Jane Goodall is a primatologist, entologist, anthropologist, and also the ambassador of peace from England. She became widely known thanks to 45 years of studying the social life of chimpanzees, a lot of photos and videos of which are with her. She spent most of her life in the forests of Tanzania. She began her studies back in 1960, when she was only 26 years old. Received a number of honorary awards and orders. Over the course of her life, she has written more than two dozen books, including 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. In childhood, the girl received a toy from her father - a chimpanzee, the photo of which is the most popular in Goodall albums. It was this scary at first glance toy that prompted Jane's love of nature. By the way, the chimpanzee still accompanies the famous primatologist.
When Jane was 12 years old, her parents divorced. Together with their mother and younger sister, they lived in Bournemouth, in the house of their grandmother. Father at that time was at the front. From an early age, she liked to observe the behavior of various animals. Even then, she dreamed of living in Africa and studying animals. Various books, such as Tarzan, contributed to this. At that time, for a girl, these dreams were impossible.
First steps
After leaving school, attended courses of secretaries. The girl had to forget about higher education, since the family did not have money for her studies. The first job was a fairly prestigious film company, which Jane Goodall left after inviting a classmate to Kenya, where she could get the opportunity to study Africa. However, there was not even money for the trip, so for some time she worked as a waitress in a restaurant 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 excavate in East Africa. At the same time, the leader suggested that Jane Goodall begin to study the behavior of chimpanzees, which would help draw conclusions about the life of a primitive man.
Carier start
To study zoology and primatology, Jane Goodall returned to England. After completing the courses, she finally got the opportunity to make her dream come true. In 1960, a young anthropologist, Jane Goodall, arrived at Gombe Stream. ("Chimpanzee in Nature: Behavior" - a book whose main theme 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.) A mother went on a long journey with her, because as local authorities did not allow young girls to be unaccompanied. However, the matter was not so much in traditions: officials simply were afraid to leave the white girl alone with the "savages."
Mom Jane has always supported her daughter's desire to study animals. At first, her help was invaluable. She helped her settle in the camp and establish 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 well describe the behavior of chimpanzees, did not immediately manage to win over these animals. She started work in the early morning and wandered through the forests until dark. At first, the trackers accompanied her, then she explored the surroundings on her own. At first, chimpanzees were afraid to approach, but soon began to get used to her presence. Jane built herself a small observation camp, where there was the most necessary. 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 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 get wild bees' honey, and they crack nuts with a stone. In addition, she managed to find out that primates independently make tools. Prior to this, the prevailing opinion was that individual individuals can use various devices, but only people can produce them.
It was Jane who established that the chimpanzee did not mind tasting meat. It was previously believed that they are pure vegetarians and rarely change their diet. Goodall personally observed how chimpanzees collectively hunted piglets and small monkeys.
Jane was the first to name the chimpanzees. At that time, and even now, many researchers believe that experimental subjects need to assign only serial numbers in order not to give a personal coloring. Jane thought differently, giving the chimpanzee different names, for example, David Gray-Bearded.
The gloomy side of chimpanzee life
Each season of research has brought new discoveries. However, until the 70s, Jane did not face the terrible aspects of chimpanzee behavior. She believed that these animals are better than humans, but became the first to manage to see and describe the war between chimpanzees. In the reserve, in addition to the clan, which was monitored, there were several more 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 tracked down the enemy one by one, beat and bite, and then left to die. Very soon the flock dealt with all the separated males.
Some females also were not role models. One day, Jane observed the terrible habit of two females who took newborn cubs from other monkeys and ate them.
However, there were individuals who deserved respect. For example, two young chimpanzees who grew up without parents took orphans. Every year, Jane realized that not so much chimpanzees are different from people. She even managed to get into the group of animals, 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 chimpanzees. She set forth all her thoughts in books, many of which, unfortunately, are not translated into Russian. Jane Goodall became one of the most famous primatologist of the last century, answering many questions about the life of chimpanzees.