Jane Goodall

Jane Goodall was born in London, England on April 3, 1934. As a child she was given a life-like monkey toy named Jubilee by her father, although friends believed it would scare her. Today, the toy still sits on her dresser in London. After the divorce of her parents when Goodall was only 12, she moved with her mother to Bournemouth, England. Goodall was interested in animals from her youth; this prompted noted anthropologist Louis Leakey to hire her as his assistant/secretary. He invited her to accompany him and his wife, Mary Leakey, to dig at Olduvai Gorge in eastern Africa. Eventually he asked Goodall to study the chimpanzees of Gombe Stream National Park (then known as 'Gombe Stream Chimpanzee Reserve'). She arrived at Gombe in July 1960. Leakey arranged for her to return to the United Kingdom where she earned a doctorate in ethology from the University of Cambridge in 1964. Along with Dian Fossey, famous for living with gorillas, and Biruté Galdikas, who advanced studies in orangutans, Goodall was one of three women recently dubbed by some as "Leakey's Angels".

Orphaned by poachers, young chimpanzees 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. In 1977, Goodall established the Jane Goodall Institute (JGI), which supports the Gombe research and is a global leader in the effort to protect chimpanzees and their habitats. With 19 offices around the world, the JGI is widely recognized for innovative, community-centered conservation and development programs in Africa and a global youth program, Roots & Shoots, which currently has over 8,000 groups in 96 countries. Today, Goodall devotes virtually all of her time to advocating on behalf of chimpanzees and the environment, traveling nearly 300 days a year. Goodall was instrumental in the study of social learning, primate cognition, thinking and culture in wild chimpanzees, their differentiation from the bonobo, and the inclusion of both species, along with the gorilla, as Hominids. One of Goodall's major contributions to the field of primatology was the discovery of tool-making in chimpanzees. Though many animals had been clearly observed using "tools", previously, only humans were thought to make tools, and tool-making was considered the defining difference between humans and other animals. This discovery convinced several scientists to reconsider their definition of being human.[1] Goodall also set herself apart from the traditional conventions of the time in her study of primates by naming the animals she studied, instead of assigning each a number. This 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. * Goodall is honored by the Walt Disney Company with a plaque on the 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.[10] The story goes that when she was invited to visit the developing Animal Kingdom park as a consultant and saw the Tree of Life, she didn't see a chimp as part of the tree. To rectify this situation, the Imagineers added the carving of David Graybeard and the plaque honoring her at the entrance to the It's Tough to be a Bug! show. * Cartoonist Gary Larson once drew a cartoon that showed two chimpanzees grooming. One finds a human hair on the other and inquires, "Conducting a little more 'research' with that Jane Goodall tramp?" The Jane Goodall Institute thought this to be 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, however, by Goodall herself, who revealed that she found the cartoon amusing. Since then, all profits from sales of a shirt featuring this cartoon have gone to the JGI. * Dr. Goodall also appeared and lent her voice as herself in the animated TV series The Wild Thornberrys. * In the video game Justice League Heroes while in Gorilla City, The Flash says "Quick!, Somebody page Jane Goodall". * 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, "Simpsons Safari", a character loosely based on Goodall is a research scientist in charge of a Chimpanzees refuge who is secretly enslaving them to mine for diamonds. * USC Jane Goodall Research Center

Jane Goodall is a primatologist (monkey expert) and studies chimpanzees in the forests of Tanzania, Africa.

Jane studied, vaccinated, counted, made friends with, and nursed to health (in some cases) chimps. She found out that they were smarter than dolphins. She is 76 years old today and has a son, who's nickname is Grub (Where did she come up with that?) and a husband (I can't remember his name).

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