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JANE GOODALL
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JANE GOODALL
A Biography
Meg Greene
GREENWOOD BIOGRAPHIES
GREENWOOD PRESS
WESTPORT CONNECTICUT • LONDON
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in Publication Data
G re e ne , M e g .
Jane G ood a l l : a b iography / Meg Gr een e .
p . cm. — (Greenwood b iographies , ISSN 1540-4900)
Includes bibl iographical references .
I SB N 0 - 3 1 3 - 3 3 1 3 9 - 1 (alk. paper )
1. G ood a l l , J a ne , 1 9 3 4 - 2 . P r i ma t o l og i s t s — E ng l a nd— B i ogra phy .
I. Title. II. Series.
Q L 3 1 . G 5 8 G 7 4 2 0 0 5
590'.92—dc22
2 0 0 5 0 1 6 8 1 8
Bri t ish Library Cataloguing in Publ icat ion Data is avai lable .
Copyr ight © 2005 by Meg Greene
All r ights reserved. No port ion of this book may be
reproduced , by any process or t echnique , wi thout the
express wr i t t en consent of the publ isher .
L ibra ry of Congress Ca ta log Card Number : 2005016818
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I S S N : 1 5 4 0 - 4 9 0 0
Firs t publ ished in 2005
Greenwood Press , 88 Pos t Road Wes t , Wes tpor t , CT 06881
A n imp r in t of Gre enw ood P ubl i sh ing Gr ou p, Inc .
w w w . g re e nw ood . c om
Pr in ted in the Uni ted S ta tes of A me r i c a
The paper used in this book complies wi th the
Permanent Paper S tandard i s sued by the Na t iona l
In fo rma t i on S t a nda rds O rga n i z a t i on (Z 39 . 4 8 -19 84 ) .
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2
http://www.greenwood.com/http://www.greenwood.com/
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CONTENTS
Series Foreword
Preface
Introduction
Timeline
C ha pte r 1 A C hild of Dest iny
C ha pte r 2 Afr ica Cal ls
C h a p te r 3 A M om e n tous M e e t ing
Ch apte r 4 T h e H idd en W or ld of the Chim panzee
C ha p te r 5 Gombe
C h a p te r 6 Th e B a na na C lub
Ch apt e r 7 T he Journey Deepens
Ch apt e r 8 Expand ing Hor izons
Ch apte r 9 Money, Murder, and M ourn ing
C ha pt er 10 T h e Celebr i ty and the Crusader
Bibliography
Index
Photo essay follows page
58
v u
x
x
x v
1
13
23
33
45
59
71
87
1 5
119
137
141
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SERIES FOREWORD
In response to high school and public l ibrary needs, Greenwood developed
this distinguished series of full-length biographies specifically for student
use. Prepared by field experts and professionals, these engaging biographies
are tailored for high school students who need challenging yet accessible
biographies. Ideal for secondary school assignments, the length, format,
and subject areas are designed to meet educators ' requirements and stu
den ts ' interests.
Greenwood offers an extensive se lec t ion of biographies spanning a l l
curriculum-related
subject areas including social studies, the sciences,
l i te ra ture and the ar ts , h is tory and pol i t ics , as well as popular cul ture ,
and covering public f igures and famous personalit ies from all t ime peri
ods and backgrounds , bo th h is tor ic and contempora ry , who have made
an impac t on Amer ican and/or wor ld cu l ture . Greenwood b iographies
were chosen based on comprehensive feedback f rom l ibrar ians and
educa tors . Cons ide ra t ion was g iven to bo th cur r icu lum re levance and
inherent interest . The resul t is an intr iguing mix of the well known
and the unexpected, the sa ints and s inners f rom long-ago his tory and
contemporary pop cul ture . Readers wil l f ind a wide ar ray of subjec t
choices f rom fasc inat ing cr ime f igures l ike Al Capone to inspir ing
pioneers l ike Margare t Mead, f rom the grea test minds of our t ime l ike
Stephen Hawking to the most amazing success s tor ies of our day l ike
J .K. Rowling.
W hi le th e emph asis is on fact, n o t glorif ication, th e boo ks are m ea nt
to be fun to read. Each volume provides in-depth information about the
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Vlll
S E R I E S F O R E W O R D
subject' s life from b ir th th rou gh c hi ld ho od , the t een years , and adu l thoo d.
A thorough account re la tes family background and educat ion, t races per
sonal and professional influences, and explores struggles, accomplishments,
and contr ibut ions. A t imeline highl ights the most s ignif icant l i fe events
against a his tor ica l perspect ive . Bibl iographies supplem ent th e reference
value of each volume.
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PREFACE
Born in
1181
or 1182, Giovanni Francesco di Pie tro Bernardone was the
son of a prosperous merchant . About
1205,
while Giovanni was s t i l l in
his ear ly twenties , he renounced his inher i tance and adopted an austere
life of poverty and faith. Caring for the sick, the infirm, the old, and the
dying, he became ever after known as Francis of Assisi.
In her work with the chimpanzees of Gombe, and in her genera l devo
t ion to an imals and the envi ronment , Jane Gooda l l has opera ted wi th in
the t radi t ion tha t Francis es tabl ished a t the beginning of the thir teenth
century. Besides his recognition of human fellowship, Francis also regarded
th e wh ole of na tur e as his brother and his sister. He was the first writer
to emphasize the beauty and goodness of crea t ion, and to introduce into
Western thought the idea tha t human beings had an obl iga t ion to care
not only for each other but for all l iving things.
During the centuries that followed Francis 's death in 1226, the human
respect for , and stewardship of , nature took many forms. Nearly 800 years
la ter , Jane Goodal l has cont inued to nur ture and advance tha t inher i
tance in her efforts to bridge the human and animal worlds. I t has been
an extraordinary and rewarding enterpr ise .
From the outset of her career, Goodall never distanced herself from the
subjects of her study. She sought not merely to attain objective, scientific
knowledge, but instead pursued a deeper understanding of chimpanzees
and their relation to human beings. Goodall sensed that the kind of under
standing she wanted to achieve could arise only through empathy with
the chimps and participation in their l ives. This modest approach enabled
Goodall to avoid imposing her own preconceptions on them. Instead, she
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X
P R E F A C E
allowed the chimps to tell her about themselves. Her methods, which as
often as n o t bro ug ht censure from th e scientific com m unity, proved th e
source of her most groundbreaking insights.
GoodalPs
research and field-
work showed that chimpanzees could think, feel, and communicate in ways
that approximated human capaci t ies .
In addition to revolutionizing the way scientists viewed chimpanzees,
G oo da ll has also felt a responsibility to care for and p rotec t th em . In rece nt
years, she has done her utmost to acquaint governments around the world
and the public at large with practices and conditions that threaten the
chimps ' welfare and exis tence . Although she accepts the use of chimpan
zees in scientific and medical research, for example, she has pressed for the
development of computer models and the extraction of t issue samples that
would en able research to go on w itho ut c him ps. She has also crit icized th e
treatment that chimps receive in laboratories and other research facili t ies.
At the same t ime, she condemns poaching and the capture of chimps for
zoos and circuses, activit ies motivated by greed and ignorance that have
dramatically reduced the chimpanzee population. "We must speak for
them," Goodall insists, "for they cannot speak for themselves."
O ver t he years I hav e had th e opp or tun i ty to write about th e l ives
of many interesting men and women from different periods in history
and different walks of life. I completed each project feeling that I had
unlocked some of the secrets of l ives well l ived. With every biography
I wrote , I ga ined new insight in to wh at m akes great people great . W hi le
vision, heroism, and courage are aspects of any successful life, other quali
t ies stand out even more fully, including decency, compassion, empathy,
respect, hope, and faith. Researching and writing about the l ife of Jane
Goodall has differed from my previous experiences. My study revealed
not only a l ife well l ived, but touched something deep and personal inside
m e.
Jane Goodall has now dedicated more than 40 years of her l ife to
speaking for and with chimpanzees. I marveled a t her commitment to ,
and was moved by her love for , the chimpanzees at Gombe. I admire her
quest to make the world a l i t t le less barbarous and a l i t t le more humane.
For through the years , GoodalPs mission has remained constant : to
remind human beings of the ir unique obl iga t ions toward a l l the crea tures
with whom they share the ear th .
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I N T R O D U C T I O N
In recent polls, Jane Goodall has emerged as the most easily recognizable
living scientist in the Western world. Her work with the chimpanzees at
Gombe has been renowned as one of the grea t achievements of sc ient i f ic
research. GoodalPs research and dedication are held in the same regard
as Albert Einstein 's . Her approach to f ield study, once r idiculed and chal
lenged by the scientif ic world, has now become the model for other ethol-
ogists to use. Young girls want to be like her; adults respect her. Children
across the world have tr ied to help her. Throughout i t a ll , Goodall stays
steady as she continues to bring her message of peace, hope, and chal
lenge to make the world—for all living creatures—a bet ter place .
