Jane has loved animals ever since she was as a child. When she was one year old, her father gave her a toy chimpanzee. At the age of just five, Jane would hide for hours in a henhouse to discover where the eggs come from, unaware her family was frantically searching for her. Upon her return to the house, Jane's mother would see how excited she was, and rather than scolding her, listened as Jane told her stories. Jane dreamt of living in Africa to watch and write about animals. Although this was an unusual goal for a girl at the time, Jane's mother always encouraged her.
Jane couldn’t afford to go to University, so she worked as a secretary and at a London filmmaking company. In 1956, Jane's friend invited Jane to her family's farm in Kenya. Jane quit her London job, moved back home, and worked as a waitress to save enough money for the trip. In 1957, at the age of 23, Jane traveled to Kenya by boat. The most important event of her visit was meeting famous anthropologist and palaeontologist Dr Louis S B Leakey.
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Jane managed to impress Leakey with her knowledge of Africa and its wildlife to the extent that he hired her as his assistant. She traveled with Leakey and his wife, archaeologist Mary Leakey, to Tanzania on a fossil-hunting expedition.
Jane reminisces about her time there: "I could have learned a whole lot more about fossils and become a palaeontologist. But my childhood dream was as strong as ever–somehow I must find a way to watch free, wild animals living their own, undisturbed lives–I wanted to learn things that no one else knew, uncover secrets through patient observation. I wanted to come as close to talking to animals as I could."
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In 1960, Leakey and Jane began a study of wild chimpanzees in Gombe Stream Chimpanzee Reserve in Tanzania. There, she made one of her most important discoveries: she observed that chimpanzees could make tools to extract termites from their mounds. Until that time, only humans were thought to create tools. On hearing of Jane's observation, Leakey famously says: "Now we must redefine tool, redefine Man, or accept chimpanzees as humans."
Jane's work in Gombe became widely known, and in 1962 she was accepted at Cambridge University as a PhD candidate, one of very few people to be admitted without a university degree. Some scholars and scientists gave Jane a cold reception and criticized her for giving the chimpanzees names. "It would have been more scientific to give them numbers", they say.
Jane had to defend an idea that might now seem obvious: that chimpanzees have emotions, minds and personalities.
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National Geographic decided to sponsor Jane's work and sent photographer and filmmaker Hugo van Lawick to document her life in Gombe. In 1963, Jane published her first article in National Geographic, "My Life Among Wild Chimpanzees." She later earned her PhD in ethology (the study of animal behaviour) in 1965.
In 1977, Jane founded the Jane Goodall Institute for Wildlife Research, Education and Conservation. In 1984, she began groundwork for ChimpanZoo, an international research program of the Jane Goodall Institute dedicated to the study of captive chimpanzees and to the improvement of their lives through research, education and enrichment.
In 1991, Jane and 16 Tanzanian students founded Jane Goodall's Roots & Shoots, JGI's global environmental and humanitarian education program for young people.
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In 2002, Jane is appointed by the UN to serve as a United Nations Messenger of Peace. She is made a Dame of the British Empire (the equivalent of a knighthood) in 2004, and received the UNESCO Gold Medal Award in 2006.
Today, Jane continues her work by speaking in venues around the world about the threats facing chimpanzees, other environmental crises, and her reasons for hope that we will ultimately solve the problems that we have imposed on the earth.
Jane continually urges her audiences to recognize their personal power and responsibility to effect positive change through consumer action, lifestyle change and activism: “Every individual counts,” she says. “Every individual has a role to play. Every individual makes a difference.”
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Wounda’s Journey:
Jane Goodall releases chimpanzee
into the wild
This video documents the release of Wounda, one of the 160 rescued chimpanzees living at the Jane Goodall Institute's Tchimpounga Chimpanzee Rehabilitation Center in the Republic of Congo.
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Dr. Jane Goodall discovered that when we put local communities at the heart of conservation, we improve the lives of people, animals and the environment. The Jane Goodall Institute advances Dr. Goodall’s holistic approach through strategies that bring the power of community-centered conservation to life.
When you support the Jane Goodall Institute, you make real change happen for people, animals and nature. Now is the time to take a stand for what we love. We can bring about tangible successes that give all of us reason to hope for a better world.
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Here, you will find simple earth-based and nature-oriented practices, prompts and rituals inspired by Jane Goodall, that will help you connect with animals and nature.
