Goodall, Jane [key], 1934–, English ethologist and primatologist. After working with Louis Leakey but without any formal scientific training, she established (1960) a research camp in the Gombe Stream Game Reserve, a national park in what is now Tanzania, to study chimpanzee behavior. She kept meticulous records of the apes' movements, interactions, and social organization. Among her many findings have been that chimpanzees are capable of complex behavior patterns and emotional relationships, that they have the dexterity and intelligence to make and use tools, and that they hunt and eat meat. Becoming an active conservationist, in 1977 she founded the Jane Goodall Institute for Wildlife Research, Education and Conservation in Silver Spring, Md. Later she established “Roots and Shoots,” an international children's environmental education program. Her writings include My Friends the Wild Chimpanzees (1967), In the Shadow of Man (1967), The Chimpanzees of Gombe (1986), Reason for Hope (1999), and Hope for Animals and Their World (2009).
See D. Peterson, ed., Africa in My Blood, An Autobiography in Letters: The Early Years (2000); biography by D. Peterson (2006); B. Morgen, dir., Jane (documentary, 2017).
The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 6th ed. Copyright © 2024, Columbia University Press. All rights reserved.
See more Encyclopedia articles on: Zoology: Biographies