Jane GoodalPs childhood dream to l ive among, study, and write about
wild animals in Africa seemed the stuff of which fantasies are made. Even
now, it takes little effort to imagine Goodall sitting at the big oak dining
room table in a warm and comfortable English home, explaining to her
grandchildren what she wanted to do when she grew up. I t is much harder
to conceive of this woman, still slender and attractive at the age of 70,
recounting all that she has accomplished during more than 40 years study
ing chimpanzees at the Gombe National Park in Tanzania, East Africa.
The improbabili ty of her story only deepens when the many obstacles she
encountered and overcame come more clearly into view.
Goodal l was a pre t ty , demure , though somewhat f l i r ta t ious, woman in
her early 20s when she accepted the invitation of a fr iend to visit Africa
in 1957. Because her family could not afford to send her to a university,
she did n o t ha v e a college degree. Yet, she was well read, tho ug htfu l, int el
l igent , and determ ined . The se qual i t ies favorably impressed the no ted bu t
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x u
I N T R O D U C T I O N
controv ersia l anthrop ologis t Louis Leakey, th en cura tor of the M useum of
Natura l History in Nairobi , Kenya, who offered Goodal l the oppor tuni ty
to research chimpanzees in the ir na t ive habi ta t .
With a vested interest in preserving the status quo, the scientif ic
community demeaned the projec t and doubted the qual i f ica t ions and abi l
ities of Leakey's untutored protege. As is often the case, the experts were
wrong. GoodalPs unconventional approach to her work yie lded s tunning
results. Contrary to accepted scientif ic opinion, which dismissed chimpan
zees as uniformly brutish and vicious, Goodall found chimps to be capable
of a wide range of emotions, including affection, compassion, and love.
Goodall also showed that chimps could reason, think, and solve problems.
They formed hunting parties to capture small monkeys, baby baboons, and
baby bush pigs. Scientists had previously assumed that chimpanzees were
vegetar ian. More s tar t l ing, Goodal l d iscovered tha t chimpanzees could
fashion primitive implements from grass, twigs, and leaves, dispelling the
notion tha t humans were the only species tha t made tools .
Goodall drew these and other conclusions about the behavior of chim
panzees only after months of careful, painstaking observation. Yet, contrary
to the accepted standards and procedures of field research, she had also
encouraged social interaction with the chimps in an effort to win their
t rust . T h e em otional a t ta ch m en t th a t Goo dal l developed with her subjec ts ,
symbolized by her unorthodox practice of naming them rather than identi
fying th em by num bers or letters, prom pted m any scientists to ques tion the
validity of her f indings. Her attr ibution of human characteristics to chim
panzees, her critics have charged, robbed Goodall of the critical distance
essential to making objective judgments.
Goodall not only broke new ground in research and f ield methods, she
also opened the door for many others, notably Dian Fossey and her work
with goril las and Birute Galdikas and her studies of the baboon. Goodall
has never considered herself a feminist, nor was her desire to join the
ranks of other noted ethologists and in doing so breaking a gender barrier .
All she ever wanted to do was observe her chimps. But through her work,
Goodal l brought a woman's touch, a view that emphasized re la t ionships
ra the r tha n rules , to be recept ive ra ther th an c ontrol l ing, to be em pat het i c
instead of objective. Her approach f lew in the face of conventional sci
en ce ,
a science dominated and defined by male views and values. It was a
star t l ing break and one tha t earned Goodal l a reputa t ion as a maver ick.
W h e n G ood al l firs t began observing the chimp s a t G om be , they were
lit t le more than black blurs at the end of her binocular lenses. Their move
ments appeared jerky as if in rapid motion like an old black and white
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I N T R O D U C T I O N n
xm
f i lm. As the days and months passed, Goodall began seeing the chimps
in a new light; as personalit ies with l ikes and dislikes, who had emotions
much like humans and who were capable of noble deeds and base acts.
More important, she saw the beginnings of what defined humans, their
early heritage and the journey traveled to become straight-standing men,
women, and chi ldren.
In the first 18 months of her study, Goodall amassed over 850 pages of
observat ions, with nary a measurement or number in s ight . Instead she
wrote, describing in words, devoid of cold technical terms, what she saw
and felt . She had no theories to prove; she was content to watch as the
chimps slowly invited her into their world. She never took for granted
the gif t she had been offered by these remarkable animals. All she could
do was to present, as accurately and as passionately as possible, the amaz
ing discoveries she had witnessed at Gombe.
Goodall brought to her work an intuitive rather than deductive or objec
tive viewpoint. She named her chimps instead of assigning them numbers.
She stepped in to do what needed to be done in order to help chimps who
were ailing, hurt, or dying. At a time when the field of ethnology was
becoming m ore technical, impersonal, and statistical, Go odall imp leme nted
a new approach that emphasized the feminine point of view. She made
friends with certain chimps. She laughed at their antics, appreciated their
feelings, was happy when they gave birth. She wept at their deaths. Without
them, she would never have had the remarkable journey that she has trav
eled over the last four decades.
G oo da ll has suffered th ro ug h trials in he r life: a divo rce, the d ea th of he r
second husband, a deep spiritual crisis, the criticisms, and the naysayers
who find her current mission unduly optimistic . Through it a ll , Goodall
has rema ined steadfast. She is con vin ced th at objectivity in science, or
any intelle ctual e nd eavo r for th at m atter , is n ot on ly impossible but also
undesirable . Although researchers must be thorough and honest , they
cannot and should not set their emotions aside, because understanding is
always personal and participatory. That humility may have compromised
Good alPs objectivity, bu t at the same tim e it has also m ade he r mo re aw are
of, and more sensitive to, the integrity of her subjects and the potential
harm tha t researchers m ight do to them . She is con vince d th a t th e world,
its lands, waters, and air can be saved and that animals will finally receive
the respect they so richly deserve.
Today, GoodalPs work cont inues through the Jane Goodal l Inst i tute
for Wildl i fe Research, Educat ion, and Conservat ion, though Goodal l
herself can spend no more than a few weeks a year at Gombe. She has
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XIV
I N T R O D U C T I O N
instead expa nded th e focus of he r conc erns, t ravel ing and lec tur ing abou t
chimpanzees, pr imate research, environmenta l conservat ion, and world
peace . Yet , t ime has vindica ted GoodalPs methods as much as i t has
certif ied her m ost im po rta nt discov eries. Sh e is now, and has long bee n,
recognized as the principal authority on chimpanzees in the world. I t is
the improbable fulfillment of a little girl 's dream.
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TIMELINE
1934 Jane G oo dal l is born A pri l 3 in Lo nd on Eng land
1939 Goo da l l s move to Bo urne m outh
1942 V ann e and M ort im er M orr is-Goo dal l d ivorce
1952 G ood al l mov es to Lo nd on to begin secre tar ial school and
find work
1957 Tak es first trip to Africa
Begins work with Louis Leakey at Olduvai Gorge
1958
Leakey asks G oo dal l to take o n a field study of chim panz ees
1960 July—Goodall begins her f ield study at Gombe Stream
Game Rese rve
October—Goodall observes David Greybeard fishing for
termites
November—Goodall sees chimps eating meat
1961
G oo da ll receives he r f irst gran t of
$
1,400
from t he N atio na l
Geographic Socie ty
Summer—David Greybeard's first visit to camp
1962 G oo dal l enters Cam bridge as a graduate s tud ent to begin
work on her Ph.D.
