PROFILE: Jane Goodall

Watch an excerpt from the interview with Jane Goodall online.

One of the world's most famous primatologists, Jane Goodall has been studying chimpanzees for 45 years.

Studying chimps in Africa

Goodall first came to public attention for her work with chimpanzees in Gombe, Tanzania. Her pioneering research on chimp behaviour has defined the field. She was the first to observe and report on chimps using tools to draw ants out of their nests. Until then, scientists believed that only humans employed tools in their endeavours.

Goodall challenged the popular standards in primatology. She gave her chimpanzees names, and asserted that they had personalities and emotions. Her unorthodox approach to primatology has garnered criticism from other experts.

One of Goodall's most startling discoveries was that chimpanzees engaged in wars with each other bands. Some of the wars can last years. Her findings on chimp aggression have been challenged by other primatologists who say the conflict was instigated by Goodall's use of feeding stations in Gombe. Her critics say this feeding created an unnatural environment in which she studied the behaviour of the chimps.

Conservation to protect chimps

Jane Goodall spent years studying chimps in the wild.

Goodall has long been an advocate for chimpanzees, frequently traveling the world spreading her message of conservation. Her efforts culminated with the founding in 1977, of the Jane Goodall Institute for Wildlife Research, Education, and Conservation. The Washington-based Institute has become a world leader in promoting welfare for chimpanzees.

In 1991, Goodall helped found Roots and Shoots, a youth organization now active in more than 100 countries that promotes peace, environmentalism and concern for the welfare of primates.

As part of her mission to protect the well being of great apes, Goodall has become an outspoken opponent of the use of primates in entertainment. Goodall was one of the contributors to a report compiled by the Chimpanzee Collaboratory dealing with the use and abuse of chimps in entertainment. (read the report)

Goodall is a prolific writer. Besides penning scientific papers for peer-reviewed journals, she has written two autobiographies and several children's books.

She has received numerous international awards for her work and, in 2002, she was named a United Nations Messenger for Peace.