Jane Goodall Biography

Jane Goodall was born Valerie Jane Morris-Goodall on April 3, 1934, in London, England, UK, to Mortimer Herbert Morris-Goodall, a businessman, and Margaret Myfanwe Joseph, a novelist. She had a younger sister named Judy.

Because of her love for wildlife, she left school at the age of eighteen in order to pursue her dream.

Through her friends, she met the famous anthropologist and paleontologist Louis Leakey in Kenya. Leakey believed that observing chimpanzees, the second-most intelligent primate, would provide new information on evolution. He provided her with an opportunity to study them at ‘Gombe Stream National Park’ and she grabbed it with both hands.

Before her observation, it was believed that only humans possessed the skill of making tools and that their ability to make tools distinguished them from other primates. But after her studies on chimpanzees, this belief was abandoned. While observing a chimpanzee, she realized that the animal was effectively “fishing” for termites as it repeatedly placed stalks of grass into termite holes. When it took out the stalk of grass from the hole, it was able to feed on termites clinging to the grass. Her mentor Leaky wrote in an article to the scientific community, “We must now redefine man, redefine tool, or accept chimpanzees as human!”

Her observation also established the fact that chimpanzees are omnivores. She also observed that they are quite capable of rational thought and emotions like sorrow and joy. She also observed behaviors like kisses, hugs, tickling, and pats on the back which were considered "human" actions at the time. On the other hand, she also observed the tendency for violence and aggression among chimpanzees.

In order to protect chimpanzees, she founded ‘Jane Goodall Institute’ in 1977, which now has sub-groups all around the world. Its global youth program ‘Roots & Shoots,’ which focuses on saving them and their habitat, began in 1991.

In 1964, Jane married a Dutch wildlife photographer named Baron Hugo Van Lawick. He was sent to ‘Gombe’ by ‘National Geographic Society’ to shoot the project she was working on. They had a son named Hugo Eric Louis. Jane and Hugo Van Lawick got divorced in 1974.