 10, 2019, in Hollywood, California. (Photo by Jean Baptiste Lacroix)
Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex, and Jane Goodall hold hands as he attends Dr. Jane Goodall's Roots & Shoots Global Leadership Meeting at Windsor Castle on July 23, 2019, in Windsor, England. (Photo by Kirsty Wigglesworth)
6121 Sunset Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90028, United States
Jane Goodall attends the National Geographic Documentary Films' premiere of "Sea of Shadows" at NeueHouse Los Angeles on July 10, 2019, in Hollywood, California. (Photo by David Livingston)
(Innocent Killers is a book written in 1971 by Jane Goodal...)
Innocent Killers is a book written in 1971 by Jane Goodall and her husband at the time, photographer Hugo van Lawick, describing their time observing three species of carnivores in the Serengeti and Ngorongoro Crater: African wild dogs, golden jackals, and spotted hyenas.
(World-renowned primatologist, conservationist, and humani...)
World-renowned primatologist, conservationist, and humanitarian Dr. Jane Goodall’s account of her life among the wild chimpanzees of Gombe is one of the most enthralling stories of animal behavior ever written.
(A comprehensive, up-to-date account of the renowned scien...)
A comprehensive, up-to-date account of the renowned scientist's quarter-century field study of chimpanzees details their distinct personalities, their complex society, and the surprising behavioral findings of the last few years.
Through a Window: My Thirty Years with the Chimpanzees of Gombe
(The renowned British primatologist continues the “engross...)
The renowned British primatologist continues the “engrossing account” of her time among the chimpanzees of Gombe, Tanzania. In her classic, In the Shadow of Man, Jane Goodall wrote of her first ten years at Gombe. In Through a Window, she continues the story, painting a more complete and vivid portrait of our closest relatives.
(Using Shakespeare's play The Tempest and its characters P...)
Using Shakespeare's play The Tempest and its characters Prospero and Caliban as structural metaphors representing the master-slave relationship between humans and chimpanzees, authors Dale Peterson and Jane Goodall collaborate in this exploration of our interaction with the species that share more than 98 percent of our genetic makeup.
(An illustrated depiction of a real-life story that celebr...)
An illustrated depiction of a real-life story that celebrates the eternal, life-affirming bond between animals and humans. Everyone loves Dr. White, a furry practitioner with four paws, a wagging tail, and an unorthodox bedside manner who day by day works his magic on very ill children at the hospital.
(Dr. Jane Goodall's revolutionary study of chimpanzees in ...)
Dr. Jane Goodall's revolutionary study of chimpanzees in Tanzania's Gombe preserve forever altered the very, definition of humanity. Now, in a poignant and insightful memoir, Jane Goodall explores her extraordinary life and personal spiritual odyssey, with observations as profound as the knowledge she has brought back from the forest.
(Brutal Kinship explores the relationship between humankin...)
Brutal Kinship explores the relationship between humankind and its closest relative, the chimpanzee, presenting these extraordinary animals in the wild, in captivity and in protective sanctuaries. In photographs and commentary Michael Nichols and Jane Goodall show us that chimpanzees are physically, emotionally and intellectually closer to us than we imagined and that we have forced them into a more human yet less humane existence.
(Africa in My Blood is an extraordinary self-portrait, in ...)
Africa in My Blood is an extraordinary self-portrait, in letters and commentary, of Jane Goodall's early years, from childhood to the landmark publication of In The Shadow Of Man. It reveals this remarkable woman more vividly and clearly than anything that has been published before, by her or about her.
(The second volume of Jane Goodall's remarkable self-portr...)
The second volume of Jane Goodall's remarkable self-portrait in letters, Beyond Innocence details some of the eminent scientist's greatest triumphs and her deepest tragedies. It covers the years following the publication of her groundbreaking book In the Shadow of Man, which, along with her articles in National Geographic, made her famous.
The Ten Trusts: What We Must Do to Care for The Animals We Love
(The Ten Trusts expands the concept of our obligation to l...)
The Ten Trusts expands the concept of our obligation to live in close relationship with animals - for, of course, we humans are part of the animal kingdom - challenging us to respect the interconnection between all living beings as we learn to care about and appreciate all species.
(From world-renowned scientist Jane Goodall, as seen in th...)
