This is a story about a journey through sixty-five years of Jane Goodall’s life. Almost nothing was known about the chimpanzees until Jane conducted her field studies in East Africa. Her study of the chimpanzees in the wild forests has revealed that they are very similar to human beings. They are our closest relatives in the animal world, having 98 percent of the same genes. From her earliest childhood, as a toddler, she was given a large, stuffed chimpanzee toy named Jubilee. Her affectionate for this toy started her early love for animals. From that moment on, she was absolutely fascinated by animals of all sort and by all other living things, her favorite reading being Dr. Doolittle and Tarzan books. One of her remarkable dream was going to Africa to live with the animals, and this was encouraged by her mother, Vanne.
Later on in the years, Jane attended secretarial school, and then got a job. She earned money by working as a waitress when her friend invited her on a trip to Kenya, and this is where her life brighten considerably. Since Jane has been interested in the African continent, this invitation was a welcome opportunity for her to see and experience what she had read about for many years. Around the age of 20, Jane began her adventure, traveling to Kenya by boat. This is where she met Louis Leakey, whose a famous scientist studying paleontology and anthropology. She became Leakey’s assistant, and soon he decided that Jane was the person he has been looking for to lead a study of wild chimpanzees in East Africa. Jane’s mother agreed to company her for the first three months at Gombe National Park in Tanzania because the British authorities thought it would be unsafe for a young woman to live alone among the wild animals in Africa.
In the beginning, the chimpanzees were afraid of Jane, who silently and patiently watched them. It took nearly six months for the chimpanzees to accept her presence, allowing her to follow them on their daily travels through the forest. Later on, she named the chimpanzees and grew to love them, such as Flo, Fifi, David Greybeard, and Fanni. She made one important discovery after another. It was Jane who first learned that chimpanzees make and use tools to obtain food and to defend themselves. Previously, it was believed that only humans made tools. She also learned that chimpanzees hunt and are occasional meat eaters. She was also the first to document their complex family relationships and emotional bonds.
However, when Leakey said that the study will take months, it turned into more than 30 years of work. During this time, Jane earned a Ph.D from Cambridge University and international recognition for her fieldwork studies. She also married a Dutch photographer named Hugo van Lawick, with whom she gave birth to their son Grub, but later on they got divorced. After her divorce, she encountered a series of adventures and challenges that may strengthen her faith in god. She says, “ I remember praying for strength to do what I had to do. I believe, in retrospect, that overcoming those challenges strengthened my faith in God” (Goodall, pg. 106). Both Jane and her mother got ill because of malaria early in their stay in Gombe, but they recovered and remained to see evidence of a chimpanzee using a tool. In the next few years, Jane corrected many incorrect misunderstandings about her subjects. For instance, it was generally believed that all primates were vegetarians, but Jane observed chimpanzees in Gombe eating meat.
On the other hand, Jane witnessed aggression between the intercommunity killing of the chimpanzees at Gombe. When aggression became more serious, the first deadly attack was vividly seen and described by Jane’s headman Hilali Matama, where six Kasakela males encountered one of the young Kahama males, Godi, feeding quietly by himself. It was said, “ when he saw them he tried to flee, but he was seized and held to the ground while the Kasakela thugs beat him up, stamping on him, hitting him, and biting him for ten minutes. Then they left him lying on the ground, screaming weakly. Slowly he got up, still screaming, and gazed after them. He must have died from his wounds, for he was never seen again”(Goodall, pg. 116). This was the first attack in a series of brutal assaults.
While witnessing chimpanzee aggression, Jane also witnessed the compassion and love that the chimpanzees have for one another. For instance, Mel was about three years old when his mother died. He was adopted by a twelve year old Spindle, whose mother died as well. Even though Spindle was not closely related to Mel, nevertheless, as weeks went by, they became inseparable. Spindle took care of Mel, as a mother would took care of her baby. The connection between Spindle and Mel show us that Spindle must have experience an emotion similar to that which we call compassion.
