Jane Goodall

Dame Jane Goodall
Jane Goodall at the University of Hong Kong in 2006
Born	(1934-04-03) 3 April 1934
Alma mater	University of Cambridge
Known for	Study of chimpanzees, conservation
Awards	DBE (2004)

Dame Jane Morris Goodall, DBE (born Valerie Jane Morris-Goodall on 3 April 1934), is a British primatologist, ethologist, anthropologist, and UN Messenger of Peace. Considered to be the world's foremost expert on chimpanzees, Goodall is best known for her 45-year study of social and family interactions of wild chimpanzees in Gombe Stream National Park, Tanzania. She is the founder of the Jane Goodall Institute and has worked extensively on conservation and animal welfare issues.

Biography

Jane Goodall was born in London, England in 1934 to Mortimer Herbert Morris-Goodall, a businessman, and Margaret Myfanwe Joseph, a novelist who wrote under the name Vanne Morris-Goodall. As a child she was given a lifelike chimpanzee toy named Jubilee by her father; her fondness for the toy started her early love of animals. Today, the toy still sits on her dresser in London. As she writes in her book, Reason For Hope: "My mother's friends were horrified by this toy, thinking it would frighten me and give me nightmares."

Goodall had always been passionate about animals and Africa, which brought her to the farm of a friend in the Kenya highlands in 1957. From there, she obtained work as a secretary, and acting on her friend's advice she telephoned Louis Leakey, a Kenyan archaeologist and paleontologist, with no other thought than to make an appointment to discuss animals. Leakey, believing that the study of existing great apes could provide indications of the behaviour of early hominids, was looking for a chimpanzee researcher though he kept the idea to himself. Instead, he proposed that Goodall work for him as a secretary. After obtaining his wife Mary Leakey's approval, Louis sent Goodall to Olduvai Gorge in Tanzania, where he laid out his plans.

In 1958, Leakey sent Goodall to London to study primate behavior with Osman Hill and primate anatomy with John Napier. Leakey raised funds, and in 1960 Goodall went to Gombe Stream National Park becoming the first of "Leakey's Angels". She was accompanied by her mother whose presence was necessary to satisfy the requirements of David Anstey, chief warden, who was concerned for their safety; Tanzania was "Tanganyika" at that time and a British protectorate.

Leakey arranged funding and in 1962 sent Goodall, who had no degree, to Cambridge University where she obtained a Ph.D degree in Ethology. She became only the eighth person to be allowed study for a Ph.D without first obtaining a BA or B.Sc. Her thesis was completed in 1965 under the tutorship of Robert Hinde, former master of St. John's College, Cambridge, titled "Behavior of the Free-Ranging Chimpanzee," detailing her first five years of study at the Gombe Reserve.

Goodall has been married twice. On 28 March 1964 she married wildlife photographer Baron Hugo van Lawick at Chelsea Old Church, London, becoming Baroness Jane van Lawick-Goodall. The couple had a son, Hugo Eric Louis, affectionately known as "Grub," who was born in 1967. They divorced amicably in 1974. In 1975 she married Derek Bryceson (a member of Tanzania's parliament and the director of that country's national parks) and they remained married until his death from cancer in October 1980. Goodall still wears Bryceson's wedding ring, and their marriage has been described as "blissful." With his position in the Tanzanian government as head of the country's national park system, Bryceson was able to protect Goodall's research project and implement an embargo on tourism at Gombe while he was alive.

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 don’t know what to call it. 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."

Work

Research at Gombe Stream National Park

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Orphaned by poachers, young chimps are raised by volunteers and researchers at the Tchimpounga Sanctuary (part of the Jane Goodall Institute) in the Republic of the Congo.

Goodall is best known for her study of chimpanzee social and family life. She began studying the Kasakela chimpanzee community in Gombe Stream National Park, Tanzania in 1960. Without collegiate training directing her research, Goodall observed things that strict scientific doctrines may have overlooked. Instead of numbering the chimpanzees she observed, she gave them names such as Fifi and David Greybeard, and observed them to have unique and individual personalities, an unconventional idea at the time. She found that, “it isn’t only human beings who have personality, who are capable of rational thought [and] emotions like joy and sorrow.” She also observed behaviors such as hugs, kisses, pats on the back, and even tickling, what we consider "human" actions. Goodall insists that these gestures are evidence of "the close, supportive, affectionate bonds that develop between family members and other individuals within a community, which can persist throughout a life span of more than 50 years." These findings suggest similarities between humans and chimpanzees exist in more than genes alone, but can be seen in emotion, intelligence, and family and social relationships.