1963 Go oda l l meets wildli fe ph otog raph er Hu go Van Lawick
1963 G oo da ll receives th e Fra nk lin Burr Aw ard for he r con tribu
tion to science
GoodalPs f irst ar ticle , "My Life Among the Chimpanzees"
appears in the August issue of National Geographic
1964 G oo da ll m arries Van Lawick, M arch 28
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XVI
T I M E L I N E
Flo gives bir th to Flint, which allows Goodall to observe
chimpanzee pa ren t ing
Mike ga ins dominance in the ch impanzee communi ty
Gombe S t ream Research Cente r in founded , December
1965 G oo dal l rece ives he r Ph .D . in Ethology f rom Cam bridg e
Universi ty , becoming the e ighth person to ever rece ive the
degree without a Bachelor ' s Degree
Second a r t ic le , "New Discover ies Among Afr ica ' s
Chimpanzees" appears in National Geographic
Film "Miss Goodal l and the Wild Chimpanzees" is broad
cas t on Amer ican te lev is ion
1966 Fifteen Kas ekela ch im ps are afflicted w ith po lio
1967 H ug o Eric Louis V an Lawick (G ru b) is bo rn
1968 Hila l i
Matama
is hired as GoodalPs first official field
assistant
1970 Kasa kela-Kah am a (KK) com m un ity began to divide .
19 70 -19 75 G oo dal l app oin ted to facul ty a t Stanford Un iversi ty
1971 Shadow of Man, G ood alPs first bo ok , is pu blis hed
1972 Go odalPs f irst child ren's boo k,
Grub, the Bush Baby,
is
published
GoodalPs mentor Louis Leakey dies
19 74 -19 77 Kasakela co m m un ity males begin a ser ies of a t tacks against
members of the Kahama communi ty tha t led to the dea ths
of all Kahama males. This is the first record of "warfare" in
n o n h u m a n p r i m a t e s
Goodal l and Van Lawick divorce
1975 Go od al l marr ies her second hus ban d, th e H on . Derek
Bryceson
Four researchers kidnapped by Zairian rebels; although they
are unh arm ed, outside researchers are no t allowed into G om be
until 1989
1977
T h e Jane G oo dal l Inst i tu te for W ildl ife Research , Ed ucat ion ,
and Co ns erv a t i on is e s tab l i shed in Sa n Franc isco ,
California
1979 G ood al l publ ishes ar t ic le "Life and D ea th a t G om be " in
National Geographic
1980 Go od al l rece ives th e O rder of the G ol de n A rk, th e W orld
Wildl i fe Award for Conservat ion presented by Pr ince
Bernhard of the Ne ther lands
1984 GoodalPs second te levis ion special , "A m on g th e W ild
Chim panze es" a ir s
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TIMELINE
xvn
T h e Chim pan zoo projec t is c rea ted to co nt i nu e research on
chimp behavior whi le promot ing more s t imula t ing envi
ronments for chimps and other capt ive pr imates
1986
The Chimpanzees of Gom be
is published
1987 G oo da ll receives th e A lbe rt Schw eitzer Aw ard from th e
Animal Welfa re Ins t i tu te in Washington , D.C .
1988 Jane G ood al l Inst i tute -UK is es tabl ished in Lo nd on
1988 G oo dal l receives the C en te nn ia l Award from th e N atio na l
Geographic Socie ty
1990 Jane Go od al l Inst i tute-Tanzan ia is laun ched in con jun ct io n
with GoodalPs 30 year anniversary a t Gombe
"Chimps Like Us" an HBO documenta ry a i r s ; the program
is la ter nominated for an Academy Award
Through a Window
is published
Goodall receives the Kyoto Prize for Science, the Japanese
equivalent of the Nobel Prize
1991 R oo t s & Shoots program is created
1992 Tch im pou nga Sanc tuary for Ch imp anzees is c rea ted in th e
Congo Republ ic
1993 First video of a chim pan zee bir th is recorded
Visions
of
Calaban: O n Chimpanzees and People is p ublish ed
1995 Kitwe Poin t Sanctu ary for Ch imp anzees establ ished in
Tanzania
Gooda l l r ece ives the Na t iona l Geographic Soc ie ty ' s
Hubbard Award for Distinction in Exploration, Discovery,
and Research
G oo dal l is awarded the ti t le CB E (Co m m an de r of the
British Empire) by Queen Elizabeth II
1996 G oo da ll receives th e Tan zan ian Kilim anjaro M eda l for he r
work in wildlife conservation
1998 Jane Go oda l l Ins t i tu te -U gand a Sanc tua ry re loca tes 19
orphaned chimps f rom other overcrowded sanctuar ies
1999
Reason
for H ope: A Spiritual Journey
is published
Hugo Van Lawick dies
2001 V ann e G ood al l d ies
2004 G oo dal l invested as D am e of th e British Em pire by Prince
Charles for her service to the environment and conservation
Goodall receives the 2004 Nierenberg Prize for Science in
the Public Interest
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Chapter 1
A C H IL D O F D E S T IN Y
If early interests in a young life offer a clue to a child's destiny, then Jane
Goodall forged her path at a tender age. The f irst daughter of Mortimer
Herber t Morr is-Goodal l and Margare t Myfanwe Joseph, Valer ie Jane
Morris-Goodall was born on April 3, 1934 in a London hospital. Four years
later , the Morris-Goodalls welcomed a second daughter , Judy, into the
family. Later it was discovered th at th e tw o girls suffered from a neu rolog ical
c ond i t ion known a s
prosopagnosia
, or m em ory im pai rm ent for faces and
patterns. Goodall could not recognize people 's faces, more interesting is
that she had no trouble recognizing animals, especially the chimpanzees
that she would one day meet .
During the 1930s England was relatively quiet. The First World War,
which had robbed the country and Europe of their innocence and belief
in inevitable progress, had ended more than a decade before Jane's birth.
Although England, like much of the rest of the world, suffered in the throes
of depression, and although menacing governments had come to power in
Russia, Italy, and especially in Germany, the Goodalls' world was tranquil.
A W O R L D O F C O N T R A S T S
Jane GoodalPs early l ife was, however, marked by dramatic contrast .
Her fa ther , who had once worked as a te lephone cable tes t ing engineer
in London, had, by the t ime of Jane 's bir th, discovered his love of racing
cars. Herbert Morris-GoodalPs passion for speed was such that he left his
job to become a racecar driver. As a member of the Br i t ish Aston-Mart in
race team, Morris-GoodalPs l ife was transformed into an endless round of
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2
JANE GOODALL
competi t ion. Travel ing f rom track to t rack throughout England and the
Euro pean co nt i ne nt , Morr is-G ood al l soon earned a repu ta t io n for be ing
a skilled driver as well as a gentleman whom other drivers held in high
esteem. His career spanned more than two decades, and by the t ime of
his re t i rement in the 1950s, Morr is-Goodal l had not only earned nat ional
glory, but also the distinction of being the only British driver to have
competed 10 t imes in the famous and gruel ing Le Mans Grand Pr ix .
The world tha t Morr is-Goodal l inhabited—a world of noise, speed, and
danger—did not impress his eldest daughter, who showed little interest in
her father 's passion. Her mother, "Vanne," claimed Jane's time and lovingly
kindled the spark that in time guided her to Africa.
Vanne introduced Jane to na ture , beginning with the family ' s back
yard garden at their house in suburban Weybridge. They also visited the
many public gardens in London. Jane 's earliest memories are of wandering
with her mother in the backyard. Earth, sunlight, birds, bees, insects, and
other small creatures caught Jane 's eye and f ired her mind and imagina
tion. She recalled that: "I was lucky enough to be provided with a mother
wise eno ugh to nurture and en courage m y love of l iving things and my pas
sion for knowledge."
1
From these garden wander ings developed GoodalPs
intense passion for animals.
One o f Vanne's favorite stories about Jane involved Jane 's discovery
of a bed of earthworms. One day, GoodalPs nanny ran from her young
charge ' s bedroom to Vanne, excla iming tha t Goodal l had hidden in her
bed a small handful "horrible, pink, wriggling worms."
2
The nanny a lso
expla ined tha t the worms had been hidden under Jane ' s pi l low and she
adamantly refused to let them go. Vanne later recalled: "A peach-col
ored light from the setting sun was flooding the nursery. Jane's eyes were
already closing, one hand was out
o(
s ight beneath the pi l low. I pointed
out that the little creatures would find it altogether too hot and stuffy
under the pillow."
3
Rath er th an get t ing angry about th e mess Jane ha d
made, her mother instead expla ined:
J
an e
>
if you keep them here they' l l
die . They need the ear th ."
4
Although she was only 18 months old , Jane
understood and obeyed, re turning the worms to the ir garden home.
V ann e la ter adm it ted tha t the ent i re inc ide nt me ant more to Jane th an
the simple act of having to give up her newfound "pets." But in later
years,
Vanne believed that GoodalPs interest in the natural world was so
intense that her curiosity about nature and desire to interact with i t were
more mature and deep than would be expected f rom a young chi ld .
Vanne Morris-GoodalPs greatest desire was to provide a secure and
stable life for her family, though she also wished to expose her daughters
to the harsh realities of the world. As a result, Jane learned early that man
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A CHILD OF DESTINY
3
and nature did not always coexist peacefully. After watching a man crush a
dragonfly t h at w as ho ver ing abou t her, youn g Jan e cried, "no t because I was
afraid but because I felt bad that such a pretty thing was destroyed."
5
In 1 936, w he n Jan e was two years old, Lo nd on residen ts were en thr alle d
by the f irst bir th of a chimpanzee ever to take place at the London zoo.
T h e new chim p, nam ed Jubilee, became an in stant local celebrity. In ho no r
of th e new arrival, an E nglish toy ma nufa cture r pro du ced a series of stuffed
"Jubi lee" chimps for young chi ldren. Even Morr is-Goodal l was caught up
in the excitement and purchased one of the toys for Jane.
