Jane Goodall

Valerie Jane Morris Goodall was born April 3, 1934 in London, England. Jane Goodall is a British primatologist, ethologist, anthropologist, and UN Messenger of Peace. Goodall is best known for her study of chimpanzee social and family life. She began studying the Kasakela chimpanzee community in Gombe Stream National Park, Tanzania in 1960. In 1977, Goodall established the Jane Goodall Institute (JGI), which supports the Gombe research, and she is a global leader in the effort to protect chimpanzees and their habitats. With nineteen offices around the world, the JGI is widely recognized for innovative, community-centred conservation and development programs in Africa and a global youth program, Roots & Shoots, which currently has over 10,000 groups in over 100 countries. Today, Goodall devotes virtually all of her time to advocacy on behalf of chimpanzees and the environment, travelling nearly 300 days a year. Goodall is also a board member for the world's largest chimpanzee sanctuary outside of Africa, Save the Chimps in Fort Pierce, Florida. Perhaps most significant among all her accomplishments, Goodall remains the only human ever accepted into chimpanzee society.[citation needed] After Goodall had observed the same troop in Tanzania for several years, a high ranking female bonded with Goodall and gradually convinced other members of the troop to accept Goodall as one of their own. She remained in the troop for a period of 22 months as the lowest ranking female until a male who had never accepted her took over as alpha male and she was forced to leave.