Goodall’s research at Gombe Stream is best known to the scientific community for challenging two long-standing beliefs of the day: that only humans could construct and use tools, and that chimpanzees were vegetarians. While observing one chimpanzee feeding at a termite mound, she watched him repeatedly place stalks of grass into termite holes, then remove them from the hole covered with clinging termites, effectively “fishing” for termites. The chimps would also take twigs from trees and strip off the leaves to make the twig more effective, a form of object modification which is the rudimentary beginnings of toolmaking. Humans had long distinguished ourselves from the rest of the animal kingdom as "Man the Toolmaker". In response to Goodall's revolutionary findings, Louis Leakey wrote, "We must now redefine man, redefine tool, or accept chimpanzees as human!" Over the course of her study, Goodall found evidence of mental traits in chimpanzees such as reasoned thought, abstraction, generalization, symbolic representation, and even the concept of self, all previously thought to be uniquely human abilities.

In contrast to the peaceful and affectionate behaviors she observed, Goodall also found an aggressive side of chimp nature at Gombe Stream. She discovered that chimps will systematically hunt and eat smaller primates such as colobus monkeys. Goodall watched a hunting group isolate a colobus monkey high in a tree, block all possible exits, then one chimpanzee climbed up and captured and killed the colobus. The others then each took parts of the carcass, sharing with other members of the troop in response to begging behaviours. The chimps at Gombe kill and eat as much as one-third of the colobus population in the park each year. This alone was a major scientific find which challenged previous conceptions of chimp diet and behavior.

But perhaps more startling, and disturbing, was the tendency for aggression and violence within chimpanzee troops. Goodall observed dominant females deliberately killing the young of other females in the troop in order to maintain their dominance, sometimes going as far as cannibalism. She says of this revelation, "During the first ten years of the study I had believed […] that the Gombe chimpanzees were, for the most part, rather nicer than human beings. […] Then suddenly we found that chimpanzees could be brutal—that they, like us, had a darker side to their nature." These findings revolutionized contemporary knowledge of chimpanzee behaviour, and were further evidence of the social similarities between humans and chimpanzees, albeit in a much darker manner.

Goodall also set herself apart from the traditional conventions of the time by naming the animals in her studies of primates, instead of assigning each a number. Numbering was a nearly universal practice at the time, and thought to be important in the removal of one's self from the potential for emotional attachment to the subject being studied. Among those that Goodall named during her years in Gombe were:

• David Greybeard, a grey-chinned male who first warmed up to Goodall.
• Goliath, a friend of David Greybeard, originally the alpha male named for his bold nature.
• Mike, who through his cunning and improvisation displaced Goliath as the alpha male.
• Humphrey, a big, strong, bullysome male.
• Gigi, a large, sterile female who delighted in being the "aunt" of any young chimps or humans.
• Mr. McGregor, a belligerent older male.
• Flo, a motherly, high-ranking female with a bulbous nose and ragged ears, and her children, Figan, Faben, Freud, Fifi, and Flint.
• Frodo, Fifi's second oldest child, an aggressive male who would frequently attack Jane.

Jane Goodall Institute

Jane Goodall in 2009 with Hungarian Roots & Shoots group members.

In 1977, Goodall established the Jane Goodall Institute (JGI), which supports the Gombe research, and she is a global leader in the effort to protect chimpanzees and their habitats. With nineteen offices around the world, the JGI is widely recognized for innovative, community-centred conservation and development programs in Africa. Its global youth program, Roots & Shoots began in 1991 when a group of 16 local teenagers met with Goodall on her back porch in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. They were eager to discuss a range of problems they knew about from first-hand experience that caused them deep concern. The organisation now has over 10,000 groups in over 100 countries.

