Dr. Jane Goodall

How enthralling it is to indeed see a person- whom you have read and admired all your life- up close and listen to her talk right in front of you? I guess only the tears of joy and gratitude can give expression to such an overwhelming feeling. It is exactly what I experienced when I attended primatologist Dr. Jane Goodall’s speech last week.

Since my childhood, in the nooks and corners of my earthy mind, I coveted seeing and meeting Jane Goodall. I was about 8 years old when I first heard about Jane and her seminal research on Chimpanzees. At home, we were not so much of the ‘pet’ people but loved to see and read about animals in the wild and nature at its home turf. A movie named ‘Gorillas in the mist’ about the life and works of another primatologist- Diane Fossey had just released then. My parents discussed the movie at home. Jane being in the same field of primates’ research was an obvious part of the discussion and so I was introduced to Jane’s work and life.

Back in her childhood Jane loved animals and carried a dream of going to Africa.  In those years Africa was mostly unexplored and faraway continent. Being a female and not having enough money, visiting Africa was a distant dream for her back at home in England. However, her mother encouraged Jane to pursue her aspirations. Luckily, Jane’s friend invited her to work on a farm in Kenya. There one day she met Dr. Louis Leakey- the famous anthropologist and paleontologist- in the natural history museum and then on started working as his secretary. Looking at Jane’s interest and knowledge about animals Dr. Leakey encouraged her to study the wild chimpanzees in Gombe National Park in Tanzania and thus began Jane’s kinship with the Chimps.

When the world believed that only the human beings were capable of making tools, Jane made a breakthrough observation. She had seen a Chimp using a stick to fish termites from their mound. This revealed that even Chimpanzees were capable of making tools. Upon this, Dr. Leaky made his famous remark “We must now redefine man, redefine tool, or accept chimpanzees as humans!” In addition, she discovered that Chimpanzees too had complex social, familial and emotional behavior structure just as we humans do. Jane was often criticized in the field for being emotionally attached to her subjects and naming them. While documenting Chimp’s violent and aggressive behavior, she also discovered that Chimps were not entirely vegetarian as was commonly thought in those times. Jane spent almost 50 years in forwarding the research on Chimps. She worked vigorously against the bush meat trade and illegal poaching of wild chimpanzees. Among various honors and accords which she received for her seminal work, Dr. Jane Goodall was appointed as the United Nations Messenger of Peace in 2002. Now her work on conservation and sustainable development continued through the ‘Jane Goodall Institute’ and the ‘Roots and Shoots’ program.

Today the world is torn between insatiable human avarice and natural resource depletion. When we doubt quality of the very air we breathe and the food we eat, Jane offers us optimism. She says that young children, human brain that works in harmony with a compassionate heart, resilience of the nature and indomitable human spirit are our hopes for a better sustainable future. It is not too late yet to save our dear mother earth. Let us take inspiration from legends like Jane and do our bit. Thereupon when we put our children to sleep at night, we can assure them with a head held high, that we have not compromised their future.