For Goodall , the toy was love at f irst sight. Although many of her
m othe r 's lady friends w ere aghast, believing th at su ch a large and ung ainly
toy would fr ighten Jane, Jane herself clutched the animal t ightly to her
chest. The stuffed chimp became her most prized possession, accompanying
her wherever she went. I t was the f irst indication of what would become
her life's work.
In 1939, when Jane was five years old, her father moved his family to
France to be nearer the major racing centers. He also wanted his daughters
to learn th e language an d be educate d t he re. But his plans soon w en t awry,
for only months after the GoodalPs arr ival in France, on September 1,
1939, the Nazis invaded Poland and began the Second World War in
Europe. By June 1940, G erm any had con que red France . W h e n he learned
what was taking place in Eastern Europe, Morris-Goodall did not hesitate .
He immediately moved his family back to England, se t t l ing them in the
home of his pa ternal grandmother in the Kent countryside .
Goodal l adored her new surroundings. Sheep and ca t t le grazed and
lulled near the old manor house, which was built of gray stone. Not far
from the house were the ruins of an old castle where King Henry VIII had
imprisoned one of his six wives, but which now housed families of spiders
and bats. Her grandmother 's house was sti l l l i t by oil lamps instead of by
electr icity. But for Goodall , that made the house all the more magical. At
the very mo m en t th a t Europe descended into war, Jane ente red o ne of the
most idyllic periods of her life.
Jane 's interest in nature continued to grow and deepen. On a visit to
her grandmother 's farm, she was asked to collect eggs. She was more than
happy to obl ige , but soon became annoyed tha t she did not understand
how the hens formed and laid the eggs, telling an interviewer years later,
"I had always wondered where on a hen was an opening big enough for
the egg to come out."
6
W h e n th e ex pla nat ion s she received did n ot satisfy
her, Jane decided to find out for herself.
Following a hen into the henhouse , Jane resolved to s i t and watch
for as long as it took to learn the secret. But after the hen, upset at her
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4
JANE GOODALL
presence, began squawking, she decided to wait for the hens to leave the
chicken house so tha t she could enter i t unobserved and conceal herse lf
inside . Crouching quie t ly in a corner , she waited unt i l a hen entered and
settled into i ts nest. Soon the hen stood up and Jane noticed a small white
egg emerging from between its legs. With mounting fascination, Jane
watched as the hen shook its feathers, nudged the egg out, and left .
Later tha t a f ternoon, Vanne re turned home, only f ind the house quie t
and em pty. Sh e found out th a t ev eryone ha d gone in search of Jane , wh o
had by now been missing for more than four hours. By seven o'clock con
cern had been replaced by worry from her family and neighbors. Vanne
la ter wrote about Jane ' s homecoming: "I don ' t remember who saw her
first—a small disheveled f igure coming a l i t t le wearily over the tussocky
field by the hen houses. There were l i t t le bits of straw in her hair and on
her clothes but her eyes, dark r inged with fatigue, were shining."
7
W h e n
Jane at last appeared, her mother was more relieved than angry. Sensing
Jane 's exci tement , Vanne Goodal l d id not scold her but instead l is tened
to the s tory of her adventure . Jane then excla imed, "So now I know how
a hen lays an egg."
8
Vanne, looking at her weary and disheveled daughter ,
took her hand and walked her home. At the same t ime, Vanne recognized
that her daughter had achieved a cer ta in success with her vis i t to the hen
house: Jane had completed her f irst animal f ield study.
A WORLD AT WAR, A LIFE AT PEACE
Jane 's idyllic life did no t last long. O n Se pte m ber 3 , 1939, two days after
the Nazis had invaded Poland, the government of Great Br i ta in declared
war on Germany. Years later , Jane 's memories of that day remained vivid.
Gathered in the drawing room, the family heard the sad announcement
on the radio. For several moments, the room fell si lent. As young as she
was, Jane kne w som ething h ad ch ang ed and ha d a sense th at i t was terr ible.
Like most Englishmen, Herber t Morr is-Goodal l resolved to f ight . He
wasted li t t le t ime enlisting in the British Army and was assigned to the
Royal Engineers, serving first in Europe and later in the Pacific.
With her husband gone, Vanne decided to leave Kent and take her two
daug hters to stay with her m other , "D ann y N u tt " as Jane ca l led her , a t t he
Birches, a lovely red-br ick Vic tor ian home located in Bournemouth not
far f rom the English Channel . Also s taying a t the home were Vanne 's two
sisters. In this all female household Jane spent the rest of her childhood.
She cont inues to ca l l the Birches home whenever she re turns to England.
One of the few men to come to the Birches during this t ime was Vanne's
older brother , a surgeon in Lo nd on, w ho vis i ted every weeken d. N o t long
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A CHILD OF DESTINY
5
after Vanne and her daughters came to l ive with her, Jane 's grandmother
opened the Birches to women lef t homeless by the German bombardment
of London.
Despite the upheaval that the war had brought, Jane found life at the
Birches to be pleas ant. T he re was so m uc h to see and d o; everyday prom ised
a new adventure for a spirited girl with a fertile imagination. The Birches
had a large garden in which to roam, and there were countless bushes and
trees just waiting to be used for hiding and climbing. Jane spent as much
time outside as she could, watching the birds make their nests, the squir
rels scurrying to and fro and gathering nuts, and the spiders spinning
their webs. At the Birches, Jane also enjoyed the company of several cats,
guinea pigs, a number of hamsters, a few turtles, and a canary named Peter.
Another favorite pastime in which Jane and her sister Judy engaged was
racing snails on whose shells the gir ls had painted small numbers.
But i t was a dog named Rusty, a black mongrel with a white patch on
his chest, who had the most profound influence on Goodall . "The Litt le
Black M an " as Jane af fec t ionately ca l led him accom panied Ja ne on m any
of her adventures. Rusty belonged to the owners of a hotel around the
corner. Each morning at six, he would arr ive, bark outside the door until
Jane came for him, and stay with her all day except when she was in
school. Jane had trained him to do tr icks such as closing a door and roll
ing over. Many years later, Goodall stated that if hadn't been for Rusty,
she wouldn' t have been nearly as effective at conducting her studies at
Gombe: "Rusty the dog taught me tha t animals have personal i t ies , minds
and feelings of their very own."
9
Along with two other gir ls who came to Bournemouth every summer,
Jane and Judy formed the Alligator Club, which met in a small clearing
near the house. They served tea, and sometimes met late at night for
"feasts," which, because of the rationing of food that the war occasioned,
often consisted of little more than a crust of bread or a biscuit. For Jane,
these la te night meet ings were not so much about playing as about
sneaking outs ide without be ing caught . The All iga tor Club produced a
small magazine that was filled with discussions of nature and anatomical
drawings. On her own, Jane crea ted a "conservatory" tha t conta ined
flowers, shells, and ev en a h u m an sk eleton . Sh e the n charged adm ission.
The monies she collected were donated to a local society that rescued
old horses from being sold as meat and instead took them to safe havens
where they could live out their remaining days.
Despite the disruptions of war, Jane's life at the Birches eventually
fell into a comfortable routine. She grew close to her aunts and to her
maternal grandmother. Raised a Congregationalist and having married a
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6 J A N E G O O D A L L
Congregat ional minis ter and scholar , Danny Nutt t r ied hard to show her
granddaughte r s the impor tance of Chr is t ian teach ings . Hers was no t a
deeply intellectual faith; she emphasized instead the simple goodness of
God and the importance of l iving a spir itual l ife . One of her favorite
sayings, "As thy days, so shall thy strength be," would in t ime become a
source of spir i tual comfort for Jane.
REACHING
OUT
TO DESTINY
By the t im e she was eight years old, Jane h ad dev eloped an un sha keab le
fasc inat ion with nature and animals . She read about them. She observed
them. She drew pic tures of them and wrote about them. In 1942 she
received as a Christmas gift a copy of the children's classic The Story of
Dr. Doolittle , a novel about a kindly doctor who develops the remarkable
abili ty to talk to animals by learning their many languages. "I read it a ll
the way thro ug h," she recal led,
then
I read it again. That was when I first
decided I must go to Africa some day."
10
Jane also admired the Tarzan books, in which a young boy, raised
by apes in the jungles of Africa, grows up to become the protector of
the animals. She later wrote: "I was madly in love with the Lord of the
Jungle, terr ibly jealous of his Jane. I t was daydreaming about l ife in the
forest with Tarzan that led to my determination to go to Africa, to l ive
with animals and wri te books about them."
1 1
She also enjoyed reading
other animal stories such as The Wind in the Willows and Call of the Wild.