Today, Goodall devotes virtually all of her time to advocacy on behalf of chimpanzees and the environment, travelling nearly 300 days a year. Goodall is also a board member for the world's largest chimpanzee sanctuary outside of Africa, Save the Chimps in Fort Pierce, Florida.

Animal welfare activism

Goodall with Allyson Reed of Skulls Unlimited International, at the Association of Zoos and Aquariums annual conference, 9, 2009.

Goodall in 2009 with Lou Perrotti, who contributed to her book, Hope for Animals and Their World.

Goodall is an animal welfare and rights activist and is the former president of Advocates for Animals, an organization based in Edinburgh, Scotland, that campaigns against the use of animals in medical research, zoos, farming and sport.

Goodall is a devoted vegetarian and advocates the diet for ethical, environmental, and health reasons. In The Inner World of Farm Animals, Goodall writes that farm animals are "far more aware and intelligent than we ever imagined and, despite having been bred as domestic slaves, they are individual beings in their own right. As such, they deserve our respect. And our help. Who will plead for them if we are silent?” Goodall has also said, “Thousands of people who say they 'love' animals sit down once or twice a day to enjoy the flesh of creatures who have been utterly deprived of everything that could make their lives worth living and who endured the awful suffering and the terror of the abattoirs--and the journey to get there--before finally leaving their miserable world, only too often after a painful death.”

In May 1974, Goodall controversially described Edinburgh Zoo's new primate enclosure as a "wonderful facility" where monkeys "are probably better off [than those] living in the wild in an area like Budongo, where one in six gets caught in a wire snare, and countries like Congo, where chimpanzees, monkeys and gorillas are shot for food commercially." This was in conflict with Advocates for Animals' position on captive animals. In June 2008 Goodall confirmed that she had resigned the presidency of the organisation which she had held since 1998, citing her busy schedule and explaining, "I just don't have time for them."

Controversy

Some primatologists have suggested flaws in Goodall's methodology which may call into question the validity of her observations. Goodall used unconventional practices in her study, for example, naming individuals instead of numbering them. At the time numbering was used to prevent emotional attachment and loss of objectivity. Claiming to see individuality and emotion in chimpanzees, she was accused of "that worst of ethological sins", anthropomorphism.

Many standard methods are aimed at helping observers to avoid interference and the use of feeding stations to attract Gombe chimpanzees is, in particular, thought by some to have altered normal foraging and feeding patterns as well as social relationships; this argument is the focus of a book published by Margaret Power in 1991. It has been suggested that higher levels of aggression and conflict with other chimpanzee groups in the area were consequences of the feeding, which could have created the "wars" between chimpanzee social groups described by Goodall, aspects of which she did not witness in the years before artificial feeding began at Gombe. Thus, some regard Goodall's observations as distortions of normal chimpanzee behavior. Goodall herself acknowledged that feeding contributed to aggression within and between groups but maintained that the effect was limited to alteration of the intensity and not the nature of chimpanzee conflict, and further that feeding was necessary for the study to be effective at all. Craig Stanford of the Jane Goodall Research Institute at the University of Southern California asserts that researchers undergoing studies with no artificial provisioning have a difficult time viewing any social behaviors of chimpanzees at all, especially any related to intergroup conflict.

Some recent studies such as those by Crickette Sanz in the Goualougo Triangle, (Congo) and Christophe Boesch in the Taï National Park, (Ivory Coast) have not shown the aggression observed in the Gombe studies. However, not all primatologists agree that the studies are flawed; for example, Jim Moore provides a critique of Margaret Powers' assertions and some studies of other chimpanzee groups have shown similar aggression to Gombe even in the absence of feeding.

One of cartoonist Gary Larson's more famous cartoons shows two chimpanzees grooming. One finds a blonde human hair on the other and inquires, "Conducting a little more 'research' with that Jane Goodall tramp?" The Jane Goodall Institute thought this was in bad taste, and had their lawyers draft a letter to Larson and his distribution syndicate, in which they described the cartoon as an "atrocity". They were stymied by Goodall herself, who revealed that she found the cartoon amusing. Since then, all profits from sales of a shirt featuring this cartoon go to the Jane Goodall Institute. Goodall wrote a preface to The Far Side Gallery 5, detailing her version of the "Jane Goodall Tramp" controversy. She praised Larson's creative ideas, which often compare and contrast the behavior of humans and animals. In 1988, Larson visited Gombe.