Later on in the years, Jane got remarried to Derek, but in September of 1979, the doctor said he got a tumor in his colon and died about after 3 months. It was a hard hit for Jane going through Derek’s death and seeing him suffer, but in the forests of Gombe was where she sought healing. Jane also got involved with the orphan chimpanzees. She watched a video, which shows two chimpanzees imprisoned at SEMA in a tiny cage, far gone into depression and despair. She decided to go there and visit, and it was true: two infant chimpanzees, one or two years old, were crammed together into tiny cages. Jane says, “ I believe one of the greatest challenges of the future- a challenge to young researchers in human and veterinary medicine- is to find alternatives to the use of living animals of all species in experimentation, with the goal of eliminating them altogether” (Goodall, pg. 221). A little later, changes are made because of Jane opening a workshop, which allows the scientists to discuss the matter, but before that, Jane told them all she knows about the chimpanzees. Now, in the old SEMA lab, the chimpanzees have quite large cages, and they remain in pairs for all experiments.
Towards the end of the novel, Jane starts telling us her reasons for hope. One of the reason is the human brain, which enable our earliest ancestors to survive in a cruel and harsh world. Her second reason for hope lies in the outstanding resilience of nature if we give nature a chance and a helping hand. Her third reason for hope lies in the new understanding, commitment, and energy of young people around the world. Jane finds this extremely important so she developed a program for youth called Roots & Shoots. The message of this program is to tell young people that “every single one of us matters, has a role to play, and makes a difference” (Goodall, pg. 242). This program demonstrates care and concern for the environment, animals, and the local community. Her fourth reason for hope lies in the unconquerable human spirit. She says, “I truly believe that more and more people are seeing the appeal in the eyes around them, feeling it in their hearts, and throwing themselves into the battle” (Goodall, pg. 251).
Years later, Jane met Henri Landwirth, who survived the horrors of the Nazi death camps and eventually created Give Kids the World, a place of joy for terminally ill children. She was inspired by his love for desperately sick children. At the end of the novel, Jane reflects and sums up her whole journey of experience. She also tells us that she have many definite goals for the future such as putting more effort into spreading Roots & Shoots around the world, encouraging and inspiring the youths to make a difference, and work some more on the Gombe chimpanzee data.
Overall, this novel relates to science concepts. It talks about ethology, the study of the behavior of animals in their natural habitat. Throughout 30 years of Jane’s life, she has been studying the behavior of the Gombe chimpanzees in East Africa. She witnessed many events happening from aggression between the chimpanzees to compassion and love. She spends a great amount of time each day with them, recording down their daily routines and their behaviors by following them throughout the forest. It is a difficult job to do because the chimpanzees, especially the mother chimps, would think she is here to do harm to them and their infants. It is only until they know that she meant no harm to them that they start to allow and accept her presence. During this study, Jane learned a lot about the chimpanzees and their family relationships and bonds. Jane Goodall is consider to be the world’s most famous chimpanzee expert. Not only is she studying the chimpanzees’ behavior and their family’s relationships and bonds, she is also developing ways to help the lab chimpanzees, such as the two infant chimps imprisoned at SEMA.
Throughout the novel, Jane Goodall did affect science and society. She tried her best to help the orphan chimpanzees in the lab by opening a workshop, a meeting at which scientists and veterinarians and technicians from the labs could discuss with field scientists and ethologists about ways to improve conditions for the lab chimpanzees. The workshop was useful in their fight for improvement in the lives of the lab chimpanzees after Jane talked about the lives of the chimpanzees in the wild, their close family ties, their long and carefree childhood, described their use of tools, their love of comfort, and the rich variety of their diet. Jane is convinced that it should be mandatory for all the scientists who make use of the living bodies of animals to learn something about the natural behavior of those animals, and to see for themselves how their research affects the animals.
Her lecture tours are an important part of sharing her beliefs and encouraging people to help their environment and also the people around them. This is where anthropology comes in, the study of humankind. She influenced the society by these lectures and also by making the youth program, Roots & Shoots. She believes that youths today are the ones that determine the future, so she made this program to show them how they can make a difference in the world, caring for the environment, animals, and the local community. Jane is determined that encouraging and empowering young people, or in general giving them hope, is a great way to motivate them to do their best for their future. Jane says, “ Each one of us matters, has a role to play, and makes a difference. Each one of us must take responsibility for our own lives, and above all, show respect and love for living things around us, especially each other” (Goodall, pg. 266-267). In conclusion, Jane Goodall contributed a lot to science and to our society. She has taught hundred of thousands of people about chimpanzees.
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