Who Is Jane Goodall And Why Was Her Work So Important?

Jane Goodall is the Englishwoman who spent over 25 years of her life (on/off) studying chimpanzees, in a remote part of Kenya.  Her formal training was mostly as a secretary, and in the snobby 1960s world of animal theorists and behaviourists it took years for her work to get credited.

But she was lucky enough to have the confidence of a respected and trained scientist (Louis Leakey).  Moreover, she hauled in other people who observed the same things and came to suport her arguments.  She found that chimpanzees could use tools, seemed to teach each other (this has been shown in more formal experiments since) and had more complex social relationships than they had previously been credited with. She noted that chimpanzees exhibited very human like emotions, and that they conducted what was, effectively, organised warfare.  Many of these traits were not expected of a mere ape; at the time the distinctions between humans and animals were thought to be much greater at the time.

Nowadays she campaigns for the protection of wildlife habitat everywhere.