Awards and recognition

Honors

Goodall has received many honors for her environmental and humanitarian work, as well as others. She was named a Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire in a ceremony held in Buckingham Palace in 2004. In April 2002, Secretary-General Kofi Annan named Goodall a United Nations Messenger of Peace. Her other honors include the Tyler Prize for Environmental Achievement, the French Legion of Honor, Medal of Tanzania, Japan's prestigious Kyoto Prize, the Benjamin Franklin Medal in Life Science, the Gandhi-King Award for Nonviolence and the Spanish Prince of Asturias Awards. She is also a member of the advisory board of BBC Wildlife magazine. She has received many tributes, honors, and awards from local governments, schools, institutions, and charities around the world.

Awards

• 1980: Order of the Golden Ark, World Wildlife Award for Conservation
• 1984: J. Paul Getty Wildlife Conservation Prize
• 1985: Living Legacy Award from the International Women's League
• Society of the United States; Award for Humane Excellence, American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals
• 1987: Ian Biggs' Prize
• 1989: Encyclopædia Britannica Award for Excellence on the Dissemination of Learning for the Benefit of Mankind; Anthropologist of the Year Award
• 1990: The AMES Award, American Anthropologist Association; Whooping Crane Conservation Award, Conoco, Inc.; Gold Medal of the Society of Women Geographers; Inamori Foundation Award; Washoe Award; The Kyoto Prize in Basic Science
• 1991: The Edinburgh Medal
• 1993: Rainforest Alliance Champion Award
• 1994: Chester Zoo Diamond Jubilee Medal
• 1995: Commander of the Order of the British Empire, presented by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II; The National Geographic Society Hubbard Medal for Distinction in Exploration, Discovery, and Research; Lifetime Achievement Award, In Defense of Animals; The Moody Gardens Environmental Award; Honorary Wardenship of Uganda National Parks
• 1996: The Zoological Society of London Silver Medal; The Tanzanian Kilimanjaro Medal; The Primate Society of Great Britain Conservation Award; The Caring Institute Award; The Polar Bear Award; William Procter Prize for Scientific Achievement
• 1997: John & Alice Tyler Prize for Environmental Achievement; David S. Ingells, Jr. Award for Excellence; Common Wealth Award for Public Service; The Field Museum's Award of Merit; Tyler Prize for Environmental Achievement; Royal Geographical Society / Discovery Channel Europe Award for A Lifetime of Discovery
• 1998: Disney's Animal Kingdom Eco Hero Award; National Science Board Public Service Award; The Orion Society's John Hay Award
• 1999: International Peace Award; Botanical Research Institute of Texas International Award of Excellence in Conservation, Community of Christ International Peace Award
• 2001: Graham J. Norton Award for Achievement in Increasing Community Livability; Rungius Award of the National Museum of Wildlife Art, USA; Roger Tory Peterson Memorial Medal, Harvard Museum of Natural History; Master Peace Award; Gandhi/King Award for Non-Violence
• 2002: The Huxley Memorial Medal, Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland; United Nations "Messenger of Peace" Appointment
• 2003: Benjamin Franklin Medal in Life Science; Harvard Medical School's Center for Health and the Global Environment Award; Prince of Asturias Award for Technical and Scientific Achievement; Dame of the British Empire, presented by His Royal Highness Prince Charles; Chicago Academy of Sciences' Honorary Environmental Leader Award
• 2004: Nierenberg Prize for Science in the Public Interest; Will Rogers Spirit Award, the Rotary Club of Will Rogers and Will Rogers Memorial Museums; Life Time Achievement Award, the International Fund for Animal Welfare; Honorary Degree from Haverford College
• 2005: Honorary doctorate degree in science from Syracuse University
• 2005: Presented with Discovery and Imagination Award
• 2006: Received the 60th Anniversary Medal of the UNESCO and the French Légion d'honneur.
• 2007: Honorary doctorate degree in commemoration of Carl Linnaeus from Uppsala University
• 2007: Honorary doctorate degree from University of Liverpool
• 2008: Honorary doctorate degree from University of Toronto

A complete list of Goodall's awards and honors is available through her curriculum vitae on the Jane Goodall Institute website.

