Jane Goodall is a primatologist, enthologist, anthropologist and peace ambassador from England. She became widely known thanks to 45 years of studying the social life of chimpanzees, photos and videos of which are very numerous with her. She spent most of her life in the forests of Tanzania. Research began back in 1960, when she was only 26 years old. Received a number of honorary awards and orders. She has written more than two dozen books in her life, including books for children.
Childhood
Jane Goodall, whose biography begins in London, was born on April 3, 1934. Father is a businessman, mother is a writer. Jane became the first child in the family, later the youngest daughter appeared. As a child, the girl received from her father a toy - a chimpanzee, the photo of which is the most popular in Goodall's albums. It was this scary at first glance toy that inspired Jane's love for nature. By the way, the chimpanzee still accompanies the famous primatologist.
When Jane was 12, her parents divorced. Together with their mother and younger sister, they lived in Bournemouth, in their grandmother's house. My father was at the front at the time. From an early age, she liked to observe the behavior of different animals. Even then, she dreamed of living in Africa and studying animals. This was facilitated by various books, for example, "Tarzan". On thethat moment for the girl, these dreams were unrealizable.
First steps
After leaving school, she attended secretarial courses. The girl had to forget about higher education, as the family did not have money for her studies. The first place of work was a fairly prestigious film company, which Jane Goodall left after being invited by a classmate to Kenya, where she could get the opportunity to study Africa. However, there was no money even for a trip, so for some time she worked as a waitress in one of the restaurants in Bournemouth. She was able to go to Kenya in 1956, where she became an assistant and secretary at the national museum. Soon, together with the director of the museum and his wife, she went to excavations in East Africa. At the same time, the leader suggested that Jane Goodall start studying the behavior of chimpanzees, which would help to draw conclusions about the life of primitive man.
Career start
Jane Goodall returned to England to study zoology and primatology. After completing the course, I finally got the opportunity to make my dream come true. In 1960, a young anthropologist, Jane Goodall, arrived in Gombe Stream. ("Chimpanzees in Nature: Behavior" - a book whose main topic was a description of the characteristics of these animals, was written by Jane after many years of observing primates, published in 1986 and translated into Russian.) Her mother went on a long journey with her, because how local authorities did not allow young girls to be unaccompanied. However, it was not so much about traditions: officials were simply afraidleaving a white girl alone with the "savages".
Jane's mother has always supported her daughter's desire to study animals. At first, her help was invaluable. She helped her settle into the camp and make contact with the locals. In the first months, both mother and daughter fell ill with malaria, which almost became fatal for them.
Animal Watching
Jane Goodall, whose books describe the behavior of chimpanzees well, did not immediately manage to win over these animals. She started work from early morning and wandered through the forests until dark. At first she was accompanied by trackers, then she explored the surroundings on her own. At first, the chimpanzees were afraid to approach, but soon began to get used to her presence. Jane built herself a small observation camp, where there were the most necessary things. There were weeks when Goodall could not track down a single chimpanzee and fell into despair - the research grant was designed for only six months. Despite this, she was already able to make a number of discoveries that forced the management to continue funding.
First discoveries
Jane Goodall was the first to see chimpanzees using primitive tools. In order to get an ant, they use small sticks. Branches help chimpanzees extract honey from wild bees, and they crack nuts with a stone. In addition, she was able to find out that primates make their own tools. Prior to this, the prevailing opinion was that individuals can use differentcontraptions, but only humans can make them.
It was Jane who discovered that chimpanzees are not averse to eating meat. It was previously believed that they are pure vegetarians and rarely change their diet. Goodall personally observed how chimpanzees collectively hunted pigs and small monkeys.
Jane was the first to name chimpanzees. At that time, and even now, many researchers believe that the subjects should only be assigned serial numbers so as not to give a personal coloring. Jane thought otherwise, giving the chimpanzees various names, such as David Greybeard.
The Dark Side of Chimpanzee Life
Each season of exploration brought new discoveries. It wasn't until the 1970s, however, that Jane encountered the ugly side of chimpanzee behavior. She believed that these animals were better than humans, but she was the first to see and describe the war between chimpanzees. In the reserve, in addition to the clan, which was monitored, there were several other groups of these animals. During the reign of one leader, part of the males separated from the clan and went to another part of the park. The new leader decided to start a war against them. The battle tactics were extremely simple: they hunted down the enemy one by one, beat and bit, after which they left them to die. Very soon, the pack de alt with all the separated males.
Some females weren't role models either. One day, Jane observed a terrible habit of two females who took newborn cubs fromother monkeys and ate them.
However, there were individuals who deserved respect. For example, two young chimpanzees who grew up without parents adopted orphans. As the years passed, Jane realized that chimpanzees weren't that different from humans. She even managed to get into the animal group, where she became the "girlfriend" of one of the high-ranking females.
In the following years, Goodall made many interesting and useful discoveries about the life of a chimpanzee. She expressed all her thoughts in books, many of which, unfortunately, have not been translated into Russian. Jane Goodall has become one of the most famous primatologists of the last century, answering many questions about the life of a chimpanzee.