Another favor i te , the Vic tor ian ta le At the Back of the North Wind whic h
told t he story of a poo r young boy living in a horse stable, impressed up on
Goodall the extent of human suffering, a sad fact the war also brought
home to her. Yet, these and other, more scientif ic books deepened Jane 's
knowledge of the natural world and whetted her appetite for further
study. She had begun to dream about visit ing Africa to investigate i ts
wildlife. Making such a journey was, even now in the midst of her girlhood,
becoming her hear t ' s desire .
But i t was a free book, purchased with coupons, that ignited her pas
sion for learning. In a 2004 interview, Goodall recalled how she received
the book:
I had a nanny, I was about 6 at the t ime she stayed on when my
sister was born. She saved up coupons. In those days you really
got things free if you cut coupons off the packet of something, you
didn' t a lso have to send a check for 50 pounds as you do today. They
say 'free' and it's not free at all. The prize was a hefty book, heavy,
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A CHILD OF DESTINY
7
dense , with photographs ca l led
The Miracle of Life.
It was not for
children. I t went into the history of medicine and the discovery of
anesthetics, and I can still see the pictures and I loved it. I read it,
I drew it. I drew the insect mandibles. I really was a naturalist from
the time I was born.
1 2
ALL CLEAR
Increasingly, the droning of the German aircraft dropping their bombs
intruded upon the peace of Bournemouth. While the Birches i tse lf never
was hit, Jane and her family spent countless hours huddled in a small air-raid
shelter measuring six by five feet wide and four feet high, listening to
the window glass shake and ratt le . This small , steel-roofed structure was
located in what had once been a servant ' s bedroom. Sometimes as many
as six adults along with Jane and her sister crowded into the shelter ,
where they waited uncomfor tably for hours unt i l the
All
Clear" siren
indicated that the air raid was over and they could once more go about
their business.
By the t ime Jane was seven, war had been raging in Europe for more
than two years. She was by now familiar with news of the war and was
coming to understand the immeasurable cruel ty tha t humans could
inf l ic t upon each other . A narrow escape f rom German bombs dur ing
the summer of 1944 only increased her awareness of how uncertain and
fleeting life could be. W h e n new s of th e Nazi Holo cau st against E uro pea n
Jews,
accompanied by harrowing photographs of death camps, emerged,
Jane was t ransf ixed yet bewildered. The Second World War and the
horrors i t brought exerted a profound impact on Jane 's mature view of
the world. She often despaired of humanity and sought solace in nature
among animals .
A C H A N G I N G W O R L D
In 1946, the year af ter the Second World War had ended, Mort imer
Morris-Goodall divorced his wife. Jane was twelve years old and had
become accustomed dur ing the war to not see ing her fa ther . With the
divorce, however, her father and mother remained fr iends, and Jane kept
in contact with her father throughout his l ife . Litt le else changed. At the
time of her parents ' divorce, Jane, her sister , and mother had been living
at the Birches for almost seven years. Vanne's mother had since remarried,
so for Vanne, her daughters, and her sisters, the Birches became truly their
home and life continued on as before.
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8
JANE GOODALL
Jane started school, which she regarded as a necessary evil . Although
she did enjoy learning about the subjects that interested her, such as the
English language and li terature, history, and biology, other subjects did
not command her a t tent ion or induce her to work hard a t her s tudies .
The tedium of school did nothing to diminish her passion for reading and
wri t ing, which she cont inued to do on her own. Weekends and hol idays
were her escape. She spent t ime outdoors or curled up with a book. She
had taken up writing poetry; many of her first efforts were about the joys
of na ture . Jane a lso cont inued to t rack local animals , keeping deta i led
notes of a hedgehog cour t ing i ts mate , a weasel hunt ing mice , and a
squirrel gathering nuts for the winter . Rusty sti l l accompanied her on
these out ings.
She also began to talk more to Vanne about her dream to study wild
animals in Africa. She also told her mother about the frequent taunts or
scornful comments tha t she received f rom other s tudents and teachers
about her desire to study animals. Vanne told her never to take no for an
answer. O n ce w he n Va nn e was describing to her broth er Eric he r dau ghter 's
plans , Goodal l heard her uncle say, "She doesn ' t have the s tamina ."
1 3
From that day on, Goodall , who suffered from migraines since she started
school , never complained about her headaches again.
By this t ime, Goodal l a t tended r iding lessons on most Saturdays.
Because she did not have the money to pay for the lessons, she cleaned
saddles, bridles, and stalls . She was so dedicated and enthusiastic in
her work that her teacher often gave her additional lessons for free and
granted extra t ime to r ide on her own. Jane soon began showing horses
and par t ic ipa t ing in jumping competi t ions. She was an able r ider and
looked forward to her t ime at the stables.
W h e n Jane got the op po r tuni ty to par t ic ipa te in a foxhu nt , she was
only too pleased to show off her horsemanship. She vowed not to let her
teacher down. The day of the hunt found Jane in high spir i ts , too exci ted
to think about the purpose of her r ide. After r iding for the better part of
the afternoon, Jane f inally spied the fox, exhausted by the long chase.
Now she watched in horror as the hunting dogs se t upon i t , tear ing i ts
body apar t . For Jane , the ex hi lara t ion cam e to a sudden and crash ing end .
Horrif ied and saddened by what she had just seen, she silently berated
herself for participating in what she now regarded as a barbaric activity,
just so she could display her horsemanship. That night, Jane lay awake in
bed, haunted by the vision of the dogs and the fox. Even years later , she
was angry with herself and could not forgive her lapse in judgment and
character . Although Jane never gave up r iding horses , she vowed never
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A C H I L D O F D E S T I N Y
9
again to participate in a foxhunt or any other blood sport that resulted in
the death of an animal .
G R O W I N G U P
As she grew older, Jane increasingly preferred to spend time by her
self.
After school she sat alone in her grandmother 's garden or did her
homework in the summerhouse. She also spent a great deal of t ime in a
special beech tree where she read or wrote. She was so attached to the
tree she asked her grandmother to leave it to her in her will . Sitt ing in
the branches 30 feet above the ground, Jane felt l ike a part of the tree
and a t one with nature . Sometimes when she la id her cheek against the
bark, she thought she could feel the sap, the lifeblood of the tree, coursing
through its l imbs.
W h e n G o o d a l l t u r n e d 15 in 1949, her sporadic a t tendance a t church
became more regular . The reason for the change was the Reverend Trevor
Davies , the new parson a t the Richmond Hi l l Congrega t iona l Church .
A Welshman, Davies was intell igent and a powerful speaker. Young Jane
experienced her first crush, and over the next year she eagerly accompanied
her grandmother to Sunday services .
But see ing Davies once a week was not enough. Soon Jane took to
making excuses to take walks at night to stroll past his home. If she was
lucky, she m igh t ca tch a glimpse of hi m as he w orked o n his sermo n. In an
attempt to impress him, Jane started to read her grandfather 's old theolog
ical books. Periodically, she went to the parsonage, rang the doorbell , and
asked Davies for his opinion of a theological dispute about which she had
read or to borrow on e of th e books from his perso nal l ibrary for add ition al
s tudy. Once he lent Jane a book on the phi losophy of sensat ional ism in
which the author argued tha t nothing exis ted outs ide the mind. For Jane ,
this was too much. She wrote Davies a humorous poem about the idea ,
which closed with the l ines:
And therefore I will cease to write
Since I cannot be here ,
And none can ever read these l ines
For nobody is there
1 4
To her dismay, Davies never mentioned her effort . Stil l , her infatuation
grew. W h e n th e Rev eren d D avies shoo k her ha nd , she refused to wash it
for days. On another occasion when Davies suggested to his parishioners
that they go " the second mile"
1 5
in all they did, Jane took his message
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10 JANE GO OD AL L
to a comic extreme. She began to fetch two buckets of coal and to brew
two pots of tea . She even took two baths and told people "good night"
twice. Her effort to live by the literal meaning of Davies's words nearly
exasperated her family.
As many adolescents are wont to do, Goodall fantasized about l iving a
saintly l ife and dying a martyr for her faith. She imagined traveling to the
Sovie t Union, which had banned a l l re l igious ac t ivi ty and imposed an
official atheism. There she would join with the small groups of Christians
and Jews who cont inued to meet despi te the severe punishments the
government inflicted for engaging in religious worship. Inflamed by the
stories of the early Christians who met secretly in Rome after the govern
ment had outlawed their movement, Jane now saw herself as a missionary,
bringing the Word of God to communist Russia. If caught, she would give
up her life for her faith.
These religious fantasies of self-sacrifice and martyrdom were surely
the heroic daydreams of an unusually thoughtful and sensitive teenager.