Media

Books

• 1969 My Friends the Wild Chimpanzees Washington, DC: National Geographic Society
• 1971 Innocent Killers (with H. van Lawick). Boston: Houghton Mifflin; London: Collins.
• 1971 In the Shadow of Man Boston: Houghton Mifflin; London: Collins. Published in 48 languages.
• 1986 The Chimpanzees of Gombe: Patterns of Behavior Boston: Bellknap Press of the Harvard University Press. Published also in Japanese and Russian. R.R. Hawkins Award for the Outstanding Technical, Scientific or Medical book of 1986, to Bellknap Press of Harvard University Press, Boston. The Wildlife Society (USA) Award for "Outstanding Publication in Wildlife Ecology and Management".
• 1990 Through a Window: 30 years observing the Gombe chimpanzees London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson; Boston: Houghton Mifflin. Translated into more than 15 languages. 1991 Penguin edition, UK. American Library Association "Best" list among Nine Notable Books (Nonfiction) for 1991.
• 1993 Visions of Caliban (co-authored with Dale Peterson, Ph.D.). Boston: Houghton Mifflin. New York Times "Notable Book" for 1993. Library Journal "Best Sci-Tech Book" for 1993.
• 1999 Brutal Kinship (with Michael Nichols). New York: Aperture Foundation.
• 1999 Reason For Hope; A Spiritual Journey (with Phillip Berman). New York: Warner Books, Inc. Translated into Japanese.
• 2000 40 Years At Gombe New York: Stewart, Tabori, and Chang.
• 2000 Africa In My Blood (edited by Dale Peterson). New York: Houghton Mifflin Company.
• 2001 Beyond Innocence: An Autobiography in Letters, the later years (edited by Dale Peterson). New York: Houghton Mifflin Company. ISBN 0-618-12520-5 Online version
• 2002 The Ten Trusts: What We Must Do To Care for the Animals We Love (with Marc Bekoff). San Francisco: Harper San Francisco
• 2005 Harvest for Hope: A Guide to Mindful Eating New York: Warner Books, Inc. ISBN 0-446-53362-9
• 2009 Hope for Animals and Their World: How Endangered Species Are Being Rescued from the Brink Grand Central Publishing ISBN 0-446-58177-1

Children's books

• 1972 Grub: The Bush Baby (with H. van Lawick). Boston: Houghton Mifflin.
• 1988 My Life with the Chimpanzees New York: Byron Preiss Visual Publications, Inc. Translated into French, Japanese and Chinese. Parenting's Reading-Magic Award for "Outstanding Book for Children," 1989.
• 1989 The Chimpanzee Family Book Saxonville, MA: Picture Book Studio; Munich: Neugebauer Press; London: Picture Book Studio. Translated into more than 15 languages, including Japanese and Swahili. The UNICEF Award for the best children's book of 1989. Austrian state prize for best children's book of 1990.
• 1989 Jane Goodall's Animal World: Chimps New York: Macmillan.
• 1989 Animal Family Series: Chimpanzee Family; Lion Family; Elephant Family; Zebra Family; Giraffe Family; Baboon Family; Hyena Family; Wildebeest Family Toronto: Madison Marketing Ltd.
• 1994 With Love New York / London: North-South Books. Translated into German, French, Italian, and Japanese.
• 1999 Dr. White (illustrated by Julie Litty). New York: North-South Books.
• 2000 The Eagle & the Wren (illustrated by Alexander Reichstein). New York: North-South Books.
• 2001 Chimpanzees I Love: Saving Their World and Ours New York: Scholastic Press
• 2004 Rickie and Henri: A True Story (with Alan Marks) Penguin Young Readers Group

