Jane Goodall Contribution To Anthropology

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Jane Goodall has achieved and contributed greatly to the field of anthropology and primatology; she is considered to be one of the world’s most inspiring and dedicated naturalists. Additionally, Goodall has extensively and significantly contributed to society and the animal kingdom. Her work pioneered numerous primate research studies, and has influenced people to look at chimpanzees in a new light, so to speak. As a child, Goodall dreamt of travelling to Africa to observe and learn more about the exotic animals that live there. This dream stems from her fascination of observing wild animals in their natural habitats (The Biography.com Website, 2015). She was a curious young girl and continued to question the natural world around her as she …show more content…

Jane Goodall made major scientific discoveries in the fields of linguistic anthropology, which is the “study of language and communication similarities and variations” (A1 Content, 2015), and biological/ physical anthropology, which is the study of evolution, genetic variation, inheritance, and adaptability” (A1 Content, 2015). Her contributions to primatology, which is a branch of zoology dealing with primates (Dictionary.com, 2015), and ethology, which is the study of animal behaviour with emphasis on the behavioral patterns that occur in natural environments (Dictionary.com, 2015), have revolutionized the scientific world today. Throughout her study, Jane Goodall was able to discover that chimpanzees have their own ritualized behaviours and communication methods, which contains more than 20 individual sounds (Jane Goodall Institute of Canada, 2015). In the process of gathering information on the chimps, Jane Goodall was able to pick up on some of these sounds and was actually able to communicate with the chimps. Furthermore, she recognized the fact that chimpanzees are not vegetarian and do eat meat. “She observed acts of cannibalism and the hunting of large insects, birds, baby baboons, and bushbacks (small antelopes) to prove this fact” (Jane Goodall Institute of Canada, 2015). This was an important discovery, since before that it was recorded that chimps were entirely vegetarian. Also, she discovered that the chimpanzees were able to make and use tools to capture food and protect themselves. “She observed the chimpanzees using blades of grass as spoons and stones as weapons” (Jane Goodall Institute of Canada, 2015). This too was an important discovery since, until that point, it was believed that only humans were intelligent

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