1 00:00:01,920 --> 00:00:07,160 Speaker 1: Welcome to brain Stuff production of iHeart Radio. Hey brain Stuff, 2 00:00:07,200 --> 00:00:11,080 Speaker 1: Lauren vocal Bomb here. Some people just don't quit. It's 3 00:00:11,200 --> 00:00:14,560 Speaker 1: okay to quit occasionally it's best to. But let Dr 4 00:00:14,680 --> 00:00:17,639 Speaker 1: Jane Goodall be an example to us all. Sometimes you 5 00:00:17,720 --> 00:00:20,320 Speaker 1: have a far fetched dream, and instead of dismissing it, 6 00:00:20,360 --> 00:00:23,000 Speaker 1: you do it anyway. And when you've achieved what you 7 00:00:23,000 --> 00:00:24,640 Speaker 1: set out to do, just when you're at the top 8 00:00:24,680 --> 00:00:27,120 Speaker 1: of your game, your dream might change based on what 9 00:00:27,160 --> 00:00:29,720 Speaker 1: you've learned along the way. Your new dream is bigger 10 00:00:29,760 --> 00:00:33,040 Speaker 1: and more difficult to realize, but you do it anyway, 11 00:00:33,400 --> 00:00:35,680 Speaker 1: repeat into old age and never slowing down, and you 12 00:00:35,760 --> 00:00:39,199 Speaker 1: might even get nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize. The 13 00:00:39,280 --> 00:00:41,760 Speaker 1: key to doctor Goodall's persistence seems to have a lot 14 00:00:41,800 --> 00:00:43,680 Speaker 1: to do with knowing what she liked from a very 15 00:00:43,720 --> 00:00:47,319 Speaker 1: young age and then just insisting on doing it. Her 16 00:00:47,320 --> 00:00:49,920 Speaker 1: father gave her a stuffed chimpanzee when she was a baby, 17 00:00:50,159 --> 00:00:52,320 Speaker 1: and she took it with her everywhere, even though it 18 00:00:52,400 --> 00:00:55,680 Speaker 1: was by all accounts terrifying. She grew up loving to 19 00:00:55,680 --> 00:00:58,720 Speaker 1: observe in catalog animals and dreamed of one day living 20 00:00:58,760 --> 00:01:01,280 Speaker 1: with African animals and dating books about them. For a living. 21 00:01:02,120 --> 00:01:04,800 Speaker 1: Her mother, who was a novelist herself, told Goodall that 22 00:01:04,800 --> 00:01:07,600 Speaker 1: that seemed like a perfectly reasonable idea, even though it 23 00:01:07,680 --> 00:01:09,720 Speaker 1: was the nineteen forties and not at all but middle 24 00:01:09,760 --> 00:01:14,160 Speaker 1: class English girls were expected to do. After she finished school, 25 00:01:14,360 --> 00:01:16,680 Speaker 1: Goodall couldn't afford to go to college, so she worked 26 00:01:16,680 --> 00:01:18,920 Speaker 1: odd jobs in London for a few years until a 27 00:01:18,959 --> 00:01:21,880 Speaker 1: friend invited her to visit her family's farm in Kenya, 28 00:01:22,000 --> 00:01:24,680 Speaker 1: at which point Goodall immediately quit her job and waited 29 00:01:24,720 --> 00:01:26,640 Speaker 1: tables until she made enough money to pay for the 30 00:01:26,680 --> 00:01:30,280 Speaker 1: price of boat fair to Africa. While in Kenya, her 31 00:01:30,280 --> 00:01:34,120 Speaker 1: friends suggested she contacted the paleontologist Louis Leakey, curator of 32 00:01:34,160 --> 00:01:37,960 Speaker 1: the Corindin Museum in Nairobi, to discuss primates. A Leaky 33 00:01:38,120 --> 00:01:40,640 Speaker 1: was interested in studying primate behavior in order to better 34 00:01:40,720 --> 00:01:45,160 Speaker 1: understand early human species. Leaky hired Goodall as his field 35 00:01:45,160 --> 00:01:48,320 Speaker 1: assistant on a paleontological dig and later asked her to 36 00:01:48,320 --> 00:01:50,920 Speaker 1: return to England to research primates and raise money for 37 00:01:50,960 --> 00:01:54,040 Speaker 1: a long term observational study on wild chimpanzees at the 38 00:01:54,040 --> 00:01:57,640 Speaker 1: gum Bay Stream at National Park in Tanzania. In July 39 00:01:57,680 --> 00:02:00,360 Speaker 1: of nineteen sixty six, year old Jane good All began 40 00:02:00,400 --> 00:02:03,200 Speaker 1: setting up her field station at Gombe, which would become 41 00:02:03,200 --> 00:02:07,000 Speaker 1: the site of the longest running wildlife research project in history. 