1 00:00:01,840 --> 00:00:07,640 Speaker 1: Welcome to Brainstuff, a production of iHeartRadio. Hey brain Stuff 2 00:00:07,680 --> 00:00:12,800 Speaker 1: Lauren Vogelbaum Here. But despite how it may feel, sometimes 3 00:00:12,920 --> 00:00:17,280 Speaker 1: there are a lot of kind, curious and scientifically savvy 4 00:00:17,320 --> 00:00:20,840 Speaker 1: people out there in the world working for good Today, 5 00:00:20,920 --> 00:00:24,120 Speaker 1: we wanted to profile one of them, a doctor Jane Goodall, 6 00:00:24,480 --> 00:00:29,360 Speaker 1: whose persistence pushed her through red tape, discrimination, baseless critics, 7 00:00:29,600 --> 00:00:32,520 Speaker 1: and even the results of her own research, causing her 8 00:00:32,560 --> 00:00:37,919 Speaker 1: to totally reshape her goals. A key to Jane Goodall's 9 00:00:37,920 --> 00:00:40,720 Speaker 1: persistence seems to have a lot to do with knowing 10 00:00:40,720 --> 00:00:43,279 Speaker 1: what she liked from a very young age and then 11 00:00:43,640 --> 00:00:47,960 Speaker 1: just insisting on doing it. She was born in London 12 00:00:47,960 --> 00:00:51,159 Speaker 1: in nineteen thirty four. Her father gave her a stuffed 13 00:00:51,240 --> 00:00:53,680 Speaker 1: chimpanzee when she was a baby, and she took it 14 00:00:53,720 --> 00:00:56,760 Speaker 1: with her everywhere, even though it was by all accounts 15 00:00:57,000 --> 00:01:01,440 Speaker 1: terrifying looking. She grew up love to observe in catalog 16 00:01:01,520 --> 00:01:04,760 Speaker 1: animals and dreamed of one day living with African animals 17 00:01:04,760 --> 00:01:08,039 Speaker 1: and writing books about them for a living. Her mother, 18 00:01:08,160 --> 00:01:10,840 Speaker 1: who was a novelist herself, told Goodall that seemed like 19 00:01:10,880 --> 00:01:14,400 Speaker 1: a perfectly reasonable idea, even though it was the nineteen 20 00:01:14,440 --> 00:01:17,800 Speaker 1: forties and not at all what middle class English girls 21 00:01:17,840 --> 00:01:22,520 Speaker 1: were expected to do. After she finished school, Goodall couldn't 22 00:01:22,560 --> 00:01:25,400 Speaker 1: afford to go to college, so she worked odd jobs 23 00:01:25,400 --> 00:01:28,560 Speaker 1: in London for a few years until a friend invited 24 00:01:28,560 --> 00:01:32,240 Speaker 1: her to visit her family's farm in Kenya, at which 25 00:01:32,280 --> 00:01:35,720 Speaker 1: point Goodall put everything else on hold and waited tables 26 00:01:35,800 --> 00:01:37,800 Speaker 1: until she made enough money to pay for the price 27 00:01:37,840 --> 00:01:41,920 Speaker 1: of the boat fare to Africa. A while in Kenya, 28 00:01:42,040 --> 00:01:45,600 Speaker 1: her friend suggested that she contact the paleontologist Lewis Leaky, 29 00:01:45,920 --> 00:01:49,160 Speaker 1: the curator of what's now the National Museum of Kenya, 30 00:01:49,240 --> 00:01:53,160 Speaker 1: in order to discuss primates. Leaki was interested in studying 31 00:01:53,200 --> 00:01:57,600 Speaker 1: primate behavior in order to better understand early human species. 