From world-renowned scientist Jane Goodall, as seen in the new National Geographic documentary Jane, comes a provocative look into the ways we can positively impact the world by changing our eating habits. The renowned scientist who fundamentally changed the way we view primates and our relationship with the animal kingdom now turns her attention to an incredibly important and deeply personal issue-taking a stand for a more sustainable world.
Hope for Animals and Their World: How Endangered Species Are Being Rescued from the Brink
(With the insatiable curiosity and conversational prose th...)
With the insatiable curiosity and conversational prose that have made her a bestselling author, Goodall - along with Cincinnati Zoo Director Thane Maynard - shares fascinating survival stories about the American Crocodile, the California Condor, the Black-Footed Ferret, and more; all formerly endangered species and species once on the verge of extinction whose populations are now being regenerated.
(At a time when animal species are becoming extinct on eve...)
At a time when animal species are becoming extinct on every continent and we are confronted with bad news about the environment nearly every day, Jane Goodall, one of the world's most renowned scientists, brings us inspiring news about the future of the animal kingdom.
(From world-renowned scientist Jane Goodall, as seen in th...)
From world-renowned scientist Jane Goodall, as seen in the new National Geographic documentary Jane, comes a fascinating examination of the critical role that trees and plants play in our world. Seeds of Hope takes us from Goodall's home in England to her home-away-from-home in Africa, deep inside the Gombe forest, where she and the chimpanzees are enchanted by the fig and plum trees they encounter.
(Jane Goodall: 50 Years at Gombe is a compelling pictorial...)
Jane Goodall: 50 Years at Gombe is a compelling pictorial tribute to Dr. Goodall's life, her studies of chimpanzee behavior, and her unflagging efforts to motivate people to make this world a better place. With a new format, a modern design, more than a dozen new photographs, and updated text throughout, this revised edition retraces five decades of compassion and discovery.
Jane Goodall is a British zoologist particularly noted for her studies of chimpanzees in the wild and for her contributions to the understanding of the origins of behavior in the higher primates. Goodall became a remarkably public figure as a result of her writings and the films made about her.
Background
On April 3, 1934, Valerie Jane Morris-Goodall was born in London, England to Mortimer, an engineer, and Vanne, an author. Along with her sister, Judy, Goodall was reared in London and Bournemouth, England.
Jane loved animals even as a child. When she was just over one year old, her father gave her a toy chimpanzee, in honor of a baby chimpanzee born at the London Zoo. Friends warned her parents that such a gift will cause nightmares for a child. However, Jane loved the toy and named the chimpanzee Jubilee, carrying it with her everywhere.
At the age of just five, Jane hid for hours in a henhouse to discover where the eggs come from, unaware her family was frantically searching for her. Upon Jane's return to the house, Jane's mother saw how excited she was and rather than scolding her, instead sat down to listen as Jane told her story.
Jane dreamt of living in Africa to watch and write about animals. Although this was an unusual goal for a girl at the time, Jane's mother encouraged her, saying "Jane, if you really want something, and if you work hard, take advantage of the opportunities, and never give up, you will somehow find a way."
Education
Goodall attended the Uplands private school, receiving her school certificate in 1950 and a higher certificate in 1952. She went on to find employment as a secretary at Oxford University, and in her spare time also worked at a London-based documentary film company to finance a long-anticipated trip to Africa.
Goodall's academic credentials were solidified when she received a Ph.D. in ethology from Cambridge University in 1965; she was just the eighth person in the university's long history permitted to pursue a Ph.D. without first earning a baccalaureate degree.
At the invitation of a childhood friend, Goodall visited South Kinangop, Kenya, in the late 1950s. Through other friends, she soon met the famed anthropologist Louis Leakey, then curator of the Coryndon Museum in Nairobi. Leakey hired her as a secretary and invited her to participate in an anthropological dig at the now-famous Olduvai Gorge, a site rich in fossilized prehistoric remains of early ancestors of humans. Additionally, Goodall was sent to study the vervet monkey, which lives on an island in Lake Victoria.
Leakey believed that a long-term study of the behavior of higher primates would yield important evolutionary information. He had a particular interest in the chimpanzee, the second most intelligent primate. Few studies of chimpanzees had been successful; either the size of the safari frightened the chimps, producing unnatural behaviors, or the observers spent too little time in the field to gain comprehensive knowledge.