Films

• 1963 Miss Goodall and the Wild Chimpanzees National Geographic Society
• 1975 Miss Goodall: The Hyena Story The World of Animal Behavior Series 16mm 1979 version for DiscoVision, not released for LaserDisc
• 1984 Among the Wild Chimpanzees National Geographic Special
• 1988 People of the Forest with Hugo van Lawick
• 1990 Chimpanzee Alert in the Nature Watch Series, Central Television
• 1990 The Life and Legend of Jane Goodall National Geographic Society.
• 1990 The Gombe Chimpanzees Bavarian Television
• 1995 Fifi's Boys for the Natural World series for the
• 1996 Chimpanzee Diary for BBC2 Animal Zone
• 1997 Animal Minds for BBC
• 2000 Jane Goodall: Reason For Hope PBS special produced by KTCA
• 2001 Chimps R Us PBS special Scientific Frontiers.
• 2002 Jane Goodall's Wild Chimpanzees (IMAX format), in collaboration with Science North
• 2005 Jane Goodall's Return to Gombe for Animal Planet
• 2006 Chimps, So Like Us HBO film nominated for 1990 Academy Award
• 2007 When Animals Talk We Should Listen theatrical documentary feature co-produced by Animal Planet
• 2010 Jane's Journey theatrical documentary feature co-produced by Animal Planet

In popular culture

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David Greybeard Sculpture at Animal Kingdom

• Goodall is honored by The Walt Disney Company with a plaque on the Tree of Life at Walt Disney World's Animal Kingdom theme park, alongside a carving of her beloved David Greybeard, the original chimp who approached Goodall during her first year at Gombe.
• Goodall voiced herself in the animated TV series The Wild Thornberrys.
• The protagonist in Jonathan Safran Foer's second novel, Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, asks Goodall for a recommendation, to which she responds with a gentle rejection.
• In The Simpsons episode "Simpson Safari", a character loosely based on Goodall is a research scientist in charge of a chimpanzee refuge who is secretly forcing them to mine diamonds for her benefit.
• On her album Street Angel, Stevie Nicks pays tribute to Goodall with the track "Jane".
• In the movie George of the Jungle, Beatrice Stanhope sits next to Ape the Gorilla and says "I feel just like Jane Goodall", to which Ape replies "Ma'am, I have known Jane Goodall, and you certainly aren't Jane Goodall".
• A parody of Goodall appears in the webcomic, Irregular Webcomic! as a foil to Steve, himself a parody of Steve Irwin. She would later appear as herself interacting with the comic's writer, David Morgan-Mar.
• A parody of Goodall appears once on The Marvelous Misadventures of Flapjack, living on an island inhabited by chimpanzees.
• She is included in the Symphony of Science video The Unbroken Thread.
• On May 20, 2010. Dave Matthews and Tim Reynolds held a benefit concert at DAR Constitution Hall in Washington DC to commemorate Gombe 50: a global celebration of Jane Goodall’s pioneering chimpanzee research and inspiring vision for our future.

See also

• Roots & Shoots
• USC Jane Goodall Research Center

External links

• The Jane Goodall Institute
• Roots & Shoots Youth oriented offshoot of the Jane Goodall * "Chimpanzees - Bridging the Gap". In Paola Cavalieri & Peter Singer (eds.), The Great Ape Project, New York: St. Martin's Griffin, 1993, pp. 10–18.
• Jane Goodall's thoughts on Earth Day 2006
• Jane Goodall talks at Google Video recording of Jane Goodall talk at Google
• "Speaking for the Forests" in Climate change in Google Earth.
• Lecture of Goodall at Harvard University in 2007
• TED Talks: Jane Goodall helps humans and animals live together at TED in 2002
• TED Talks: Jane Goodall on what separates us from the apes at TED in 2003
• 'We can't go on like this', Jane Goodall speaks, by Venkatesan Vembu, Daily News & Analysis, 30 October 2006
• Jane Goodall's full name appearing on Hugo van Lawick site; accessed Feb 5 2008
• Symphony of Science - 'The Unbroken Thread' (ft. Attenborough, Goodall, Sagan)

Interviews

• Interview with Australian TV personality Andrew Denton
• An Interview with Jane Goodall A discussion about private experimentation
• Jane Goodall Charlie Rose interviews
• Jane Goodall Interview on The Hour with George Stroumboulopoulos
• Jane Goodall's interview with Rev. Alan Jones
• Jane Goodall interviewed by Alyssa McDonald July 2010 on New Statesman.