32 00:01:58,680 --> 00:02:01,160 Speaker 1: He wound up hiring Goodall as his field assistant on 33 00:02:01,240 --> 00:02:04,160 Speaker 1: a dig, and later asked her to return to England 34 00:02:04,240 --> 00:02:07,120 Speaker 1: to research primates and raise money for a long term 35 00:02:07,200 --> 00:02:11,200 Speaker 1: observational study on wild chimpanzees at the Gombe Stream National 36 00:02:11,240 --> 00:02:17,040 Speaker 1: Park in Tanzania. So in July nineteen sixty, twenty six 37 00:02:17,120 --> 00:02:20,200 Speaker 1: year old Jane began setting up her field station at Gambay, 38 00:02:20,560 --> 00:02:23,400 Speaker 1: which would become the site of the longest running wildlife 39 00:02:23,440 --> 00:02:28,120 Speaker 1: research project in history. British authorities initially bulked at the 40 00:02:28,120 --> 00:02:30,359 Speaker 1: idea of a young woman doing this kind of work 41 00:02:30,360 --> 00:02:33,760 Speaker 1: on chaperone, so Goodall's mother accompanied her for the first 42 00:02:33,760 --> 00:02:38,440 Speaker 1: few months. Goodall observed the chimpanzees daily for two years 43 00:02:38,480 --> 00:02:42,280 Speaker 1: before she earned their trust. Her method was to just 44 00:02:42,480 --> 00:02:46,000 Speaker 1: watch the animals and imitate their actions, recording everything that 45 00:02:46,040 --> 00:02:50,440 Speaker 1: happened in a field journal. Two of Goodall's most important 46 00:02:50,440 --> 00:02:53,160 Speaker 1: discoveries during this period had to do with what chimps 47 00:02:53,200 --> 00:02:56,760 Speaker 1: eight and how they went about getting food. The Goodall 48 00:02:56,880 --> 00:03:00,680 Speaker 1: was the first to observe chimpanzees killing and eating's small mammals. 49 00:03:01,040 --> 00:03:04,120 Speaker 1: Prior to this, they were thought to be vegetarian. She 50 00:03:04,360 --> 00:03:08,320 Speaker 1: also made the revolutionary observation that chimps collected and then 51 00:03:08,400 --> 00:03:12,399 Speaker 1: modified grass stems and sticks as tools to fish termites 52 00:03:12,400 --> 00:03:15,200 Speaker 1: out of their nests. It was the first time a 53 00:03:15,240 --> 00:03:18,720 Speaker 1: non human animal had been observed making and using tools, 54 00:03:19,120 --> 00:03:22,080 Speaker 1: and it prompted science to reconsider what it means to 55 00:03:22,080 --> 00:03:25,880 Speaker 1: be human in the first place. Goodall's discoveries were so 56 00:03:25,919 --> 00:03:28,720 Speaker 1: significant that Leaky arranged for her to write a dissertation 57 00:03:28,760 --> 00:03:32,800 Speaker 1: at Cambridge University on the behaviors of wild chimpanzees. It 58 00:03:32,880 --> 00:03:35,680 Speaker 1: was accepted and she became one of only eight people 59 00:03:35,720 --> 00:03:39,040 Speaker 1: ever to graduate from Cambridge with her PhD without first 60 00:03:39,040 --> 00:03:44,360 Speaker 1: earning an undergraduate degree. In nineteen sixty four, Goodall married 61 00:03:44,360 --> 00:03:47,400 Speaker 1: a Dutch wildlife photographer by the name of Hugo Van Lavic. 62 00:03:48,200 --> 00:03:52,360 Speaker 1: Their son, Hugo Eric Lewis, affectionately nicknamed Grubb, was born 63 00:03:52,400 --> 00:03:55,240 Speaker 1: in nineteen sixty seven and spent his early life with 64 00:03:55,280 --> 00:03:59,680 Speaker 1: his parents at Gombay. After Goodall and Lavik divorced in 65 00:03:59,760 --> 00:04:03,240 Speaker 1: nineteen seventy four, she married a member of Tanzania's parliament, 66 00:04:03,400 --> 00:04:08,040 Speaker 1: Derek Bryson, in nineteen seventy five. During this time, Goodall 67 00:04:08,080 --> 00:04:11,840 Speaker 1: published books about her experiences and research at Gambay, including 68 00:04:12,080 --> 00:04:15,680 Speaker 1: In the Shadow of Man, which was criticized by scientists 69 00:04:15,680 --> 00:04:18,240 Speaker 1: because of Goodell's practice of naming the subjects of her 70 00:04:18,279 --> 00:04:21,480 Speaker 1: research instead of referring to them by number, which was 71 00:04:21,839 --> 00:04:25,240 Speaker 1: and mostly still is the scientific norm. In an effort 72 00:04:25,279 --> 