15 Questions with Jane Goodall
The world-renowned conservationist and iconic friend of the chimpanzees talks about her past in the field and her future spreading the message of coexistence with our planet.
1. Fifteen Minutes: You traveled to Lake Tanganyika at age 26 without any formal training or university degree. How did you come to work under anthropologist and paleontologist Dr. Louis Leakey?
Jane Goodall: I had gone out to Kenya to stay with a school friend. I had to then get a job, because you don’t sponge on your friends, and I had heard about Louis Leakey. So I went to see him at the museum. I told him I was interested in animals and that ended up with him offering me a job as his secretary. And that’s how it began. Pretty amazing.
2. FM: Is there a single moment or event from your time at Lake Tanganyika that most stands out in your mind?
JG: I would say that there were three special moments. One was the first time that a group of chimpanzees let me close and didn’t run away, because they had been running away for weeks and weeks and weeks and I knew that if the money ran out, that would be it. And then after that, about a year later, Flow had her infant Flint and just after he was able to walk she actually allowed him to come up and reach out and touch my nose. And the third one was about that same time. I was following David Greybeard, who was the first to lose his fear of humans, and I thought I had lost him. I was going through a thick tangle and I found him sitting, waiting—at least it seemed he was waiting. I picked up a palm nut lying on the ground, which they love, and held it out to him and he didn’t want it. He turned his head away, I put my hand closer, he took the nut, dropped it, and then very gently squeezed my hand—which is how chimps reassure each other. So that was a perfect communication using a form of communication that clearly predates words.
3. FM: How long did the process of giving and learning names take?
JG: As soon as I got to recognize them as individuals, I gave them names. There were some in the very early days that I named and then wasn’t quite sure about, so some of the very early names kind of disappeared. But basically, once I was sure, I gave them a name.
4. FM: Gombe, the primary site of your research in Africa, has been the source of over 200 scientific papers, 35 Ph.D. dissertations, more than 30 books, and has contributed even more to general popular knowledge. What do you consider to be your work’s greatest contribution?
JG: Overall, basically that the chimps have shown that there is no sharp line dividing us from the rest of the animal kingdom, that we’re part of the animal kingdom. That’s because there are so many biological similarities and behavioral similarities. Then if we want a more specific contribution, I hope that my work will eventually show the tremendous importance of early experience—the difference between good mothering and bad mothering in chimp society. The offspring of the mothers who are less protective, less supportive, less affectionate, less playful—they tend to be tense and nervous in their interactions with others and they’re not as successful.
5. FM: What do you believe to be the strongest evidence for the idea of the dividing line between humans and animals “getting blurrier”?
JG: In my mind it’s the biological similarities, tying into and leading into, for example, the emotional similarities. And also the behavioral similarities—for example, the strong family bonds.
6. FM: So what are the greatest similarities that you observe between humans and chimpanzees?
JG: The non-verbal communication, kissing, embracing, holding hands, patting on the back, swaggering, throwing rocks, using tools, making tools, nurturing infants; showing real altruism by rescuing infants, adopting them, caring for them. And then on the reverse side you get this brutal behavior and a kind of primitive inclination to war as well.
7. FM: Do we have anything to learn from them?
JG: That’s where you come back to the tremendous importance of early experience, which human child psychiatrists and psychologists are now talking about all the time. And interestingly, it was the early child psychologists who were far more interested in what I brought back from Gombe than any of the ethologists, because of the mother-infant relationship that I had found.
8. FM: What impact has your observation and research had on your interactions with other human beings?
JG: I don’t really think it has had any. I think that my own interactions with humans were probably determined by my amazing mother and my wonderful family. Perhaps my years with the chimpanzees made me observe humans in a different way, but not really interact with them in a different way.
9. FM: Why do you begin many of your talks speaking in “chimpanzee”?
JG: Because I like to bring the voice of an animal into a space. I have been to so many conferences which are all about animal welfare or animal rights or something like that and people are bickering about who does what and it’s a squabble for money and sometimes the animals become pawns and almost forgotten. So I like to bring that voice right into the space to help us understand that we’re not alone on this planet.
10. FM: Your work has turned to conservation—what do you believe is our place in the natural world?
JG: We are part of and not separate from the animal kingdom. We have to learn to live in greater harmony with the natural world because we are in the process of creating so much destruction that the point will come when mother nature can’t restore herself.
11. FM: What message were you trying to pass on to the Harvard community during the discussion in Sanders?
JG: I think basically that we can’t live through a day without making an impact, that we should spend a bit of time thinking about the consequences of the choices we make each day and realize that if they’re multiplied a billion times you start to see the kind of change that we must have if we care about the world for our future. There’s no point in me trying to kill myself to try to save chimps or forests, or for anybody trying to save anything, if the same old business as usual continues. It’s got to change.
12.
FM: Here at Harvard there is a growing movement to become more “green” and move towards more sustainable development. What do you think is the best thing that students can do in terms of environmental conservation?
JG: You really have to start with yourself and then whether or not you reach out to others really depends on whether or not you’re the right person to do it. Some people are really good at arguing, and that doesn’t really change peoples opinions. But if you can get into their hearts, that’s what’s so important. Make people think about this question: if we’re the most intellectual animals that have ever walked on this planet, which we are, why are we destroying our only home? I think we’ve lost wisdom, the kind of wisdom where people say, “How will this decision affect people generations ahead?” Now we make decisions based on, “How will it help me now or in next year’s shareholders meeting or next year’s political campaign?”
13. FM: And are you hopeful for the future?
JG: I’m hopeful for the future because our Roots & Shoots program is now in 120 countries. So everywhere I go there are all these energetic, enthusiastic and inspired young people showing me, telling me what they’ve done, what they’re going to do to make the world better for people, for animals, for the environment.
14. FM: 2010 is the 50th anniversary of the Jane Goodall Institute. What do you think the next 50 years will bring?
JG: Hopefully, we’re going to build an endowment and this endowment will enable us to absolutely ensure the future of the Gombe research. It will provide security for our sanctuaries for orphaned chimpanzees whose mothers have been shot for bush meat. And it will allow the Roots & Shoots program to get a firmer foundation.
15. FM: And what’s next for you?
JG: That’s in the hands of the good Lord, but—provided I maintain my health and my energy—I will continue to try to reach into some of these places where we haven’t yet reached. Fortunately there are all these amazing, talented, and inspired young people. Hopefully, I can start something and it will grow from that little seed.