Leakey believed that Goodall had the proper temperament to endure long-term isolation in the wild. At his prompting, she agreed to attempt such a study. Many experts objected to Leakey's selection of Goodall because she had no formal scientific education and lacked even a general college degree.
In July 1960, accompanied by her mother and an African cook, Goodall arrived on the shore of Lake Tanganyika in the Gombe Stream Reserve of Tanzania, Africa, with the goal of studying chimpanzees. Goodall's first attempts to closely observe the animals failed; she could get no nearer than 500 yards before the chimps fled. After finding another suitable group to follow, she established a non-threatening pattern of observation, appearing at the same time every morning on the high ground near a feeding area along the Kakombe Valley. The chimpanzees soon tolerated her presence and, within a year, allowed her to move as close as 30 feet to their feeding area. After two years of seeing her every day, they showed no fear and often came to her in search of bananas.
Goodall used her newfound acceptance to establish what she termed the "banana club," a daily systematic feeding method she used to gain trust and to obtain a more thorough understanding of everyday chimpanzee behavior. Using this method, she became closely acquainted with a majority of the reserve's chimps. She imitated their behaviors, spent time in the trees, and ate their foods.
By remaining in almost constant contact with the chimps, Goodall discovered a number of previously unobserved behaviors: she noted that chimps have a complex social system, complete with ritualized behaviors and primitive but discernible communication methods, including a primitive "language" system containing more than 20 individual sounds. She is credited with making the first recorded observations of chimpanzees eating meat and using and making tools. Toolmaking was previously thought to be an exclusively human trait.
Goodall also noted that chimpanzees throw stones as weapons, use touch, and embraces to comfort one another and develop long-term familial bonds. The male plays no active role in family life but is part of the group's social stratification: The chimpanzee "caste" system places the dominant males at the top, with the lower castes often acting obsequiously in their presence, trying to ingratiate themselves to avoid possible harm. The male's rank is often related to the intensity of his entrance performance at feedings and other gatherings.
Upending the belief that chimps were exclusively vegetarian, Goodall witnessed chimps stalking, killing and eating large insects, birds, and some bigger animals, including baby baboons and bushbucks (small antelopes). On one occasion, she recorded acts of cannibalism. In another instance, she observed chimps inserting blades of grass or leaves into termite hills to insects onto the blade. In true toolmaker fashion, they modified the grass to achieve a better fit, then used the grass as a long-handled spoon to eat the termites.
The general public was introduced to Jane Goodall's life work via Miss Goodall and the Wild Chimpanzees, first broadcast on American television on December 22, 1965. Filmed by her first husband, and narrated by Orson Welles, the documentary showed the shy but determined young English woman patiently watching these animals in their natural habitat, and the chimpanzees soon became a staple of American and British public television. Through these programs, Goodall challenged scientists to redefine the long-held "differences" between humans and other primates.
In 2017, additional footage from the Miss Goodall shooting was pieced together for Jane, a documentary that included recent interviews with the famed activist to create a more encompassing narrative of her experiences with the chimps.
Goodall subsequently held a visiting professorship in psychiatry at Stanford University from 1970 to 1975, and in 1973, she was appointed to her longtime position of honorary visiting professor of zoology at the University of Dar es Salaam in Tanzania.
After attending a 1986 conference in Chicago that focused on the ethical treatment of chimpanzees, Goodall began directing her energies toward educating the public about the wild chimpanzee's endangered habitat and about the unethical treatment of chimpanzees that are used for scientific research.
To preserve the wild chimpanzee's environment, Goodall encourages African nations to develop nature-friendly tourism programs, a measure that makes wildlife into a profitable resource. She actively works with businesses and local governments to promote ecological responsibility.
While reluctantly resigned to the continuation of animal research, she feels that young scientists must be educated to treat animals more compassionately. "By and large," she has written, "students are taught that it is ethically acceptable to perpetrate, in the name of science, what, from the point of view of animals, would certainly qualify as torture."
Goodall's fieldwork led to the publication of numerous articles and books. In the Shadow of Man, her first major work appeared in 1971. The book, essentially a field study of chimpanzees, effectively bridged the gap between scientific treatise and popular entertainment. Her vivid prose brought the chimps to life, revealing an animal world of social drama, comedy, and tragedy, although her tendency to attribute human behaviors and names to chimpanzees struck some critics being as manipulative.
