Perreault Magazine - 24 -
Continued from page 23
Jane and Vanne and a cook arrived at the shores of Gombe in 1960 and set up camp. Soon Goodall was playing Jane to her Tarzan, climbing trees and scampering up steep slopes tangled with vines. Armed only with a notebook and binoculars, she set off each morning in search of her quarry. Although it took a long time to gain the chimps’ trust, after just three months, she had her first breakthrough. She observed a chimp she had named David Greybeard strip leaves from a stem of grass and poke it into a termite mound to “fish” for termites. It was a discovery that would change our notion of what it means to be human. She relayed the exciting news to Leakey, who famously declared, “Now we must redefine ‘tool’, redefine ‘man’, or accept chimpanzees as humans.”
But the scientific establishment was not so accepting. Some dismissed the findings and claimed she didn’t grasp what she was seeing. When photos were produced, one scientist theorized that she had taught the chimps the trick. Scientists also criticized her habit of naming her subjects and “giving” them individual personalities. But when her work appeared in the pages of National Geographic in 1963—along with photos of the 29-year-old English girl sitting placidly in the forest with the chimps—it captured the public imagination.
Eventually her work earned the admiration of scientists and the public alike. Through her magazine and journal articles, TV documentaries, and many books for children and adults, the world came to know the personalities of individual chimps from the now famous “F” and “G” families. At Leakey's insistence, she did go on to get her Ph.D. – as one of the few people Cambridge University accepted into its doctoral program without a college degree. Her 55-year study of the chimps at Gombe remains the world’s longest continuous research on a single primate species.
Over the years, many others joined the cause. Goodall opened a field research center at Gombe that has trained many students and staff, including many Tanzanians. The center continues to conduct critical research that expands on her work.
THE JANE GOODALL
INSTITUTE
In 1977 she established the Jane Goodall Institute, which works to protect chimps and their habitat. Its network of sanctuaries provide a safe haven for chimps confiscated from bushmeat hunters, illegal traffickers, and the entertainment and pet trade.