She imitated their behaviors, spent time in the trees and ate their foods.īy remaining in almost constant contact with the chimps, Goodall discovered a number of previously unobserved behaviors: She noted that chimps have a complex social system, complete with ritualized behaviors and primitive but discernible communication methods, including a primitive "language" system containing more than 20 individual sounds. Using this method, she became closely acquainted with a majority of the reserve's chimps. Goodall used her newfound acceptance to establish what she termed the "banana club," a daily systematic feeding method she used to gain trust and to obtain a more thorough understanding of everyday chimpanzee behavior. After two years of seeing her every day, they showed no fear and often came to her in search of bananas. The chimpanzees soon tolerated her presence and, within a year, allowed her to move as close as 30 feet to their feeding area. After finding another suitable group to follow, she established a non-threatening pattern of observation, appearing at the same time every morning on the high ground near a feeding area along the Kakombe Valley. Goodall's first attempts to closely observe the animals failed she could get no nearer than 500 yards before the chimps fled. In July 1960, accompanied by her mother and an African cook, Goodall arrived on the shore of Lake Tanganyika in the Gombe Stream Reserve of Tanzania, Africa, with the goal of studying chimpanzees. Many experts objected to Leakey's selection of Goodall because she had no formal scientific education and lacked even a general college degree. At his prompting, she agreed to attempt such a study. Leakey believed that Goodall had the proper temperament to endure long-term isolation in the wild. Few studies of chimpanzees had been successful either the size of the safari frightened the chimps, producing unnatural behaviors, or the observers spent too little time in the field to gain comprehensive knowledge. He had a particular interest in the chimpanzee, the second most intelligent primate. Leakey believed that a long-term study of the behavior of higher primates would yield important evolutionary information. Additionally, Goodall was sent to study the vervet monkey, which lives on an island in Lake Victoria. Leakey hired her as a secretary and invited her to participate in an anthropological dig at the now-famous Olduvai Gorge, a site rich in fossilized prehistoric remains of early ancestors of humans. Through other friends, she soon met the famed anthropologist Louis Leakey, then curator of the Coryndon Museum in Nairobi. Learning from Anthropologist Louis LeakeyĪt the invitation of a childhood friend, Goodall visited South Kinangop, Kenya, in the late 1950s. She went on to find employment as a secretary at Oxford University, and in her spare time also worked at a London-based documentary film company to finance a long-anticipated trip to Africa. Goodall attended the Uplands private school, receiving her school certificate in 1950 and a higher certificate in 1952. From an early age, she dreamed of traveling to Africa to observe exotic animals in their natural habitats. In her leisure time, she observed native birds and animals, making extensive notes and sketches, and read widely in the literature of zoology and ethology. Goodall's fascination with animal behavior began in early childhood. Along with her sister, Judy, Goodall was reared in London and Bournemouth, England. Goodall was born on April 3, 1934, in London, England, to Mortimer Herbert Goodall, a businessperson and motor-racing enthusiast, and the former Margaret Myfanwe Joseph, who wrote novels under the name Vanne Morris Goodall. A highly respected member of the world scientific community, she advocates for ecological preservation through the Jane Goodall Institute. She immersed herself in their lives, bypassing more rigid procedures to make discoveries about primate behavior that have continued to shape scientific discourse. Jane Goodall set out to Tanzania in 1960 to study wild chimpanzees.
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