Jane Goodall Research Paper

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Jane Goodall is an influential, well-respected female scientist, referred to by her biographer as “the woman who redefined man.” She is a primatologist (the study of primates), anthropologist (the study of humanity), and an ethologist (the study of animal behavior). Goodall was born in London, England in 1934, and spent a lot of her free time observing animals in nature; she’s been fascinated with animals her whole life. Even as a child, she always dreamed of studying African animals in their natural habitats to gain more information on them. She moved to the Kenya highlands, on a friend’s farm, because she was so passionate about this dream. She got a job as a secretary and eventually contacted Kenyan archaeologist and paleontologist Louis Leakey. Leakey took Goodall as his secretary, with secret plans of sending her to study primates out in the field. …show more content…

This is probably the most well-known study of her career. She studied the Kenyan chimps’ social and family lives, busting two huge myths that were previously thought to be true: that chimpanzees were vegetarians, and that humans were the only creatures who used tools. Goodall observed the chimps using pieces of grass to catch termites out of a hole, similar to a fishing rod. She found that they were not vegetarians when a hunting group of chimps killed and ate a colobus, another type of monkey. “We must now redefine man, redefine tool, or accept chimpanzees as human!” –Louis Leakey. Before her two big discoveries, many people disapproved of Leakey choosing Goodall because she didn’t have a general college degree. However, in 1962, she studied at Cambridge University and in 1965 got a Ph.D. in ethology, the study of animal behavior. She was only the eighth person in Cambridge history who was allowed to get a Ph.D. without having previously earned a Bachelor’s

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