Jane Goodall Ambition

Jane Goodall

Throughout history, people were led to believe that all humans were descendants of god. Jane Goodall, and her historical research on chimpanzees and human nature are extremely alike. Interesting facts about Jane Goodall’s childhood, her contribution to the biological community, and her impact to the world today all come together to show us how important Goodall is to chimpanzees.

Despite the fact that Jane Goodall’s family was constantly moving place-to-place, her childhood was exciting. She was born on April 3, 1934 in London, England, and is still lives to this day in England (A&E). Jane owned a few animals while growing up, and recorded what they did regularly. According to an online source, Jane Goodall’s ambition was

to spend time with animals in the wild (Pettinger). In particular, Jane was drawn to the African continent and her dream was to research wild animals in their native habitat.

Jane had little to none academic accomplishments during her adolescent and early adult life. She always wanted to become a secretary, because they could find work wherever they went. Jane went to secretarial school after high school, since she couldn’t afford college. After graduating, she works at Oxford University, where she types papers (SoftSchools). Fast forwarding through time, Goodall went to Cambridge University where she obtained a Ph.D. in Ethology. She was the eighth person at the time to ever be allowed to study for a Ph.D. without obtaining a BA or B.Sc (PBS). This all wouldn’t have been possible without the help from Louis Leakey.
All of Goodall’s success could be contributed to her friend, who lived in Kenya.

At age 23, Jane sails to Africa. During her trip, she meets the famous Dr. Louis Leakey, who was an anthropologist. Meeting him opened up a huge window for Jane. Louis ends up hiring her to be his secretary at the Coryndon Museum (Biography Online N.D.). In 1957, Dr. Leakey realizes that Jane is a perfect candidate to study chimpanzees in the Gombe Stream in Tanzania. This is great news for Jane, because this was one of her long life dreams. A year later, one chimp that was named David Greybeard had accepted Jane. This is exciting, because with one chimp’s acceptance, this opens the wide door for all the other chimps to accept her presences as well (Biology N.D.) This is when Leakey realizes that Jane has a special talent, and convinces Cambridge University to let her study, and receive a college degree. She graduates in 1966, becoming Dr. Jane Goodall (SoftSchools). One day while doing some research, Jane observed chimpanzees making a tool out of tree bark to extract termites. Leakey said, “Now we must redefine too, redefine Man, or accept chimpanzees as humans.” The study of chimpanzees in their natural environment was a tremendous discovery, and impacted the way we view them today.

Louis Leakey, and Dian Fossey were also major researchers around this time. Leakey was a paleontologist, archaeologist, and an anthropologist. Louis is most commonly known for his research in anthropology, and

paleontology. He was most credited for his discovery of the 18 million year old ape skull. With this find, he concluded man didn’t initially evolve in Asia (THE LEAKEYS).

Dian Fossey is most attributed to her research of the mountain gorillas. She is widely credited for altering the scientific and public views of gorillas For all we know, the King Kong in real life and is vastly different from the one in reel life. Mountain gorillas have a strong relationship with their families furthermore proving her research (Chowdury). Fossey revealed that mountain gorilla females tend to nurture and care for their offspring, like humans.

The world didn’t know much about chimpanzees and other primates during the time Goodall started her research. People thought they were nothing but animals, and far more inferior to humans. At that time, Jane thought it was just humans, that used, and crafted tools out of objects in nature. This was not the case. Goodall’s observations pathed the way into the world of chimpanzees, and without her observations, the world would’ve been withheld from this information. Since Jane’s research, our information on the topic has greatly increased. Chimps are for more intellectually advanced than we thought, and are capable of doing much more advance things than other animals.

Without Goodall, people would not know how advanced chimpanzees are. For her work, she was awards multiple achievements, and awards. For example, she was awarded the Hubbard Medal, William Procter Prize for Scientific Achievement, Community of Christ international Peace Award, Nierenberg Prize, Benjamin Franklin Medal, and many more (PBS). Jane’s work is still being carried on to this day, and is an influence to many, especially women. Jane has proven that with patience and determination, your wildest dreams could become a reality.