But they cannot be so easily dismissed, for they reveal important facets
of Jane's character. While still a young girl, she had developed a selfless
devotion to the weak and the powerless . She showed a determinat ion
to bat t le injust ice , untruth, and despot ism. Perhaps most important , she
struggled to change a world tha t she thought was increasingly dominated
by barbarism, suffering, and evil.
In addition to reading the Bible everyday, Jane continued to indulge
her love of poetry. She haunted the used bookshops, always on the look
out for affordable copies of her favorite poets: William Shakespeare,
John Mil ton, Rober t Browning, and John Keats . She was a lso fond of
the English poets of the First World War, especially Rupert Brooke and
Wilfred O w en . W h e n no t pla nn ing her m ar tyrdom or, a l te rnate ly , her
tr ip to Africa, Jane dreamed of being a great poet, perhaps even one day
becom ing th e Poet Laureate of England. H er poems were of ten hum orou s,
but others incorpora ted her love of na ture or explored her deepening
spir ituality. In "The Duck," for example, she wrote:
The lovely dunes; the sett ing sun;
T h e
duck—and
I;
One Spir i t moving t imelessly
Beneath the sky.
16
By the t ime she entered her m iddle teenag e years , Jane ex per ienced a
change in her spir itual l ife . Her growing sense of being one with nature ,
a theme she explored in "The Duck," gave r ise to thoughts about the
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A C H I L D O F D E S T I N Y
11
place and role of humanity in the world and to quest ions about whether
human beings had the r ight to dominate na ture just because they had the
power to do so.
In the meantime, Jane had to a t tend to more prac t ica l matters tha t
intruded upon her reflections. After graduating from high school in 1951,
J an e , l ike many students, faced the problem about what to do. Her family
did not have enough money to send her to a universi ty and, a l though
she was intelligent, her grades in the subjects for which she cared little
now prevented her f rom winning a scholarship. As she wrest led with her
future, there arr ived the unexpected invitation from one of her aunts, her
father 's sister , to visit her and her husband in Cologne, Germany. Vanne
agreed to accompany her daughter and together they set off .
For Jane, the tr ip was exciting yet dismal. The area she and Vanne
visited was cold, bleak, and dreary. She did enjoy going with a young girl,
He lga ,
to vis i t ne ighbor ing farms where she got to ea t th ick homemade
bread and wear clogs. She enjoyed long walks where she stopped to watch
hares making their way through the f ields. Part of the purpose of the tr ip
was for Jane to learn German. But the people around her were so anxious
to learn English tha t she had l i t tle chan ce to prac t ice the ir na t ive tong ue.
It was just as well, for Jane realized that she was not particularly adept at
learning languages.
O n e of th e hig h po ints of he r stay was visit ing th e great city of Co log ne .
Still scarred by the ravages of war, Cologne had already recovered some of
its former charm. There was much to see and do. Jane wrote that gazing
upon the spire of the grea t Cologne Cathedra l , r is ing undamaged f rom
the bombed ruins tha t surrounded i t , brought home to her the ul t imate
power of good over evil . Vanne, being more practical, a lso hoped that
Jane would master the German language in the hopes tha t i t would help
her daughter f ind work. Unfortunately, Jane showed no aptitude for i t .
Instead, Jane continued to plunge herself into seeing the sights. Yet, even
amid the excitement of visit ing a new country and seeing relatives, Jane
could not escape her growing worries. Soon she and her mother would
re turn to England, where she would have to confront anew the problem
of what to do with the rest of her life.
NOTES
1. Jane Goodall with Phillip
Berman,
Reason For HopeN(New York: Warner
Books, 1998), p. 7.
2. Jennifer Lindsey and the Jane Goodall Institute, Jane
Goodall: 40
Years
at
Gombe
(New York: Stewart, Tabor
&
Chang, 1999), p. 19.
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12
J A N E G O O D A L L
3 . Jenn i fe r L indsey and the Jane Good a l l Ins t i t u t e , Jane Goo dall: 40 Years at
Gombe (New York: Stewart , Tabor & Cha ng , 1999) , pp . 19-2 0 .
4 . Jane Gooda l l w i th Ph i l l i p Berman , Reason For Hope (New York : Warner
Books, 1998), p. 5.
5. R o n A r i a s , Jane G o o d a l l , " People Weekly, M ay 14, 1990, p. 94 .
6 . "Jane Go oda l l ,"
Current
Biography
Yearbook,
1991 (New York: H . W. W ilson
Co m pany 1992) , p . 249 .
7.
Jenn i fe r L indsey and the Jane Gooda l l Ins t i t u t e ,
Jane Goo dall: 40 Years at
Gombe (New York: Stewart , Tabori
&
C h an g , 1 9 9 9 ) , p . 18.
8. Jenni fer Lindsey and the Jane Goodal l Inst i tu te , Jane Goodall: 40 Years at
Gombe (Ne w York: Stew art , Tabori 6k C ha ng , 1999), p .
18.
9. Steve Dale ,
An
In t e rv iew w i th Jane Goo da l l : W h at I Learned f rom
Dogs ," S tud io One Networks , h t t p :/ / w w w . t h ed o g d a il y .co m/ y o u _ d o g / mo m en t s /
archive/goodall_interview/(accessed
N o v emb er 1 5 , 2 0 0 4 ) .
10. All ison Lassieur,
When
I Was a Kid : Chi ldhood Exper i ences o f Famous
People , " National Geographic World (S ep t emb e r 1 9 9 9 ) : 11.
11.
Jane Gooda l l w i th Ph i l l i p Berman ,
Reason For Hope
(New York : Warner
Books, 1998), pp. 2 0 - 2 1 .
12. Lua ine Lee , ' "Re turn to Gombe ' w i th Jane Gooda l l on Animal P lane t , "
Knight
Ridder/Tribune
News Service,
Feb. 23, 2004, p . K4623.
13.
Sy M ontgomery ,
Walking with the Great Apes: Jane Goodall, Dian Fossey,
Birute Galdikas
(Boston: Houghton Miff l in , 1991), p . 29.
14. Jane Gooda l l w i th Ph i l l i p Berman , Reason For Hope (New York: Warner
Books, 1998), p . 23.
15. Jane Gooda l l w i th Ph i l l i p Berman ,
Reason For Hope
(New York : Warner
Books, 1998), p . 23.
16. Jane Gooda l l w i th Ph i l l i p Berman ,
Reason For Hope
(New York : Warner
Books , 1998) , pp . 29-30 .
http://www.thedogdaily.com/you_dog/moments/archive/goodall_interview/http://www.thedogdaily.com/you_dog/moments/archive/goodall_interview/http://www.thedogdaily.com/you_dog/moments/archive/goodall_interview/http://www.thedogdaily.com/you_dog/moments/archive/goodall_interview/
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C hap te r 2
AFRICA CALLS
In the winter of 1952, 18-year-old Jane Goodall , fresh from her excursion
to Germany, came home to the Birches where she faced an uncer ta in
future. Unable to attend a university, and with no job prospects in sight,
Jane was at a loss about what lay ahead. Recalling this uncertain period
in her l ife , she wrote: "What would I do next? I only wanted to watch
and write about animals. How could I get started? How could I make a
living doing that?"
1
Goodall knew that the t ime had come to put as ide her dreams of t rav
eling, at least for the moment. For the eldest daughter of a middle-class
English family, there were more pressing matters at hand. She needed to
find work to help support the all-female household at the Birches. Again,
V an ne devised a solu tion: if Jan e too k classes to polish her typew riting,
shorthand, and bookkeeping skills , she could f ind a job as a secretary. As
Jan e recalled, "M um said secretaries could get jobs any wh ere in the world,
and I still felt my destiny lay in Africa."
2
LEARNING, LEARNING, LEARNING
In May 1953, Goodall enrolled at the Queen's Secretarial College in
So uth K ensington, just outside of Lo ndo n. She lived in the L ond on h om e of
Mrs.
Hilliet, th e m oth er of on e of Van ne's friends. Goo dall dutifully atte nd ed
classes during the week, but she was bored. Writing to a friend, Goodall
complained:
I'm
very nearly dead. This shorthand is terrible hard work,
and also rather monotonous as it only requires learning, learning, learning.
The typing is not too bad, but that again, is a little bit automatic."
3
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14 J A N E G O O D A L L
Weekends were bet ter . As soon as she could, Goodal l escaped to the
Chantry, a prosperous apple farm in Kent tha t was the home of another
family fr iend. At the Chantry, Jane rode horses, took long walks, and
relaxed.
For tunate ly for Goodal l , by Apri l 1954 she had completed her t ra ining
and returned to the Birches. In no time, she was back in her former rou
t i n e .
