Dr Jane Goodall: the life work of the local conservationist

With a career spanning 60 years, Dr Goodall is considered the world’s foremost expert on chimpanzees.

Born in London, her family later moved to Bournemouth, and Goodall attended Uplands School in Poole.

• Conservationist Dr Jane Goodall to host free seminar at Bournemouth University

In 1960, she travelled to Gombe Stream National Park in Tanzania to study the social and family interactions of humans’ closest relatives, chimpanzees.

Her fascination began when her father gave her a stuffed chimpanzee as an alternative to a teddy bear when she was a child, the chimpanzee, named Jubilee, still sits on Dr Goodall’s dresser in London.

Gombe Stream National Park

In 1957, after working as a secretary in Kenya, Dr Goodall made contact with Kenyan archaeologist Louis Leakey, who was looking for a chimpanzee researcher.

Louis Leakey raised funds and in July 1960, Dr Goodall went to Gombe Stream National Park.

Unconventionally, Dr Goodall named the chimpanzees she studied, rather than numbering them.

She observed ‘human’ actions among the chimpanzees, such as hugging, kissing and pats on the back.

The conservationist also observed chimpanzees hunting and eating smaller primates such as colobus monkeys, saw dominant females killing the young of other females and cited that, like humans, chimpanzees had a “darker side”.

• Tree planted at Bournemouth’s Central Gardens in honour of Jane Goodall

Naming the primates helped Dr Goodall form a closer bond with them, and to this day is the only human ever accepted into chimpanzee society.

Some of the names include David Greybeard, Goliath, Gigi and Frodo.

Her methods weren’t without criticism, however. In 1993, Dr Goodall wrote: “When, in the early 1960s, I brazenly used such words as 'childhood', 'adolescence', 'motivation', 'excitement', and 'mood' I was much criticised.

“Even worse was my crime of suggesting that chimpanzees had 'personalities'. I was ascribing human characteristics to nonhuman animals and was thus guilty of that worst of ethological sins, anthropomorphism."

Jane Goodall Institute

Becoming a global leader in the effort to protect chimpanzees, Dr Goodall set up the Jane Goodall Institute in 1977.

The JGI website says it has covered 3.4million acres of habitat under conservation action plans, has published 482 scientific papers and graduate theses through research at Gombe Stream Research Centre, is caring for 290 chimpanzees and gorillas and has engaged 130 communities through programs led by the JGI.

Furthermore, 600 girls have returned to school after receiving mentorship from a ‘peer educator’, 309 scholarships have been provided to young women to support their education, 179 people have been trained in the use of forest monitoring technology and more than 5,800 projects have been reported by Roots & Shoots members around the world.

• Life and work of conservationist celebrated on Jane Goodall Day

Roots & Shoots started in Tanzania in 1991, after high school students expressed how many challenges their communities faced.

Dr Goodall empowered these people to take action, and now helped create community leaders with a Roots & Shoots education.

The JGI headquarters are currently situated in Vienna and has offices in more than 25 countries across the globe.

Work close to home

In 2011, a group of locals organised Jane Goodall day, aimed to celebrate the life and work of one of Bournemouth’s most distinguished residents.

During the day of events at Bournemouth University, Dr Goodall launched a campaign against the trade in bushmeat.

The JGI rescues chimpanzee orphans whose parents have been killed for food.

It hoped to raise awareness of the problem and an orphan sanctuary on three islands donated by the Congolese government.

“This has been a problem for a long time,” Dr Goodall told the Daily Echo.

“But we are using the orphans to educate people about chimpanzees.”