Jane Morris Goodall

Jane Morris Goodall is a famous primatologist. She studied chimpanzees’ for 55 years.  Goodall was born in London in 1934. Her father was a businessman, and her mother was a writer.  

Goodall went to Africa for the first time in 1957 and started her research in Tanzania in 1960 with Louis Leaky, a well-known archaeologist. In 1962 Leaky sent Goodall to Cambridge University, where Goodall finished her PhD studies in three years. Her research was about the behaviour of chimpanzees. 

During her stay in Africa, Goodall had lots of problems. The research was slow and she sometimes got ill, but she learned a lot about chimpanzees and their lives. She learned that chimpanzees don’t just eat plants. They eat insects and hunt smaller animals for food. She also learned that chimpanzees make tools to help them catch lots of insects.

In 1977, Goodall started the Jane Goodall Institute to support her research in Africa and protect chimpanzees and where they live. Today Goodall travels about 300 days a year and speaks at universities and events to support chimpanzees and to help the environment.