Jane Goodall
I thought that it would be fun to write about Dame Jane Goodall. After all, who can’t help but admire her for the work she has done with the Chimpanzees of Tanzania, not to mention her ceaseless dedication to conservation. I must have been about 6 or 7 when I picked up a yellow covered book about her in the local bookstore. It was an English book, and honestly, I picked it merely because I was attracted to the vibrant cover which also happened to have a picture of a young girl holding a toy chimpanzee (although I mistakenly thought it was a monkey at the time). I thought it was going to be a story book like Winnie the Pooh…the monkey edition. Little did I know that it was, in fact, an autobiography about Jane Goodall, the children’s version. I must have made my mom and dad- and my brother when I could coerce him- read that book out loud for months. It was my favorite book to read before bed. I would fall asleep dreaming of taming and eventually befriending a family of chimpanzees. The allure of Jane’s life for me was that even though she was raised at a time when there were many restrictions and expectations for young women, Jane was not afraid to reject the traditional route and follow a path so outside the box for her most of her peers.
Young Jane grew up on a farm, where she was surrounded by various animals. This most likely fueled her love for animals and gave her the chance to observe and study the natural world around her. One of my favorite parts of the book was when Jane first went about studying how it was possible for a hen to lay an egg. Jane was mystified how such large, hard eggs could come out of the hens running around in the yard. Curious and determined, Jane sat watching and waiting for hours until she was able to witness the hens laying eggs. To her surprise, rather than coming out in the hard shell she was used to, she saw that the newly laid eggs had an outer layer that was soft and almost gelatinous looking which hardened eventually. This answered her question as to how it was possible for hens to lay eggs. It would be this patience and scientific driven curiosity which would later serve Jane so well in her work in Tanzania.
It was through Jane that I was first introduced to Charles Darwin and the Leakeys (Louis and Mary), which in turn opened up different fields of interest to me like evolution, and the link between man and chimpanzees. Did you know that we share 98% of our DNA with chimpanzees and that they are our closest evolutionary relatives? On the other hand, the DNA similarity between a monkey and a chimpanzee is only around 93%. But this is not all we share. Until Jane’s groundbreaking research, scientists always assumed that animals were incapable of having ‘personalities.’ Jane observed how the chimpanzees hugged, fought and played with each other. She was able to distinguish them from their unique personalities and even broke the scientific practice common at the time by naming her subjects, rather than giving them a number to identify them. Just when funding was about to run out, Jane made a lucky discovery that would forever change how scientific communities defined man. Though his back was to her, Jane observed how a chimpanzee seated next to a large termite mound would stick a piece of sturdy grass into the mound. Moments later, he would withdraw it and then eat the termites crawling over the stem. Jane observed the chimpanzee repeat this numerous times before he dropped the blade and moved on. Jane picked up the fallen grass and stuck it into the termite mound. When she withdrew it, she saw termites swarming over the blade of grass. For the first time, she observed and was able to make the connection between an animal using a tool for a specific purpose. This went against the belief at the time that what distinguishes man from animals was his ability to make tools. Jane later observed chimpanzees making tools when they would take up twigs and strip it of all its leaves before sticking it into the termite mound. Not surprisingly, Jane’s findings did not go over well with the scientific community. For a start, the vast majority of her peers were men who felt offended (or perhaps threatened is a better word) that a woman- and a young one at that with no formal scientific training- had made such a breathtaking discovery. Her findings were undeniable, however, and the scientific world was forced to accept and rethink their long-held beliefs on man as well as chimpanzees.
As a young Korean girl, I find women like Mary Anning, Jane Goodall, and all the other amazing women I have written about so far in my blog, inspiring not only for what they have achieved but because they give me hope. They give me hope whenever I think that the chances of me being an astronaut is practically non-existent. Because even if I never go into space, I know that keeping my dream alive will help me to reach other no less important and fulfilling goals. As for Dame Jane Goodall, we cannot forget her role in paving the way for other women primatologists. The struggles she faced as one of the few women in her field in the 50s and 60s is almost as well known as her discovery that chimpanzees use tools. She is now a household name, and no one would dare dispute the importance of her studies and the legacy she has left behind.