Goodall outlined the moral dilemma of keeping chimpanzees captive in her 1990 book, Through a Window: "The more we learn of the true nature of nonhuman animals, especially those with complex brains and corresponding complex social behavior, the more ethical concerns are raised regarding their use in the service of man - whether this be in entertainment, as "pets," for food, in research laboratories or any of the other uses to which we subject them," she wrote. "This concern is sharpened when the usage in question leads to intense physical or mental suffering - as is so often true with regard to vivisection."
Her 1989 work, The Chimpanzee Family Book, written specifically for children, sought to convey a more humane view of wildlife. The book received the 1989 UNICEF/UNESCO Children's Book of the Year Award, and Goodall used the prize money to have the text translated into Swahili and French and distributed throughout Tanzania, Uganda and Burundi.
Many of Goodall's endeavors are conducted under the auspices of the Jane Goodall Institute for Wildlife Research, Education, and Conservation, a nonprofit organization that promotes the protection of chimpanzees and strong environmental practices. Founded in 1977, the organization is based in Virginia but boasts some two dozen offices around the world.
(Dr. Jane Goodall's revolutionary study of chimpanzees in ...)
1999
Religion
When asked about God, Jane Goodall said that she believes in a great spiritual power that is bigger and stronger than anybody in the world. She continues to fight for the conservation of wildlife by traveling 300 days a year to various countries and continents.
Echoing Mark Twain’s lament that we often use religion as a mask for human egotism, Goodall considers how these human capacities unfold beyond the intellectual and the spiritual to affect the very behaviors that shape our future and the responsibilities we have to our species, all species, and our precious shared planet: "With language, we can ask, as can no other living beings, those questions about who we are and why we are here. And this highly developed intellect means, surely, that we have a responsibility toward the other life-forms of our planet whose continued existence is threatened by the thoughtless behavior of our own human species - quite regardless of whether or not we believe in God. Indeed, those who acknowledge no God, but are convinced that we are in this world as an evolutionary accident, may be more active in environmental responsibility - for if there is no God, then, obviously, it is entirely up to us to put things right. On the other hand, I have encountered a number of people with a strong faith in God who shrug off their own human responsibilities, believing that everything is safely “in God’s hands.” I was brought up to believe that “God helps those who help themselves.” We should all take responsibility, all play our part in helping to clean up and heal the planet that, in so many ways, we have desecrated."
Politics
Jane Goodall later became a tireless advocate for chimps in captivity. When she began her work, chimps were routinely used in medical research, a practice Dr. Goodall and other advocates helped stop in the United States.
Goodall's stance is that scientists must try harder to find alternatives to the use of animals in research. She has openly declared her opposition to militant animal rights groups who engage in violent or destructive demonstrations. Extremists on both sides of the issue, she believes, polarize thinking and make constructive dialogue nearly impossible.
Today, Jane Goodall travels around the world, writing, speaking, and spreading hope through action, encouraging each of us to “use the gift of our life to make the world a better place." As a conservationist, humanitarian, and crusader for the ethical treatment of animals, she is a global force for compassion and a United Nations Messenger of Peace.
Every day, Jane Goodall exemplifies the difference one person can make. Over the years, her groundbreaking research at Gombe has attracted many women, who were nearly absent from the field of primatology when she began. Today, women lead the field of long-term primate behavioral studies around the world. She also inspires hundreds of thousands of young people to take action in their own lives and communities through the Roots & Shoots youth program. Now 100 countries strong and growing, Roots & Shoots is an unprecedented multiplying force in conservation, giving young people the knowledge and confidence to act on their beliefs and make a difference by being part of something bigger than themselves.
Views
The revolutionary discoveries that Goodall made through her fieldwork with chimpanzees are a wonder of the scientific world. Her findings suggest that many behaviors once thought to be exclusively human may have been inherited from common ancestors that we shared with chimpanzees millions of years ago. The more we discover about these kindred beings, the deeper our insight into what it means to be human.
While going about her research, she adopted an unusual method of naming the chimpanzees she observed instead of numbering them, which was the common practice at the time. She named them as she believed that chimpanzees had unique and individual personalities like humans.
In October 1960, Goodall watched as a chimpanzee bent a twig, stripped off it leaves, and used it to “fish” termites from their nest. Up until her moment of discovery, the ability to make and use tools had been considered uniquely human.
Also in 1960, Goodall discovered that chimpanzees are omnivorous, not vegetarian as had been thought. She observed them hunting and eating bush pigs, colobus monkeys, and other small mammals.
