Jane Goodall

Jane Goodall ranks among history's great primatologists. As of the composition of this guide, Goodall has studied chimpanzees for forty-five years, along with acquiring cutting-edge expertise on the social structure of chimpanzee clans. Born in 1934 in London, Goodall loved animals from an early age and came to love chimpanzees in particular. In her early twenties, during a trip to Africa, she was able to meet the ethologist Louis Leakey who would become her teacher, friend and advocate for the early part of her professional career. Her enthusiasm impressed him and he hired her as his research assistant. When Goodall aided Leakey on an archaeological expedition in Africa, he decided to ask her to study chimpanzees for several months in Gombe National Park in Tanzania. Goodall was ecstatic and eagerly agreed. In her first few days at Gombe, Goodall spotted chimpanzees and while she did not see any...