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| "If we are arguably the most intellectually developed animal, why are we destroying our planet?" Dr. Jane Goodall at a recent talk in Washington, DC |
Renowned British primatologist Jane Goodall spent almost
half a century studying wild chimpanzees in Gombe National
Park in Tanzania. Her ground-breaking discoveries in that
tiny preserve of African forest have contributed much of what
we know today about the social behavior of chimpanzees,
mankind's closest animal relatives.
Today, the 75-year old scientist leaves the field work to
others. She now devotes her time to the foundation she
established to promote wildlife conservation and public
education. That's also the focus of her new book,
Hope for Animals and Their World, which highlights the
stories of extraordinary people who have managed
to bring endangered species back from the brink of extinction.
Jane Goodall: The early years
Jane Goodall has been fascinated by animals as far back as she
can remember. Even before she could talk, she says she was
"observing earthworms, reading Dr. Doolittle books and
wanting to learn the language of animals."
In 1960, at the age of 26, she traveled to Africa where
she began her ground-breaking study of chimpanzees
under the guidance of the renowned anthropologist and
paleontologist, the late Dr. Louis Leakey.
It was in the forests of the Gombe National Park in
British primatologist Jane Goodall has always been
fascinated by animals
Tanzania where Goodall spent the next several decades,
studying the chimpanzees in their natural habitat.
Her research provided a unique and intimate portrait
of these complex animals and shed new light on the
intelligence of both apes and humans.
"An animal more like us than any other animal" (JG)
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| "If we are arguably the most intellectually developed animal, why are we destroying our planet?" Dr. Jane Goodall |
One of the most significant discoveries that emerged from
Goodall's findings was that chimpanzees use – and make – tools.
"It was thought that only humans did this and that this
set us apart from the rest of the animal kingdom," she says.
Over time she, and her team of researchers, revealed
that chimps share other behavioral traits with humans
as well, "like the long-term supportive, affection bond
between family members." Goodall says chimpanzees
can live to be more than 50 years old and these bonds
"can last throughout life."
A global organization takes root
Goodall's affection for these creatures, and her desire
to protect them from human encroachments, inspired
her in 1977 to found the Jane Goodall Institute. With
offices in 22 countries, its global mission is to protect
chimpanzees and their habitats.
But Goodall notes that despite all the research and
ambitious conservation efforts, the number of wild
chimpanzees in Africa has continued to decline.
"When I began there were somewhere between
one and two million. And now, 300,000 maximum,"
she says.
Habitat loss just one factor in declining numbers of chimps
Goodall says the primary reason for the shrinking
chimp population, like most endangered species,
is the destruction of their habitat.
And one way to stop that destruction she says, is by
addressing the needs of the people living near those
precious habitats. "How could you try to save the
chimpanzees in their little oasis of fertile forest, when
outside [it] you have more people living than the land
can support, population growth from normal means and
also refugees?" she says.
One of the other problems facing the chimp population
is the growing demand for their meat says Goodall. In
the old days no hunter would shoot a female with a
baby because they simply wouldn't, she says, but now,
"hunters will shoot anything; they will shoot elephants,
gorillas, antelopes, pigs, birds even, and bats; anything
that can be cut up and smoked," she says.
The Jane Goodall Institute has improved the
lives of more than 600,000 people through its various programs
Conservation programs for communities and children
In 1994 Goodall started the TACARE (Take Care)
program. The development effort partners with local
villagers in 24 communities to create sustainable
income-generating opportunities while promoting
conservation goals. "Because the villagers understand
that we care about them as well as the chimpanzees,
it's beginning to come around," she says.
Goodall believes that if long-term conservation is to
work, it has to involve young people. So in 1990, the
Goodall Institute created Roots & Shoots. The program
helps young people from pre-school through university
identify problems in their communities and take action
to solve them.
"Every group chooses three kinds of projects to make
the world a better place," she says, "one to help people,
one to help animals including dogs and cats and pigs,
and one to help the environment that we all share," she says
.
"Young people, when informed and empowered, when
they realize that what they do truly makes a difference,
can indeed change the world. And they are changing it
already," Jane Goodall
Hope for animals on the brink of extinction
Dr. Goodall writes about TACARE (Take Care) and
her other conservation efforts in her new book, Hope for
Animals and Their World. But the book focuses on the
inspiring stories of dozens of field biologists who have
managed to rescue endangered species from the brink
of extinction, despite tremendous obstacles.
"One of the reasons I wanted to do this book was that
there is so much doom and gloom - and quite rightly,"
Goodall says. "We have made a horrible mess of the
planet, no question, but at the same time, there are all
these extraordinary success stories." She says she
wanted to write about the "amazing people doing
amazing work" that led to those successes.
Saving the golden lion tamarin
One of those people is Dr. Leonardo Coimbra-Filho of
the Rio de Janeiro Primate Center who is often called
the father of primatology in Brazil. Together with other
conservationists, he created a captive breeding program
that has saved the golden lion tamarin, the most
endangered of all New World primates.
Goodall says she is thrilled about the success of the
program because so many of the monkeys have been
re-introduced back into the wild. "Many of them are
now living completely free of any scientific observation.
They've made it!"
Indeed, having been successfully released into the
forests of Brazil, the golden lion tamarins are the only
primate species to have been downlisted from critically
endangered to endangered on the IUCN [International
Union for Conservation of Nature] Red List of
Threatened Species.
Making a Difference
Nearly 50 years after she began her work, Jane Goodall
remains an energetic champion for the welfare of the
world's wild animals. Appointed in 2002 by the United
Nations as one of its messengers of peace, she travels the
globe nearly 300 days a year, spreading her message of
hope and positive change.
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| "These are the stories that give me hope," Jane Goodall |
"Every single day we impact the world around us,"
she says. "If we would just think about the consequences
of the little choices we make; what we eat, wear, buy,
how we interact with people, animals, the environment,
then we start making small changes and that can lead
to the huge change that we must have."
Positive change, says Goodall, has to start within
ourselves, so we can better understand – and appreciate
– the deep connection between us and the natural world.
By Julie Taboh
Washington, DC
28 September 2009
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