jane goodall :: essays research papers

Jane Goodall was born in London, England in 1934. This British ethnologist who is still lively to solar day has laid claim to many great accomplishments, traveled remote distances and experienced many things no woman ever has. As a young girl Jane spent her days in England studying local birds and other creatures, reading books on zoology and dreaming of one day travelling to Africa. Janes childish fancies were turned into reality when a close patron invited her to Kenya in 1957. Only a few months after her arrival 23 year old Jane met Dr. Louis Leakey. Even though Jane had no academic credentials, Leakey chose her to deportment a long-term study of the chimpanzees in Tasmanias Gombe National Park. Even though Dr. Leakeys decision was frowned upon by many, he believed that Goodalls patience, independence and persistence to understand animals do her a good candidate for the job. He also believed that Janes mind unlittered by academia would yield a fresh perspective. Even thoug h her look for contract was intended for the period of 10 years, critics believe she would endure no longer than three weeks. By 1962 Jane Goodall had proved them wrong when her research was advancing greatly. It was around this time that National Geographic sent lensman and filmmaker Hugo van Lawick to document her work. The two were married in Tasmania on March 28, 1964. By 1965 Jane earned her Ph. D in ethnology, the eight psyche in the history of Cambridge University to earn a doctorate without first victorious a B.A. Not long after Jane returned to the Gombe Stream Chimpanzee prevail on Lake Tanganyika, Tasmania. For nearly 10 years Jane studied chimpanzees. Her profound scientific discoveries laid the foundation for all future primate studies. Janes discovery that chimpanzees make and used tools amazed the world. This one ability was once believed to separate human from animals. A gap which was closed over the years of Janes research as more and more similarities between humans and chimpanzees were discovered, Chimpanzees and humans differ by only just over one per cent. I watched, amazed, as she (Lucy, a chimpanzee) opened the refrigerator and various cupboards, found bottles and a glass, then poured herself a gin and tonic . Jane recorded this experience and many other discoveries in her three books In the Shadow of Man (1971) a book documenting the support of chimpanzees, Innocent Killers (1971) about spotted hyenas, whose predatory behavior had been wrongly researched.