Jane Goodall Research Paper

Jane Goodall, the Woman that Redefined Chimpanzees In the 1960’s, very little was known about wild Chimpanzees and much of what was known had later been contradicted by Jane Goodall. Jane was the first person to ever be accepted by Chimpanzees. She uncovered major discoveries that have changed the progression of primatology. In the past fifty-four years, Jane Goodall has affected the world greatly by revealing her discoveries to the world.

Valerie Jane-Morris-Goodall was born on April 3, 1934 in London, England. From a very young age, Jane showed a love for animals. One day in 1939, four year old Jane went missing so her parents called the police and frantically searched for her. Hours later, her parents discovered that she was in the hen-house observing how hens lay eggs. In addition,

Alternatively to going to school, she learned typed documents as a secretary and worked for a while at Oxford University. She also worked for a London filmmaking company. In May 1956, Jane was invited to Kenya by her friend Clo Mange, to stay at her family’s farm. Jane accepted the offer and quit her job so that she could move back home and work as a waitress to save enough money for her boat fare. On April 2, 1957, at the age of 23 Jane travelled to Kenya by boat. She had a marvelous time seeing Africa, and meeting new people, but the most remarkable event of her visit was when she met anthropologist and paleontologist Dr. Louis Leakey. Notably, Jane managed to impress Leakey with her knowledge of Africa and its wildlife so much that Leakey hired Jane as his assistant. Jane travelled with Leakey and his wife, archaeologist Mary Leakey, to Olduvai Gorge in Tanzania on a fossil-hunting expedition. For quite some time Louis had been looking for someone to go to Tanzania to study the chimpanzees because very little was known about wild chimpanzees at the time. Louis decided that Jane