Primatologist Jane Goodall, who turns 80 this week, has spent a lifetime transforming our understanding of chimpanzees and what it means to be human. Her research on a community of chimpanzees in Tanzania revolutionised perceptions of these primates, our closest living relatives, and challenged deep-seated ideas of humanity. She later became an activist, campaigning for a more enlightened attitude towards animals and the environment.
Goodall's first recorded encounter with a chimp came at her first birthday, when she was given a soft-toy replica of Boo-Boo, a chimpanzee born at London Zoo in 1935. However, she says that when she first ventured to Africa in 1957, it had never occurred to her to work with chimpanzees. Instead, she had a romantic dream inspired by fictional characters from her childhood books, such as Dr Dolittle and Tarzan. 'I never wanted to be a scientist per se,' she says. 'I wanted to be a naturalist.'
Goodall captured the attention of palaeoanthropologist Louis Leakey shortly after arriving in Kenya. Within hours of meeting, she had impressed him with her knowledge of natural history, and he offered her a job. She joined Leakey and his wife Mary on an expedition to Olduvai Gorge in what is now northern Tanzania, a place teeming with wildlife. 'There were lions and rhinos and giraffes – I mean, everything was there,' she recalls. 'I often think that's one of the most magical times of my whole life.'
It was Leakey who first suggested establishing a study on wild chimpanzees at the Gombe Stream Chimpanzee Reserve on the edge of Lake Tanganyika. In 1960, Goodall entered the reserve to begin her research, which would go on to produce iconic portraits of chimpanzees such as David Greybeard. She has received nearly 50 honorary degrees, became a UN Messenger of Peace in 2002, and was made Dame Jane in 2004.