00:04:30,240 Speaker 1: to avoid anthropomorphizing one's animal subjects, she called her most 73 00:04:30,279 --> 00:04:35,120 Speaker 1: famous study subject David Graybeard, but the book was wildly 74 00:04:35,160 --> 00:04:38,520 Speaker 1: popular and has since been translated into at least forty 75 00:04:38,560 --> 00:04:42,400 Speaker 1: eight languages. As she lived and worked in Gombay, she 76 00:04:42,480 --> 00:04:46,680 Speaker 1: began to notice changes to the chimpanzee's habitat. Deforestation and 77 00:04:46,760 --> 00:04:49,600 Speaker 1: mining practices forced the animals out of their homes and 78 00:04:49,839 --> 00:04:54,320 Speaker 1: into smaller and smaller areas. More than a million wild 79 00:04:54,360 --> 00:04:58,320 Speaker 1: chimpanzees lived in Africa one hundred years ago, but today 80 00:04:58,560 --> 00:05:02,400 Speaker 1: only a fifth of that population exists. Goodall saw the 81 00:05:02,480 --> 00:05:05,040 Speaker 1: riding on the wall, which is why in the nineteen 82 00:05:05,080 --> 00:05:08,960 Speaker 1: eighties she changed her focus from observing chimps to working 83 00:05:09,000 --> 00:05:13,440 Speaker 1: to protect their habitat. She founded the Jane Goodall Institute 84 00:05:13,480 --> 00:05:17,080 Speaker 1: in nineteen seventy seven, which works to keep human communities 85 00:05:17,200 --> 00:05:22,400 Speaker 1: and wild chimpanzee populations in Africa both healthy and coexisting peacefully. 86 00:05:23,520 --> 00:05:26,880 Speaker 1: Another program of Hers Roots and Shoots helps empower young 87 00:05:26,920 --> 00:05:30,280 Speaker 1: people worldwide to make a difference in their local communities. 88 00:05:32,040 --> 00:05:34,839 Speaker 1: Having just turned ninety years old in twenty twenty four, 89 00:05:35,200 --> 00:05:38,800 Speaker 1: Goodall still spends about three hundred days a year traveling 90 00:05:38,880 --> 00:05:43,640 Speaker 1: and speaking about Africa, chimpanzees, the environment, reducing poverty, and 91 00:05:43,760 --> 00:05:47,320 Speaker 1: her other passions. In twenty nineteen, she was nominated for 92 00:05:47,360 --> 00:05:52,400 Speaker 1: the Nobel Peace Prize. Although Goodall sees with open eyes 93 00:05:52,520 --> 00:05:54,760 Speaker 1: the harm that we humans are doing to our planet, 94 00:05:55,040 --> 00:05:58,840 Speaker 1: she continues to be hopeful about our future, she told 95 00:05:58,839 --> 00:06:02,800 Speaker 1: The New York Times in seventeen quote, the lust for 96 00:06:02,880 --> 00:06:07,800 Speaker 1: greed and power has destroyed the beauty we inherited. But altruism, compassion, 97 00:06:07,920 --> 00:06:11,640 Speaker 1: and love have not been destroyed. All that is beautiful 98 00:06:11,640 --> 00:06:15,200 Speaker 1: in humanity has not been destroyed. The beauty of our 99 00:06:15,240 --> 00:06:18,679 Speaker 1: planet is not dead, but lying dormant, like the seeds 100 00:06:18,680 --> 00:06:26,880 Speaker 1: of a dead tree. We shall have another chance. Today's 101 00:06:26,880 --> 00:06:29,600 Speaker 1: episode is based on the article Jane Goodall, a Global 102 00:06:29,600 --> 00:06:33,440 Speaker 1: Face for Globalpeace on HowStuffWorks dot Com, written by Jesslynshields. 103 00:06:33,920 --> 00:06:36,200 Speaker 1: Brain Stuff is production by Heart Radio in partnership with 104 00:06:36,200 --> 00:06:38,599 Speaker 1: how Stuffworks dot Com and is produced by Tyler Klang. 105 00:06:39,120 --> 00:06:42,200 Speaker 1: Four more podcasts my heart Radio, visit the iHeartRadio app, 106 00:06:42,279 --> 00:06:54,880 Speaker 1: Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.