Jane Goodall

Dr. Goodall with Uruhara (http://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424052748703467 (Michael Neugebauer ))

"Only if we understand can we care. Only if we care will we help. Only if we help shall they be saved." These words by Jane Goodall are true. Jane Goodall has helped people around the world learn about chimps. And so, if we understand about chimps, we can care for them. When we care for them, we can help them. And when we help them, they and their habitat may be saved.

Goodall looking for animals (http://www.nationalgeographic.com/explorers/bios/j (Photograph by Michael Nichols))

Jane Goodall was born in London, England, on March 3, 1934. When Jane was four, she hid in a henhouse for hours, to see how a hen laid eggs. That shows that she wanted to study animals from a young age. She also read lots of books about animals. Even when she was young, she knew somehow she would work with animals. Some dreams come true, and this one did.

Jane Goodall and fifi (http://crimesagainstnature.blogspot.com/)

Jane Goodall worked hard for many years to make her dream come true. She worked hard as a secretary in England to make money to go to Africa for a long-term trip. One of her friends asked her to come and visit her in Kenya for 3 weeks. While she was there, Jane got a job as a secretary, where she met Louis Leakey, a world-famous anthropologist. He hired her to help him with his digs at the Olduvai Gorge, looking for prehistoric remains of early humans. Leakey thought Jane would be perfect for studying chimps because of her lack of experience because then she would have new techniques for studying animals instead of the same old same. So he asked if she would like to go to Gombe on Lake Tanzania Jane said, "Definitely!"

At Gombe Stream National Park in Tanzania, Jane Goodall studied chimpanzees for many years. She devoted her life to this study. At first, the chimps would not come close to her, but over time the chimps started started getting used to her and started to trust her. Because of studying chimps in their natural habitat, Jane learned so much.

Jane Goodall learned many things about chimps. She learned that chimps, like humans, show emotions- like laughing, love through hand holding, fright, wanting/needing attention, jealousy, and more. Jane also made another amazing discovery. She saw a chimp using and making a tool, a stick to get termites out of a log. Before this, scientists thought that only humans could make and use tools. Leakey later said, "We must either redefine the word human, or redefine the word tool."  Jane Goodall's study of chimp's really changed our understanding of them.

The reason why Jane Goodall is my hero is because she was brave was enough to go to a foreign country and studied, to everybody back then, foreign animals. She also has inspired me to look after and save the earth even if "it is the littlest thing."