Jane Goodall was born April 3, 1934 in England.
Her parents divorced when she was 8 years old and
she moved with her mother to Bournemouth, England.
In Bournemouth, Jane met the legendary wildlife
expert, Sir Richard Attleborough, who taught Jane
about the wonders of primates and the importance
of preserving their fragile habitats.
In
1957, Jane was hired as a secretary to travel with
anthropologist Louis Leaky to Kenya and Tanzania.
She was immediately captivated by the trusting animals
when she was first approached by a chimpanzee that
she named David Greybeard. She soon began feeding
David on a regular basis, and eventually he took
bananas straight from her hand and even allowed
her to groom him. Other chimpanzees, observing the
interactions between Jane and David, allowed Jane
to observe them at close range. Goodall soon began
studying chimpanzee social structure in Tanzania's
Gombe Stream National Park. While studying chimpanzees,
Goodall made several important discoveries about
the animals. She first discovered that the chimps
were intelligent enough to fashion tools from natural
resources in their surroundings for obtaining termites
deep within their nests. It was the first time in
history that animals other than humans had been
documented constructing tools. Her observations
led many in the scientific community to consider
the close evolutionary relationship between humans
and chimpanzees. Goodall also discovered that chimpanzees
hunted and ate African bushpigs, which disproved
the theory that Chimpanzees were strictly herbivorous
(plant-eaters). Goodall soon returned to England
and earned a doctorate from the University of Cambridge
in ethology (animal behavior).
Goodall
returned to Tanzania in 1965 and made more discoveries
concerning the nature and society of chimpanzees.
She gave names to the chimpanzees that she studied
and recorded that each chimpanzee had distinct personalities,
traits, and behaviors. She wrote extensively about
relationships and social hierarchies within the
chimpanzee society. Previously, scientists rarely
suggested that such animals possessed emotions,
personalities, and traits. In addition, Goodall
documented the brutal side of chimpanzee society,
in which certain clans engaged in "warfare"
with other clans. In 1971, Goodall published In
the Shadow of Man, in which she described her
years of observations. The book focused on the events
of the life of a female chimpanzee she named Flo.
In
1977, Goodall founded the Jane Goodall Institute
for Wildlife Research, Education and Conservation,
to support continuous research into chimpanzee society.
Today, Goodall has received dozens of prestigious
awards including several honorary doctorates. In
2003, she was named as a "Dame of the British
Empire," an award similar to that of knighthood.
In 2004, she was named a United Nations "Messenger
of Peace"
