My Heroes-Part One: Jane Goodall

To begin with, here is a bit of information about Jane Goodall, her time spent in Africa, and the legacy she created that still flourishes in Africa, and abroad.

      

“It was because the chimps are so eye-catching, so like us, 

and teach us so much that my work was recognized worldwide.”

~Jane Goodall~

For more information: www.janegoodall.org

"In July 1960, at the age of 26, Jane Goodall traveled from England to what is today Tanzania and bravely entered the little-known world of wild chimpanzees. She was equipped with nothing more than a notebook and a pair of binoculars. But with her unyielding patience and characteristic optimism, she won the trust of these initially shy creatures. She managed to open a window into their sometimes strange and often familiar-seeming lives. The public was fascinated and remains so to this day.

Today, Jane’s work revolves around inspiring action on behalf of endangered species, particularly chimpanzees, and encouraging people to do their part to make the world a better place for people, animals, and the environment we all share. 

The Jane Goodall Institute works to protect the famous chimpanzees of Gombe National Park in Tanzania, but recognizes this can’t be accomplished without a comprehensive approach that addresses the needs of local people who are critical to chimpanzee survival. 

Our community-centered conservation programs in Africa include sustainable development projects that engage local people as true partners. These programs began around Gombe in 1994, but have since been replicated in other parts of the continent. Likewise, Jane Goodall’s Roots & Shoots, which Jane started with a group of Tanzania students in 1991, is today the Institute’s global environmental and humanitarian youth program for young people from preschool through university with nearly 150,000 members in more than 120 countries."

Jane's years of observation and research in the Gombe region of Tanzania during the 1960's & '70's revealed behaviors of the chimpanzee that were previously unknown. Chimps had been thought of as vegetarians, but Jane observed them eating wild baby pigs and other small bush mammals that they had killed, not scavenged.

The next astounding observation came when she witnessed a couple of adult males systematically stripping the leaves off twigs and dipping them into a termite mound as a sort of 'fishing' device to retrieve the tasty treats. NOW, the chimps were using tools! Up until then, the ability to make and use tools- according to the current anthropological definition- was what determined an organism to be human. Now here were a couple of chimpanzees using tools! Jane's mentor, Dr. Louis Leakey, while excited about her discovery, also realized that it posed a dilemma for academia. Leakey wrote to Jane after the news and said "Now we must redefine 'tool', redefine 'human', or accept chimpanzees as human." Jane's exciting discoveries were enough to have Dr. Leakey get her funded for a longer span, as well as getting her enrolled straight into a doctoral program at Cambridge, as she had no degree whatsoever and to be taken seriously, she needed to be entrenched firmly in the roots of academia.

“Chimpanzees, gorillas, and orangutan have been living for hundreds of thousands of years in their forest, living fantastic lives, never overpopulating, never destroying the forest. I would say that they have been in a way more successful than us as far as being in harmony with the environment.” 

 ~Jane Goodall~

       

“Women tend to be more intuitive, or to admit to being intuitive, and 

maybe the hard science approach isn't so attractive.
The way that science is taught is very cold. 

I would have never become a scientist if I had been taught like that.”
~Jane Goodall~

Jane Goodall: Mini Bio

      

“My family has very strong women. My mother never laughed at my dream of Africa, even though everyone else did because we didn't have any money, because Africa was the “Dark Continent', and because I was a girl.”

~Jane Goodall~

 

When I look back over my life, it's almost as if there was a plan laid out for me – from the little girl who was so passionate about animals, who longed to go to Africa, and whose family couldn't afford to put her through college. Everyone laughed at my dreams. I was supposed to be a secretary in Bournemouth.”

~Jane Goodall~

Her Interview On '60 Minutes' in 2010 for 50th Anniversary

2007 TED Talk: 'What Separates Us From Chimpanzees?"

Jane Goodall: A Retrospective

Dame Jane Morris Goodall, DBE

-Primatologist
-Ethologist
-Anthropologist
-UN Messenger of Peace
-Grub's Mother
-Dame Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (2004)

-2010 marked the 50th year of her first trip to Gombe Stream National Park

-2014- In April she will turn 80 years old- I truly hope that I might be able to hear her speak in person before either of us passes away. It's at the top of my bucket list. 

My favorite bit of Jane's wisdom: 

When asked if she believed in God, Goodall said in September 2010: "I don't have any idea of who or what God is. But I do believe in some great spiritual power. I feel it particularly when I’m out in nature. It’s just something that's bigger and stronger than what I am or what anybody is. I feel it. And it's enough for me."

And it is enough for me also.