She rode horses whenever she could, and renewed her crush on the
Congregat ional is t minis ter , Trevor Davies , though now her wri t ing about
him tended to be more i ronic than romantic . All the while , though, Jane
was th in ki ng abo ut how to realize he r desire to journey t o Africa a nd write
about animals. That summer, Goodall confided in a letter to a fr iend that
she ha d no t given up he r dream of beco m ing a journal is t , bu t now tho ug ht
th at to "write any thin g wo rth an yon e reading, I mu st hav e lived a few m ore
years and acquired a little experience of life, as they say."
4
In the meant ime , Gooda l l ea rned money by he lp ing he r aunt
Oily,
a physiotherapist , a t a local clinic. Many of Olly 's patients were young
children who had been paralyzed by polio, or who suffered from such
crippling ailments as muscular dystrophy and cerebral palsy. Goodall
t ranscr ibed Olly ' s comments on each case and then typed and f i led the
repor ts . Although she dreamed of going to Afr ica and pursuing a career
in journal ism,
GoodalPs
t ime a t the c l inic was not misspent . Working
day after day with the i l l and infirm, especially children, Jane 's empathy
grew for those who were weak and disabled. In fact, her first boyfriend was
a young man injured in a terr ible car crash and in a cast from his waist
to his ankles . W h e n w orking a t he r aunt ' s c l inic , G oo dal l v is i ted h er
uncle , who was a surgeon and who le t her watch him as he opera ted. As
a resul t of these exper iences, Goodal l developed a new sense of compas
sion and a deep gratitude for her good health. She also came to marvel at
the indomitable spir it of those who faced serious, debili tating, and often
painful injuries or illnesses.
OXFORD
In August 1954, Goodal l took advantage of an oppor tuni ty to move
to Oxford to work as a typist for the Oxford University Registry. Like her
other secre tar ia l jobs, th is one did not provide much s t imula t ion. But i t
enabled Jane to ea rn a decent income and to work in C la rendon House ,
one of the more interesting buildings at Oxford University. Built during
the ea r ly e igh teen th cen tury , C la rendon House boas ted grand double
entrance doors , la rge Doric columns, and magnif icent s ta tues tha t over
looked the grounds. Jane liked going to work in such an elegant sett ing.
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A F R I C A C A L L S
15
She enjoyed bringing her pet hamster , Hamlette , with her everyday. Yet,
C la rendon House and Hamle t te were no t enough to a l lev ia te the drudg
ery of her work. She wrote to a fr iend that I have been miserable these
last few weeks because of the boredom of this foul job."
5
Still , she did enjoy living in Oxford. Her residence was a boarding
hous e located a t 225 W ood stock R oad. She beca m e c lose f riends w ith h er
roommates , a l l of whom were s ingle women near her own age . In addi
t ion, she met other congenia l young men and women a t work. Things
went well enough for Jane in Oxford. She had a decent job and pleasant
com pa nio ns. But Jan e soon grew frustrated and restless. N o th in g it seemed
could dispel her feelings of uncertainty about the future.
TO LONDON
By la te July 1955, Goodal l had moved once more , th is t ime to London
where she took a job a t Schof ie ld Product ions, a company tha t made
documentary f i lms. Goodal l ' s job a t Schof ie ld was more interest ing than
her former position: she selected the music for the films. The job offered
a welcome break from her dull secretarial duties. At Schofield, Goodall
learned a great deal about making f ilms, knowledge that later proved
invaluable to her . In addition, she made the most of l iving in London.
She took classes, attended lectures, went to concerts, and enjoyed an
active social l ife . Goodall enthusiastically wrote about the many gentle
men who called on her, sometimes referr ing to them by their full names
(David, Kei th , Horst , and Hans) . She referred to those who became
closer to her simply by using a letter , such as "B ." W h ile in Lon do n, Jan e
also saw more of her father; her letters home speak of their going to the
theater and to restaurants .
For the f i rs t t ime in a long t ime, Goodal l seemed content with , and
even enthusiastic about, her l ife . But in May 1956, Goodall 's fortunes
took a n unex pec ted turn , and she rea lized her dream of wo rking with , and
wri t ing about , animals might come true .
KENYA CALLING
By the m orn ing post on W ednesday, Decem ber 18, 1956, Jane received
an interest ing le t te r . Mailed with s tamps tha t depic ted e lephants and
giraffes, the letter had come from an old school friend, Marie Claude
Mange, who had moved to Kenya with her parents and had recent ly
bought a farm. Mange wrote to ask whether Jane would be interested in
coming to see her in her new home. Goodal l was dumbstruck. She could
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16
J A N E G O O D A L L
not believe her good fortune. For so long, she had wanted to go to Africa,
and now, qui te unexpectedly, an oppor tuni ty to do so had come. Jane did
not hesi ta te . She was going.
The problem was tha t t ravel ing to Afr ica cost money, and Jane could
not afford to make the tr ip. She also knew that she had to raise the price
of a round-tr ip t icket, for Vanne would never let her go if she thought
Jane had no plans to re turn to England. In any event , ne i ther English
nor Kenyan author i t ies permit ted vis i tors to enter Kenya with a one-way
ticket, unless someone assumed legal responsibili ty for their welfare. Not
wishing burden Marie and her family, Goodall made up her mind to raise
the money she needed to purchase a round- tr ip t icket .
Jane gave notice that she intended to quit her job at Schofield shortly
after receiving Marie 's letter . She returned to the Birches where she could
live rent free. She took a job as a waitress in the Hawthorns, a local hotel.
In a letter written during late summer 1956, Jane explained: "I am work
ing myself absolutely to the bone. It really is dreadful during the peak of
the season. We only get one day off a fortnight [two weeks], two after
noon teas and one la te night per week."
6
Yet, despite her unhappiness
with th e job, G ood al l was saving a lot of mo ney. W ith each paych eck and
every tip, she moved a l i t t le closer to Kenya. She hid her money under
the carpet. After f ive months, Jane and her family shut the curtains one
evening and pul led up the carpet to see what she had saved. Much to her
del ight , Jane found tha t she had more than enough money to pay for a
round-tr ip passage to Kenya. She was nearly on her way.
Before she left, however, Jane had to disentangle herself from her
London beaus. In letters to her friends, she describes having to reject at
least two proposals of marriage. It was now that Jane began the slow retreat
from her familiar l ife and instead began to concentrate on what became
her destiny.
SAILING TOWARD DESTINY
"It is now 4
P.M.
on Thursday," wrote Goodal l on March 15, 1957,
"and I
still
find it difficult to belie ve th at I am o n my way to
Africa.
T h a t
is the
t h i n g — A F R I C A . "
7
Now that Jane ' s dream was coming t rue a t
last , i t seemed more than ever l ike a dream to her. That "the adventure,
the voyage to Tarzan's Africa, to the land of l ions, leopards, elephants,
giraffes, and monkeys had actually begun,"
8
that she was really on her
way to Africa, seemed incredible. All Jane 's efforts, however, might have
come to nothing, for a t the t ime she planned to leave , Great Br i ta in and
Egypt were at war. As a result , the Suez Canal, through which her vessel
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A F R I C A C A L L S
17
would have to pass, closed the week before Jane was to sail . There was
a possibili ty that the voyage would be canceled. To her great
relief,
Jane
learned tha t the company decided to go forward with the t r ip , though she
had pay more for her t icket and spend an extra week at sea. For Jane, the
extra money and the inconvenience were worth i t .
Her send-off had been both a happy and sad occasion. Vanne and her
Uncle Er ic came to bid Goodal l bon voyage. The Kenya Castle, on which
she had booked passage, was a large passenger liner of the famed Castle
Lin e . Goodall l iked the ship because it was one of the few that did not
separate traveler 's quarters into steerage and f irst class. Although she had
to share a small s ta teroom with f ive other young women, these ar range
ments could not dampen Jane ' s exci tement . In three shor t weeks, she
reflected as the ship set sail, she would arrive in Africa. At the age of 23,
Goodal l sensed tha t th is journey involved more than a reunion with a
former classmate. It was, rather, the turning point of her life.
Gooda l l en joyed the voyage . When the Kenya Castle made for open
sea, she stood in the bow of the great ship and looked out over the water
that stretched in endless waves toward the horizon. She even liked the
stormy weather, and ventured out on deck to feel the sea spray against
her face. She made fr iends with her cabinmates and indulged in a few
shipboard f l i r ta t ions. Years la ter , Goodal l admit ted tha t while the human
faces from that voyage had grown somewhat hazy, she sti l l remembered
clearly her moods while watching the ocean, the sky, and the sea l ife .
She a lso recognized something important was happening to her : "I th ink
it was then, sail ing along just out of sight of land, that I made an uncon
sc ious commitment to Afr ica . The days of my chi ldhood, and of my ado
lescent preoccupat ion with phi losophy and the meaning of l i fe , of t ime,
of eternity, had come to an end."
