Jane Goodall: Longest-running wild-primate study
2020 marks a major milestone for British primatologist and all-round conservation champion Dr Jane Goodall. It is 60 years since she arrived in Tanzania to study chimpanzees in the wild, it has become the longest-running field study of primates. Her hard work has won her many awards including DBE (Dame of the British Empire), the Légion d’honneur, the Medal of Tanzania and an appointment as a UN Messenger of Peace.
From the Start…
From the beginning Jane was always interested in wildlife and nature. She even had a kids toy, chimpanzee, named Jubilee. Even at age 10 she decided as she got older, she was going to travel to Africa and see all the animals that she would always see and read about. Jane did not have the support that was needed and was always set back. Except for her mother who gave her a piece of advice that Jane would remember forever. Her mother stated “If you really want something, you may have to work very hard, take advantage of opportunities, and never give up.”, Jane kept this advice as she grew up. Jane made opportunities for herself. While she was visiting a school friend in Kenya in 1957. There, she arranged a meeting with, palaeontologists Louis Leakey to discuss his ideas, which revolved that much could be learned about human origins by studying our primate relatives today. After Jane and Leaky stayed in touch, he quickly realized that Jane’s work was very under-rated.
Becoming a Reality
Three years later, Leakey organized Jane’s expedition to Gombe Stream Chimpanzee Reserve (now Gombe National Park) in western Tanzania. This was a very big moment for Jane because she was only 26 years old, and finally fulfilling her dream. She was not quite ready to get up close and personal with chimpanzees considering she hadn't earned the trust yet. For the first 3 months the chimps would just run off and Jane could not get the observations she needed. Other than the observations from a high observing point like a place called “The Peak”. Jane still remembers the day that she was able to get up close with them. Observations of the chimps at Gombe continue to this day. The work is executed by the Jane Goodall Institute , which was founded in 1977 and has more than 30 offices around the globe. In total, since Jane started in 1960, more than 165,000 hours of observations have been collected, which have provided the data for hundreds of academic papers.
Coming to an End…
Jane has made many other accomplishments, if we went through them all we would be here for a long time. While most of us would struggle to ever live up to all that Jane has achieved for conservation, she insists that each of us has a role. “Everyone can make a difference. People often do nothing because they feel helpless and hopeless”.