42 00:02:07,200 --> 00:02:09,639 Speaker 1: British authorities initially balked at the idea of a young 43 00:02:09,680 --> 00:02:12,519 Speaker 1: woman doing this kind of work on chaperone, so Goodall's 44 00:02:12,560 --> 00:02:15,840 Speaker 1: mother Van accompanied her for the first few months. Goodall 45 00:02:15,880 --> 00:02:18,840 Speaker 1: observed the chimpanzees daily for two years before she earned 46 00:02:18,880 --> 00:02:21,760 Speaker 1: their trust. Her method was just to watch the animals 47 00:02:21,760 --> 00:02:24,600 Speaker 1: and imitate their actions, recording everything that happened in a 48 00:02:24,639 --> 00:02:29,080 Speaker 1: field journal. Two of Goodall's most important discoveries during this 49 00:02:29,120 --> 00:02:31,480 Speaker 1: period had to do with what chimps ate and how 50 00:02:31,520 --> 00:02:34,160 Speaker 1: they went about getting food. Goodall was the first to 51 00:02:34,280 --> 00:02:37,760 Speaker 1: observe chimpanzees killing and eating the meat of small mammals. 52 00:02:37,800 --> 00:02:40,239 Speaker 1: Prior to this, they were thought to be vegetarian, and 53 00:02:40,320 --> 00:02:43,240 Speaker 1: perhaps her biggest contribution to our understanding of primates was 54 00:02:43,280 --> 00:02:46,480 Speaker 1: the revelation that chimps used collected and modified grass stems 55 00:02:46,520 --> 00:02:49,880 Speaker 1: and sticks as tools to fish termites out of their nests. 56 00:02:50,960 --> 00:02:54,560 Speaker 1: Goodall's discoveries were so significant Leaky said, now we must 57 00:02:54,639 --> 00:02:58,600 Speaker 1: redefine tool, redefine man, and he arranged for her to 58 00:02:58,600 --> 00:03:01,240 Speaker 1: write a dissertation at Cambridge University on the behaviors of 59 00:03:01,240 --> 00:03:04,480 Speaker 1: wild chimpanzees. It was accepted, and she became one of 60 00:03:04,560 --> 00:03:07,160 Speaker 1: only eight people ever to graduate from Cambridge with her 61 00:03:07,200 --> 00:03:11,919 Speaker 1: PhD without first earning her undergraduate degree. In nineteen sixty four, 62 00:03:12,080 --> 00:03:15,440 Speaker 1: Goodall married hu Van Lawick, a Dutch wildlife photographer who 63 00:03:15,520 --> 00:03:18,240 Speaker 1: Leaky sent to record her activity in the field. They 64 00:03:18,240 --> 00:03:20,440 Speaker 1: had a son in nineteen sixty seven, who spent his 65 00:03:20,520 --> 00:03:23,720 Speaker 1: early life with his parents at Gombay. After Goodall in 66 00:03:23,800 --> 00:03:27,079 Speaker 1: Lawick divorced in nineteen seventy four, Goodall married Derek Bryson 67 00:03:27,120 --> 00:03:30,239 Speaker 1: in nineteen seventy five, who was the director of Tanzania's 68 00:03:30,280 --> 00:03:33,840 Speaker 1: National Parks. During this time, Goodall published books about her 69 00:03:33,880 --> 00:03:37,320 Speaker 1: experiences in research at Goombay, including In the Shadow of Man, 70 00:03:37,600 --> 00:03:40,360 Speaker 1: which was criticized by scientists because of Goodall's habit of 71 00:03:40,440 --> 00:03:42,960 Speaker 1: naming the subjects of her research. She called her most 72 00:03:42,960 --> 00:03:46,200 Speaker 1: famous studies subject David Graybeard, but the book was wildly 73 00:03:46,240 --> 00:03:49,240 Speaker 1: popular and has since been translated into forty eight languages. 74 00:03:49,800 --> 00:03:51,920 Speaker 1: As she lived and worked in Gombay, she began to 75 00:03:51,960 --> 00:03:56,400 Speaker 1: notice changes to the chimpanzees habitat deforestation and mining practices 76 00:03:56,560 --> 00:03:59,120 Speaker 1: forced the animals out of their homes and into smaller 77 00:03:59,120 --> 00:04:03,960 Speaker 1: and smaller areas. More than one million wild chimpanzees lived 78 00:04:04,000 --> 00:04:06,560 Speaker 1: in Africa a hundred years ago, but today only a 79 00:04:06,560 --> 00:04:09,880 Speaker 1: fifth of that population exists. Goodall saw the writing on 80 00:04:09,920 --> 00:04:12,560 Speaker 1: the wall, which is why in the nineteen eighties, good 81 00:04:12,560 --> 00:04:15,280 Speaker 1: All changed her focus from observing chimps to working to 82 