A Tribute To Jane Goodall: Forever In The Hearts Of Chimpanzees

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Dr.Jane Goodall, the woman who redefined science in the forests of Gombe, is well known and adored by the scientific community and the world for her groundbreaking work on Chimpanzees. Jane solely donated 65-years of her life to watch Chimpanzees in Gombe and try and understand them. During this time, Jane started to raise awareness in the people regarding the conservation of mother nature, protection of wildlife, and the ever-changing and intertwined relationship between humans and animals.

Jane was a woman with a dream and a passion, and was never afraid of claiming what was truly hers. She was an Anthropologist, Primatologist and an advocate for the conservation of the relationship between humans, animals and mother nature.

“I would say, I was somebody sent to this world to try to give people hope in dark times. Because without hope, we fall into apathy and do nothing. And in the dark times that we are living in now, if people don’t have hope, we’re doomed. And how can we bring little children into this dark world we’ve created and let them be surrounded by people who’ve given up.” – Jane in an interview with Famous Last Words (Netflix Show)

Conquering Africa With Just A Dream And Binoculars

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Dr.Jane Goodall was gifted a stuffed chimpanzee named Jubilee at a young age which sparked her life long dedication to understanding the real life chimps and loving them. She had always dreamed of studying animals in Africa and so, she left school at the age of 18 and worked as a secretary and film production assistant as a means to get a passageway to Africa.

She finally arrived in Kenya with just a notebook, her binoculars and burning passion to learn, which could not be overlooked.Once there,no one could have stopped Jane from achieving her lifelong dream. She started working alongside archaeologist and anthropologist, Louis Leaky, and quickly got promoted to being his secretary. 

Following Leaky’s instructions, Jane started studying chimpanzees in 1960, in Tanzania alongside her mother, since at the time it was considered to be ‘unorthodox’ for such a young woman to venture out on her own in the wild.

As reported by Nature, Jane brought a great many deal of changes in the field of science during her study of chimps. She preferred to use names for animals instead of the conventional use of numbers. Once, she named a chimp with silver facial hair, David Greybeard (her favourite chimp of all time).Although this seriously annoyed the senior scientists at the time, later on this became a common practice in her field. Her aim was to show us that animals are also indeed, living and breathing beings and not just numbers on our files/screens.

Jane was also the first scientist to prove that animals and humans share many human traits which have historically been preserved for humans such as; empathy, understanding and culture.

“In what terms should we think of these beings, nonhuman yet possessing so very many human-like characteristics? How should we treat them? Surely we should treat them with the same consideration and kindness as we show to other humans; and as we recognize human rights, so too should we recognize the rights of the great apes? Yes.” – Jane, in one of her books

Many people prefer being surrounded by animals than humans, Jane was also one of those people.Her life-long research about chimpanzees and their behaviour shows us how little we truly know about our fellow beings,and how much we lack understanding of them and empathy for them. She inspired many of us to move past that invisible border we have set up between us and animals and truly, I mean in a sense that we try and solve complex puzzles, try and understand these creatures.

She made animals relatable to us by showing how many similarities we actually shared such as the ‘mother and child bond’, which can be found in the human race as well as in the animal race. She told us to look beyond our innate desire to be able to understand each and every aspect of their beings, but try and understand them as they are. To look into their eyes and realize that they have minds as well as they have souls, they have feelings as well as desires, though they might not speak the same language as us or have the same forms of government as us, they still exist and carry on just like we do.

Jane also established a non-profit organization, ‘Jane Goodall Institute’ focusing on conservation of nature. It promotes understanding and protection of great apes and their habitat and aims to lead a movement of conservation for the common good, always working with the youth to take care of mother nature and her inhabitants.

Some Fun Facts About Our Beloved Chimps

Here are some findings from our beloved Chimpanzee expert Jane Goodall:

• Chimpanzees are not picky eaters at all! They eat up to 200 different kinds of food with fruit being their most liked food. Infact, it was believed that chimps were purely vegetarian until Jane debunked such assumptions.
• Chimpanzees are quite the technical animal, they crack nuts with rocks and fish out insects from nests. They are even known for building different types of tools that help them in their tasks.
• Chimpanzees maintain excellent mother-child relationships! They learn all essential life skills such as picking up on emotional cues and demonstrating compassion, from their mothers.

A Legacy

“Man destroys everything, he has been at war with this world since he first entered it. War with its trees. War with its weather. Only one thing rings victorious: the world itself”.  – Elsa Dutton in ‘1923’ (series)

Dr. Jane Goodall passed away at the age of 91, earlier this month. During her last days, Jane was on a tour, speaking to many communities about the conservation of mother nature and understanding the animal mind. She had quite the stamina and quite the dedication.

Jane was one of the few people who did a Phd without an undergraduate degree. She reformed the world of science for women, showing them that it is that easy to change the rules. She also wrote many books about understanding animals and holding onto hope during trying times, such as; “In The Shadow of Man”, “The Chimpanzees of Gombe:Patterns of Behaviour” and “The Book of Hope: A Survival Guide for Trying Times”.

Jane always spoke out about what was important to her and showed us how important it is to keep our hearts and our arms open to the world around us. The Earth is quite the funny and complicated place and we are all just trying to find our way through here so might as well enjoy the journey.

“You cannot get through a single day without having an impact on the world around you. What you do makes a difference, and you have to decide what kind of difference you want to make.” – Goodall