Jane Goodall

Jane Goodall is a hero to me because she displays loyalty to chimpanzees and their cause. She is also compassionate towards these chimps. Jane is a true environmentalist trying to save the chimps in their natural habitat. She has faith and hope that every individual can make a difference if we choose to do what is right; Jane is a selfless heroine making a difference.

Born in London, England in 1934, Jane Goodall loved animals ever since she was a child. Her father gave her a stuffed chimpanzee named Jubilee which made her love chimps. She loved to read about jungles/rain forests. Jane always wanted to go to Africa, and when she was 26, that dream came true. She went to Kenya, Africa; she was the assistant of, Louis Leakey. She began to observe the chimps at Gombe Reserve in Africa, but the chimps wouldn’t let her “join” their group. Jane had to sit for hours. But soon one of the chimps found her and called a loud “wreeeeeeh!” which was an alarm call. Soon other chimps found her and made the same “wreeeeeh!” Jane thought she was done for. But one of the young chimps thought she wanted to play. One of the youngsters went and cuddled with Jane, and soon the older chimps carefully walked toward Jane, and found she wasn’t a threat. She then named the chimps as you would a pet. She named the largest female chimp “Flo” and the alpha-male “Goliath.” She showed great perseverance watching these magnificent animals for hours.

Ultimately, Jane has paved the way for other scientists to study chimps in the wild. Jane is against using animals for medical research. She knows how important it is to the chimps to be with their mothers and other chimps. Chimps live in large communities. Jane is an advocate for the chimps and the way they are treated in the Chimp Haven is Now Home Act which was passed to protect chimps after they are done being used for research. Due to her loyalty to the chimpanzee, they can live the last of their days in harmony.

Jane loves chimps indeed; she learned that some chimps travel in all male groups. Chimps have many facial expressions; a grin means that the chimp is feeling nervous, an open mouth baring teeth means that the chimp is excited and many more. Chimps also make a lot of sounds; there are small friendly grunts, angry barking calls, the soft whimpers of distress, and there are frightened or angry screams, loud wailing alarm calls (a frightening sound in the forest), and the pant-hoot that chimps use to communicate over distance. The chimp diet is mostly fruit such as berries and bananas, but they will also eat nuts, bark, leaves, flowers, insects such as termites, and also, small mammals.

Chimps are very aggressive toward rival groups, sometimes ending in the death of a group’s chimp, but that is very rare. Usually after fighting, chimps make posing and group expressions such as hugging, “dancing” grooming and even kissing. When mating season finally arrives, male chimps shake branches and thump their feet loudly to attract a female chimp. The chimp’s gestation period is 8 months, which is almost human, whereas, the human gestation period is 9 months. Female chimps usually give birth to 1 baby while 2 are extremely rare. Chimps love babies and the mother chimp lets other chimps come to touch the baby, hug it and kiss it, but the older chimps will allow the baby to jump on them! Mother chimps usually tickle their babies and the babies love to be tickled. Sometimes the babies even laugh. Finally, adulthood, chimps live to be 40 or MORE years old. The oldest chimp in captivity, Cheeta is 74 years old! It is very rare for chimps to live beyond the age of 50 in captivity.

(http://www.fundacionprincipedeasturias.org/ing/04/premiados/archivos/fotos/zoom/foto770.jpg)

In conclusion, Jane has faith, Jane has faith in her chimps and that is why she is a hero to me. Thanks to her, I want to study chimps one day. But that’ll be in a while from now. Jane believes anyone can make a difference. I hope to someday make a difference in saving where the chimps live too.

This is why Jane Goodall is my hero!

The books I used are My Life with the Chimpanzees, Jane Goodall, Chimp Champion, and finally The Chimpanzees I Love by Jane Goodall

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jane_Goodall