00:04:15,320 --> 00:04:18,640 Speaker 1: protect their habitat. She founded the Jane Goodall Institute in 83 00:04:18,720 --> 00:04:21,880 Speaker 1: nineteen seventy seven, which works to keep human communities and 84 00:04:21,960 --> 00:04:27,040 Speaker 1: wild chimpanzee populations in Africa healthy and coexisting peacefully. Roots 85 00:04:27,040 --> 00:04:30,200 Speaker 1: and shoots as a program to empower young people worldwide 86 00:04:30,400 --> 00:04:33,400 Speaker 1: to make a difference in their local communities. Now, at 87 00:04:33,440 --> 00:04:36,200 Speaker 1: the age of eighty five, Goodall spends about three hundred 88 00:04:36,279 --> 00:04:40,440 Speaker 1: days a year traveling and speaking about Africa, chimpanzees, the environment, 89 00:04:40,600 --> 00:04:45,080 Speaker 1: and her other passions. Although good All sees the hideous 90 00:04:45,080 --> 00:04:47,240 Speaker 1: parts of what humans are doing to our planet, she 91 00:04:47,279 --> 00:04:50,039 Speaker 1: continues to be hopeful about our future. She wrote in 92 00:04:50,040 --> 00:04:53,839 Speaker 1: a New York Times op ed in quote, the lust 93 00:04:53,880 --> 00:04:56,839 Speaker 1: for greed and power has destroyed the beauty we inherited, 94 00:04:57,080 --> 00:05:01,159 Speaker 1: but altruism, compassion, and love have not been destroyed. All 95 00:05:01,200 --> 00:05:04,080 Speaker 1: that is beautiful in humanity has not been destroyed. The 96 00:05:04,120 --> 00:05:06,880 Speaker 1: beauty of our planet is not dead, but lying dormant, 97 00:05:07,080 --> 00:05:09,400 Speaker 1: like the seeds of a dead tree. We shall have 98 00:05:09,440 --> 00:05:13,440 Speaker 1: another chance. In twenty nineteen, Goodall was nominated for the 99 00:05:13,480 --> 00:05:16,360 Speaker 1: Nobel Peace Prize. She was also included on the twenty 100 00:05:16,440 --> 00:05:18,920 Speaker 1: nineteen Time one hundred list of the one hundred most 101 00:05:18,920 --> 00:05:22,480 Speaker 1: influential people in the world. We spoke via email with 102 00:05:22,520 --> 00:05:25,120 Speaker 1: the author of the petition to nominate Goodall for the prize, 103 00:05:25,279 --> 00:05:29,159 Speaker 1: one Myron Shekel, a research associate at Western Washington University's 104 00:05:29,160 --> 00:05:33,080 Speaker 1: Department of Anthropology. They said, I believe there's no better 105 00:05:33,160 --> 00:05:36,680 Speaker 1: choice to receive the next Nobel Peace Prize. Civilization is 106 00:05:36,720 --> 00:05:40,520 Speaker 1: today facing perhaps its grace challenge ever, the twin apocalyptic 107 00:05:40,560 --> 00:05:44,840 Speaker 1: threats of global climate change and biodiversity loss. Both are 108 00:05:44,839 --> 00:05:47,559 Speaker 1: caused by humans, and both are linked in that both 109 00:05:47,600 --> 00:05:50,920 Speaker 1: stem from human misuse of the environment. No one has 110 00:05:50,960 --> 00:05:53,320 Speaker 1: ever done more or better work than Jane Goodall to 111 00:05:53,360 --> 00:05:56,960 Speaker 1: bring peace between humans and their environment and thereby create 112 00:05:57,000 --> 00:05:59,279 Speaker 1: the conditions under which humans can be at peace with 113 00:05:59,279 --> 00:06:03,000 Speaker 1: each other. Jane Goodall is the global face for Global Peace. 114 00:06:08,320 --> 00:06:10,919 Speaker 1: Today's episode was written by Jesselyn Shields and produced by 115 00:06:10,960 --> 00:06:13,560 Speaker 1: Tyler Clang. Brain Stuff is a production of I Heart 116 00:06:13,600 --> 00:06:15,960 Speaker 1: Radio's How Stuff Works. For more on this and lots 117 00:06:16,000 --> 00:06:18,800 Speaker 1: of other topics that aren't monkeying around get it because 118 00:06:18,920 --> 00:06:21,920 Speaker 1: chimp serve apes, not monkeys, visit our home planet, how 119 00:06:21,960 --> 00:06:24,640 Speaker 1: stuff works dot com. And for more podcasts for my 120 00:06:24,680 --> 00:06:27,520 Speaker 1: heart Radio, visit the I heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, 121 00:06:27,600 --> 00:06:29,240 Speaker 1: or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.