GOLDEN VALLEY, Minn. - Tuesday is Dr. Jane Goodall’s 84th birthday. Hers has been a remarkable path for a girl who grew up from humble means to end up studying and revolutionizing the way we view our closest cousin, the chimpanzee.
I was fortunate to sit down with Dr. Goodall when she visited the Twin Cities a couple weeks ago. We had a wide-ranging conversation on everything from her childhood to her groundbreaking research on chimps.
“When I was 10 I read Tarzan with this glorious Jungle, and obviously married the wrong Jane. That’s when my dream began: grow up move to Africa, live with wild animals and write books.” Goodall explained.
Jane’s family couldn’t afford college but she did save enough money to visit a friend in Kenya, and that led to a chance encounter with renowned Dr. Lewis Leaky, who chose her to study chimpanzees.
"Why do you think he chose you instead of someone with a fancy academic degree?," I asked Dr. Goodall. “He wanted a mind, as he put it, uncluttered by the academic theory of the time. He also felt women were better observers, more patient,” Goodall recalled.
Without any college degree or training, Jane set up camp in Gombe, Tanzania.
Sven: “It took some time. You only initially had 6 months before the money ran out.You didn’t make progress instantly with the chimps?”
Jane: “No they ran away as soon as they saw this peculiar white ape.”
Sven: “Finally a chimp who remains your favorite established a connection:”
Jane: “David Graybeard.”
Her first ground breaking discovery was chimps using tools. “It was thought at that time that only humans used annd made tools. I saw David Graybeard break off stems & use them to fish for termites. He also broke off leafy twigs & pulled off the leaves to make the tool.”
Dr. Goodall also documented that chimps indeed had distinct personalities and even emotion, from McGregor’s death of polio and little Flint dying from grief. “The two incidents you mention the polio epidemic, and little Flint, even though he was 8 years old, losing his mother. It was as though he couldn’t live without her. In a state of grief he died,” Goodall asserted.
Sven: “You initially thought that chimps were nicer versions of us, but you found that not to be the case:”
Jane: “They can be extremely brutal. The best example of that was the hunting down of their erstwhile friends in what I call the four year war.”
Sven: “Could you teach me a couple greetings or some sounds?”
Jane: The close up greeting is (pants)… at the same time I’m the female I might reach my hand out nervously and you might pat it (I pat)… no only the female!
All of these discoveries turned science upside down at the time and Goodall talked about how she was widely criticized then but now you can get studying animal personalities.
Spreading a conservation message
Dr. Jane Goodall still travels 300 days per year because she’s driven to save our planet, not just her chimps. Goodall is hopeful in the future if we all make smart choices individually.
Sven: “By all measures we’re in the 6thmass extinction, the only one caused by human beings, another species. We recently had the death of Sudan, the northern white rhino. Another vivid example of how on the brink many species are. Where are chimpanzees on that threat level?”
Jane: “Oh in most of the countries they live they are highly threatened, endangered.
The Gombe chimps wouldn’t be there if I hadn’t been there. The way the Jane Goodall institute works to conserve chimps now in 7 African countries is to work with the local people to improve their lives so that they become our partners in conservation.”
“What’s the point of doing any of it unless we’re educating young people to be better stewards than we’ve been & that’s our Roots & Shoots program now in 100 countries,” Dr. Goodall continued.
“I don’t now how big of window of time we have, but Roots & Shoots has a message that every individual makes a difference every single day. We can choose what kind of difference we make.”
“Animals on the brink of extinction can be given another chance. There were 2 birds one male & one female: only one male & one fertile female in the entire world: the black robin in New Zealand. Now there are 700 of them because of one man who decided he wouldn’t let them go extinct.”
Dr. Goodall’s ‘Roots & Shoots’ Program is grass roots organization that gets youth involved in countries all over the world in projects to create awareness & help the environment. If you are a teacher or someone who wants to start your own Roots & Shoots project locally in Minnesota or Wisconsin, let SVEN know! We’d love to profile you & your work. For more info:
Roots & Shoots
Connect With Other Youth! Climate Change + Habitat Destruction How can each of us combat climate change — as individuals, community members, and citizens of Earth? Log on to the Roots & Shoots website.
For more on the Jane Goodall Institute, check out her website.