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In Listening to Nature, Joseph Cornell writes: “While you're outdoors, observe an animal closely. Follow them as they move. See how nature has expressed itself uniquely in this animal. Become quiet within your mind so that you can become sensitively aware of the animal's essence. Mentally affirm your appreciative thoughts to the animal. Listen.” Be ready to receive what an animal you meet in the wild offers you. Observe, listen, and take in the special energy of this being. When the animal leaves, send along a blessing.
Spiritual practice by Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat in Summertime and Living Takes Practice
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“Lokah Samastah Sukhino Bhavantu” is a Compassion or Loving-Kindness Mantra which translates to: “May all beings everywhere be happy and free, and may the thoughts, words, and actions of my own life contribute in some way to that happiness and to that freedom for all.” This mantra promotes compassion and living in harmony with all sentient beings.
Speaking or chanting this mantra is a prayer each one of us can practice every day. It reminds us that our relationships with all beings should be mutually beneficial if we ourselves desire happiness and liberation from suffering. No true or lasting happiness can come from causing unhappiness to others. No true or lasting freedom can come from depriving others of their freedom. If we say we want every being to be happy and free, then we have to question our own actions—how we live, how we eat, what we buy, how we speak, and even how we think. When we chant, speak or even think the words lokah samastah sukhino bhavantu, if we include all the other animals with whom we share this planet in our concept of “all beings,” including the animals we use for food, we can start to create the kind of world we want to live in—a kind world.
Source: Jivamukti Yoga
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Look up and explore the artwork of Susan Seddon Boulet, whose shamanic paintings feature the intertwined figures of humans and animals. Consider how her art tells the story of interspecies unity.
Reflect on the concept of “interbeing” (a word coined by Zen monk Thich Nhat Hanh)—a core concept within Spiritual Ecology, Indigenous wisdom, animism and Engaged Buddhism—which refers to the interconnectedness and interdependence of all of creation, the deep knowing that we are an integral part of the web of life, that we are one of the many beings in constant relationship with life’s wholeness. Reflect on the symbiotic relationship, mutuality and reciprocity that exists between humans, animals and nature.
Consider how we might use art and storytelling to de-center human narratives, and tell diverse and rich stories of other beings and the intricate relationships between humans and the more-than-human world.
Check out the book Susan Seddon Boulet: A Retrospective, and Interbeing: Fourteen Guidelines for Engaged Buddhism
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Learn more about Jane Goodall and her approach to environmental conservation and animal welfare, through these books, films and classes.
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✎ Book
‘Seeds of Hope: Wisdom and Wonder from the World of Plants’
by Jane Goodall, Gail Hudson & Michael Pollan -
✎ Book
‘In the Shadow of Man’
by Jane Goodall -
✎ Book
‘The Book of Hope: A Survival Guide for Trying Times’
by Jane Goodall & Douglas Abrams -
☆ Ted Talk
‘What separates us from chimpanzees?’
by Jane Goodall -
❈ Film
‘Jane Goodall: My Life with Chimpanzees’
by National Geographic -
☆ Masterclass
Dr. Jane Goodall teaches conservation
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✎ Book
‘Harvest for Hope: A Guide to Mindful Eating’
by Jane Goodall ,Gary McAvoy & Gail Hudson -
❈ Film
‘Jane’
by Brett Morgen -
✎ Book
‘Hope for Animals and Their World: How Endangered Species Are Being Rescued from the Brink’
by Jane Goodall, Thane Maynard & Gail Hudson -
✎ Book
‘Reason for Hope: A Spiritual Journey’
by Jane Goodall & Phillip Berman -
✎ Book
‘Through a Window: My Thirty Years with the Chimpanzees of Gombe’
by Jane Goodall -
✎ Book
‘The Ten Trusts: What We Must Do to Care for The Animals We Love’
by Jane Goodall & Marc Bekoff -
✎ Book
‘The Inner Life of Animals: Love, Grief, and Compassion―Surprising Observations of a Hidden World’
by Peter Wohlleben -
✎ Book
‘The Secret Wisdom of Nature: Trees, Animals, and the Extraordinary Balance of All Living Things’
by Peter Wohlleben -
✎ Book
‘My Life with the Chimpanzees’
by Jane Goodall -
❈ Film
‘Jane Goodall: The Hope’
by National Geographic