9
Goodal l thought about a l l she had
learned growing up and began to see how her upbr inging, her schooling,
her deep love for the natural world, and even the horrors of the war had
readied her to enter the most significant stage of her life. She had no idea
of what lay ahead, but felt a growing confidence that she could meet the
new challenges without fear .
On the journey to Afr ica , the
Kenya Castle
visited four ports: the
Canary Is lands, Cape Town, Durban, and Beira . At each por t of ca l l ,
Goodal l was taken by the exot ic food, the heat , the markets , and the
people. But her experience was also tempered by a cruel dose of real
i ty . While in Cape Town, Goodal l came face to face with apar theid, a
prac t ice in South Afr ica tha t imposed s tr ic t segregat ion between blacks
and whites. Everywhere she looked she saw signs that read in Dutch
"S LEGS B LANC S " ( "WHI TES ONLY") . The s igns r e minde d he r o f the
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18
J A N E G O O D A L L
treatment the Jews had received in Germany and e lsewhere in Europe
dur ing the
1930s
and the dark years of the Second World War . She never
forgot e i ther exper ience .
During the early hours of April 2, 1957, the
Kenya Castle
chugged into
the por t a t Mombasa , Kenya. For the next severa l hours , Goodal l made
he r way throu gh customs an d by no on was on a t ra in for N airob i s ta t ion, a
daylong journey from Mombasa. She was as entranced by the landscape of
East Africa as she had been by the sea. On the morning of April 3, which
also happened to be Goodall 's 23rd bir thday, she stepped off the train in
Nairobi where her f r iend, Clo Mange, Clo ' s fa ther , Roland, and another
fr iend named Tony were waiting to meet her . After gathering Goodall 's
belongings, they set out for the farm. Driving north, they soon entered
the White Highlands. Paved highways gave way to dir t roads. The t r ip
was long and uncomfortable, but at last the travelers arr ived at the small
t rading center of Naivasha and the greystones where the Mange family
farm was located. Goodall could hardly believe her eyes when she spied a
giraffe standing beside the road.
AN AFRICAN LIFE
For the next few weeks, Goodal l s tayed with the Manges on the ir
farm. She tr ied to make the most of every moment; she took in the crisp
mounta in a ir and the beaut iful c lear s t reams. She was enthra l led by the
m any different kinds of birds and was excite d to see the footprints of a gian t
leopard. For Goodall , Africa was almost a magical experience. As a young
girl, she had d ream ed of th e m om en t w he n she set foot in Africa. Now , m ore
than a decade later , she was standing on African soil .
Unfortunately, Goodall 's efforts to view African wildlife were ham
pered by polit ical chaos and bloodshed. Kenya was under British rule.
But by th e late 1940s, m any n ati ve K eny ans grew increasingly dissatisf ied
with being subjects of the British Empire and began to call for indepen
dence . Violence exploded throughout the country. On October 7 , 1952,
Chief Kungu Waruhiu, a strong supporter of the British, arr ived at the
Seventh Day Adventis t mission seven miles outs ide of Nairobi . Moments
later , bullets r iddled his car and killed him. The gunmen were Mau Mau
rebels, members of a secret society who had vowed to free Kenya from
Brit ish rule and dr ive the white man out . Already suspect of commit
t ing arson and s laughter ing ca t t le be longing to Br i t ish ranchers , the
Mau Mau's dramatic assassinat ion of Chief Waruhiu s tunned the Br i t ish
colonia l government , which, in response , declared a s ta te of emergency
in Kenya that lasted nearly eight years.
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A F R I C A C A L L S
19
The home government in England dispatched t roops to he lp quel l the
violence and mainta in order . Colonia l author i t ies de ta ined more than
100,000
Kenyans in de ten t ion cam ps and ordered t roops to h u n t dow n an d
capture members
of
the Mau Mau. Despite these efforts and precautions,
the violence continued and, in fact, accelerated. The Mau Mau engaged
in horrif ic massacres, usually among those l iving in the more remote high
land regions of central Kenya. Yet, only 32 Europeans died as the result of
these attacks. The principal targets of the Mau Mau's rage and vengeance
were the more than 2,000 Kikuyu, a native Kenyan people who were loyal
to , and who cooperated with, Brit ish authorit ies. I t took another six years
of bloodle t t ing before the Br i t ish government granted Kenyan indepen
den ce. T h e brutali ty an d horro r of these eve nts affected G oo dal l deeply, as
much, certainly, as the stories of the Holocaust. Goodall never ceased to
be amazed at the pain human beings willfully inflicted on one another.
A SHAMEFUL EXPERIENCE
During her tim e with th e Man ges, Jane decided to do som ething she swore
she would never do again: go hunting. She later asked herself why she had
agreed to go along with an activity that she clearly found shameful and
despicable. Yet, she had to admit, at least to herself, tha t he r a t t r ac t ion
to a local young man fueled her participation in the hunt. Trying vainly
to impress him, Jane asked to r ide his horse, which had a reputation for
being difficult to han dl e. T h e horse ha d already th row n a nu m be r of r iders
more skilled than Jane, and was one of those horses that choose their own
master , consenting only to be r idden by his owner. Jane persisted, and the
young man finally but reluctantly agreed.
Jane mounted the horse, which at more than six feet tall , was the big
gest horse she had ever ridden. She set off with a group of other riders for
what she thought was nothing more than a r ide through bush country.
Not until i t was too late did Goodall realize that she was on a hunt for
jackal . To her immense
relief,
the hunters had bad luck tha t day and
shot nothing. Nonetheless , Jane was ashamed, even unwit t ingly, to have
again taken par t in an ac t ivi ty tha t she had come to condemn and loa the .
Angry a t her vani ty , Goodal l never par t ic ipa ted in another hunt .
A STEP CLOSER
In the three weeks since Jane had arr ived in Kenya, she busied herself
explor ing the countryside and observing the anim als . Jane , thou gh, of ten
had men on her mind. As a young woman, she was something of a f l ir t
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20
J A N E G O O D A L L
and found no shortage of men eager to call on her. She even received, and
evidently entertained, one serious proposal of marriage. Jane also moved
in a privileged social circle. The primary focus of the group was on riding,
breeding, and racing horses, and Jane quickly established herself as a
capable r ider . But as for her romantic adventures, Jane never thought of
marrying a r ich man and becoming par t of the horsing se t in Kenya. She
enjoyed herself, but was consumed with other ambit ions.
In the fall of
1957,
after Goodall arr ived in Africa, Vanne wrote her
daughter a letter : "Sometimes now I feel you are utterly lost . That great
gorgeous pr imit ive cont inent has swallowed you
whole—you
are engulfed
in huge clouds of
heat—stolen
by a thousand a l ien
voices—utterly
remote from this t iny grey island where cold winds take the warmth from
the sun."
1 0
By now Goodall knew she wanted to stay in Africa and, in
some capaci ty , to work with and w ri te abou t anima ls . N o t wishing to tak e
further advantage of her hosts ' hospitali ty, Jane wanted to f ind a place of
her own and begin looking for a job. So it came about that she left for
Na i robi .
The capi ta l of Kenya, Nairobi is s i tua ted in the southern highlands.
N o t surprisingly, i t is th e eco no m ic and cu ltural cen ter of th e co untry,
in addition to being the hub of i ts polit ical l ife . The manufacture of tex
tiles,
c lothing, and t ranspor ta t ion equipment , a long with the processing
of food, dominated the economy of the c i ty , which a lso depended on an
extensive tourist trade.
Historically, Nairobi was part of an area once dominated by the Masai,
a nomadic people. Brit ish colonists actually established the modern city
in the la te nineteenth century as a ra i l road s top on the Mombasa-Uganda
l ine .
Betw een 1899 and 1905, N airo bi served as the B ritish pro vinc ial
capital for the region. In 1905, the city became the capital of the entire
British East Africa Protectorate. By the t ime Goodall arr ived in the late
1950s, th e city was also kn ow n as Ken ya C olo ny . A few years later, in 1 963 ,
Nairobi was sti l l the capital , but this t ime of an independent Kenya.
Thanks to her Uncle Er ic , Jane had managed to secure a job as a sec
retary for the Kenya Branch of a major British company. She found the
job to be extremely boring, but i t provided a steady paycheck, allowing
her to stay in Kenya. Her l iving quarters were modest. To keep expenses
to a minimum, she stayed in a local hostel that was cheap but comfort
able . Yet, she dreamed of finding a job that would fulfill her desire to work
with animals .
Within two months of taking up residence in Nairobi , Jane once more
enjoyed a busy social l ife that consisted of r iding, attending social events,
and going to dinner par t ies . At one of these numerous dinner par t ies , her
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