Some of the chimpanzees’ similarities to humankind are unsettling; Dr. Goodall discovered that, like people, they engage in war against rival groups and kill members of their own species.
Through years of observation and meticulous field notes, Dr. Goodall describes the close relationships that chimpanzee mothers develop with their infants and the strong familial bonds that siblings share.
Chimpanzees show acts of compassion, another behavior once considered exclusively human. Dr. Goodall witnessed chimpanzees embracing to comfort an animal in mourning and has documented the adoption of orphaned chimps by others in the community.
Quotations:
"Every individual matters. Every individual has a role to play. Every individual makes a difference."
"The least I can do is speak out for those who cannot speak for themselves."
"The greatest danger to our future is apathy."
"Only if we understand, will we care. Only if we care, will we help. Only if we help shall all be saved."
“Until we have peace and harmony with the environment, we will never live in a world of peace.”
"I think to be fully human, we need to have meaning in our lives, and that's what I am trying to help these young people to find.”
Personality
Goodall was at the Save the Chimps sanctuary in Florida on April 30, 2009, when astronauts Scott Carpenter and Robert L. Crippen visited to pay tribute to the chimps who paved the way for the United States' successful missions into space and to acknowledge the chimps' contributions to the space program. Save the Chimps was established in 1997 in response to the United States Air Force's announcement that it was getting out of the chimpanzee research business. In 1999, Save the Chimps was awarded permanent custody of 21 chimps, survivors and descendants of those captured in Africa in the 1950s and used by the Air Force as test subjects for the original NASA space program. This event marked the first time astronauts visited the sanctuary. Goodall read a statement and presented Commander Carpenter and Captain Crippen with a plaque to honor their extraordinary efforts to the United States space program and for their recognition of the chimpanzees.
When she was young, Jane had a canine companion named Rusty. Rusty did not belong to Jane; he lived in a hotel around the corner. Goodall used to take him for walks and play with him. Two dogs, Spoof and Mona Lisa live with Dr. Jane at her present home in Tanzania.
Goodall is a vegetarian. She became a vegetarian after reading about intensive farming, not knowing about what the animals actually went through. The next time she looked at a piece of meat, Dr. Jane thought, this symbolizes fear, pain, and death.
Physical Characteristics:
All her life Goodall suffered face blindness – the official name is prosopagnosia – difficulty distinguishing and remembering faces. She only discovered this was a medically recognized condition when she was about 60.
Quotes from others about the person
"A heroine, in a hero-less time." - Christian Science Monitor.
"Being with Jane Goodall is like a walk with Gandhi." - Boston Globe.
"Jane Goodall's work with chimpanzees represents one of the Western world's greatest scientific achievements." - Stephen Jay Gould.
"One of the ten most influential women ever." - Wendy Wasserstein, Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright.
"The Einstein of behavioral sciences." - Los Angeles Times.
"The scarcity of Jane Goodalls... may be more ominous than the scarcity of chimpanzees." - Rocky Mountain News.
"Without question one of the most significant contributors to our knowledge of the world around us." - Encyclopedia Britannica.
Connections
After Jane went to Gombe Stream National Park, her reputation spread quickly and National Geographic sent a wildlife photographer to accompany her during her observations. Eventually, they fell in love with the nobleman, Hugo van Lawick and got married in 1964. She took the name Baroness Jane van Lawick-Goodall. They established the Gombe Stream Research Center in the National Park together, with the aim to train more researchers, extend observations, and improve conservation.
Their son was born in 1967 in Africa with the name Hugo Eric Louis van Lawick and got the nickname Grub. After a few years, Grub was sent back to study in London.
In 1974 (when Grub was 7) Jane and Hugo divorced. In the end, it became difficult to manage their work and traveling but they stayed in a good relation.
The next year, Jane fell in love and married, the director of the national parks and member of the parliament of Tanzania, Derek Bryceson. Derek due to his position could take measures to protect Jane’s research project and he installed an embargo at Gombe. Lamentably, Derek died in cancer after 5 years of their marriage, in 1980. Jane found solace with her family, friends, and time in Gombe but never married again. Eventually, he overthrew the grief and still stays optimistic, determined, and hopeful. In her book Reason for Hope, Jane writes about although she had sorrow she kept her positive and optimistic worldview.