He wrote back, “Now we must redefine ‘tool,’ redefine ‘man,’ or accept chimpanzees as humans.”ĭuring the years she studied at Gombe Stream National Park, she made three observations that challenged conventional scientific ideas: (1) chimps are omnivores, not herbivores and even hunt for meat (2) chimps use tools and (3) chimps make their tools (a trait previously used to define humans). Leakey about her groundbreaking observation. She spotted the chimpanzee sticking blades of stiff grass into termite holes to extract termites.
It was David Greybeard whom Jane first witnessed using tools. As a high ranking male of the chimpanzee community, his acceptance meant other group members also allowed Jane to observe. Once recovered, the rugged terrain and thick vegetation made traversing the reserve a challenge and often she hiked miles without seeing a chimpanzee.įinally, an older chimpanzee−whom Jane named David Greybeard, although the practice of naming one’s study subjects was taboo in ethology−began to allow Jane to watch him. Jane developed a fever−likely malaria−that delayed the start of her work. The early weeks at Gombe were challenging. On July 14, 1960, Jane arrived by boat at the Gombe Stream Game Reserve on the eastern shore of Lake Tanganyika with her mother−local officials would not allow Jane to stay at Gombe without an escort−and a cook, Dominic. Permits in hand, she boarded a plane to Nairobi. In May 1960, Jane learned that Leakey had obtained funding from the Wilkie Brothers Foundation. To prepare for her upcoming expedition Jane moved to London to work in the film library of Granada Television’s film library at the London Zoo where she spent her spare time studying the behavior of primates.
In December 1958, Jane returned home to England and Leakey began to make arrangements for the expedition, securing the appropriate permissions from the government and raising funds. They just needed to secure funding for the project.
His hope was that by studying our closest living relatives (chimpanzees who share a common ancestor with humans) he could discover more about what early humans were like−things he could not learn from fossils alone. Leakey felt that Jane’s lack of formal academic training was advantageous because she would not be biased by traditional thought and could study chimpanzees with an open mind. He felt her passion for and knowledge of animals and nature, high energy, and fortitude made her a great candidate to study the chimpanzees. She worked there for a time before Leakey decided to send her to the Gombe Stream Game Reserve (what is today Gombe Stream National Park) in Tanzania to study wild chimpanzees. Louis Seymour Bazett Leakey, who offered her a job at the local natural history museum. There, Jane met famed paleoanthropologist Dr. In March 1957 Jane boarded a ship called the Kenya Castle to visit her friend and her family. At age 23, she left for Africa to visit a friend, whose family lived on a farm outside Nairobi, Kenya. She retained her dream of going to Africa to live among and learn from wild animals, and so she took on a few jobs including waitressing and working for a documentary film company, saving every penny she earned for her goal. Jane was unable to afford college after graduation and instead elected to attend secretarial school in South Kensington, where she perfected her typing, shorthand, and bookkeeping skills.
Jane goodall chimpanzee documentary series#
Dolittle series and, in love with Africa, dreamed of traveling to work with the animals featured in her favorite books. When Jane was about eight she read the Tarzan and Dr. She had a much-loved dog, Rusty, a pony, and a tortoise, to name a few of their family pets. As a child, she had a natural love for the outdoors and animals. Valerie Jane Morris-Goodall, best known simply as Jane Goodall, was born in Bournemouth, England, on April 3, 1934, to Margaret (Vanne) Myfanwe Joseph and Mortimer (Mort) Herbert Morris-Goodall.
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