Untitled Document
 Jane
Goodall is an English UN Messenger of Peace and a
pioneering primatologist. She studies
primates, which is a group
of animals that includes human beings, apes and monkeys. She is
well-known for her 45-year study of chimpanzees in Tanzania. She is
also the author of many famous books. Most importantly, she is chimpanzees’
true friend!
Jane Goodall was born in London, England in 1934. She was interested
in animals from her youth. She loved animals so much that by the time
she was 10, she dreamed of living with animals in Africa. When Jane
was 18, she began working, trying to save enough money to make
her trip to Africa.
 Jane
Goodall finally went to Africa when
she was 23 years old. In 1957, she sailed to Mombasa, the second
largest city in Kenya. There, she met a scientist named Louis Leakey.
He was studying the primate species. He chose Jane for
this work because he believed that she would be more patient and careful than
a male observer as a woman.
In July, 1960, 26-year-old Jane set out for Gombe National
Park in southeastern Africa to begin
a study of chimpanzees. At the time, she thought that the study might
take three years. But she ended up staying for more than 20 years!
In her earliest days at Gombe, Jane spent long hours working to gain the trust of the chimpanzees.
She followed them through the
dense forests and gradually moved closer to
them until she could sit among them. Her patience made an amazing set of discoveries
about the behaviors and social relations of chimpanzees.
Jane’s studies showed that chimpanzees used simple tools such as twigs or grasses. She proved for the first time that human
beings are not the only animals that use tools.
 Later, Jane
turned her attention to the problem of captive chimpanzees. Chimpanzees
have been widely used as laboratory animals to study
human diseases. Jane tried to set
limits on the number of animals used in such experiments. She also worked
to improve conditions for zoo animals
and for conservation of chimpanzee
habitats. In 1986, she wrote
children’s books The Chimpanzee Family Book and With Love on the subject of treating animals kindly.
Jane Goodall has received many awards and honors for her efforts. Today, she does
not spend much time in Africa anymore. Instead, she spends as many
as 300 days a year traveling, giving speeches throughout the world.
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