Meg Greene - Jane Goodall a Biography

8/17/2019 Meg Greene - Jane Goodall a Biography

1/170


2/170

JANE GOODALL


3/170

Recent Tit les in

Greenwood Biographies

Jane Addams: A Biography

Robin K. Berson

Rachel Carson: A Biography

Arlene R. Quaratiello

Desmond Tutu: A Biography

Steven D. Gish

Marie Cur ie : A Biography

Marilyn Bailey Ogilvie

Ralph Nader : A Biography

Patricia Cron in Marcello

Carl Sagan: A Biography

Ray Spangenburg and Kit Moser

Sylvia Plath: A Biography

Connie Ann Kirk

Jesse Jackson: A Biography

Roger

Bruns

Franklin D. Roosevel t : A Biography

Jeffery W. Coker

Alber t Einste in: A Biography

Alice Calaprice and Trevor Lipscombe

Stephen Hawking: A Biography

Kristine Larsen

Bill Russell: A Biography

Murry R. Nelson

Venus and Serena Wil l iams: A Biography

Jacqueline

Edmondson

Flannery O 'Connor : A Biography

Melissa Simpson


4/170

JANE GOODALL

A Biography

Meg Greene

GREENWOOD BIOGRAPHIES

GREENWOOD PRESS

WESTPORT CONNECTICUT • LONDON


5/170

Library of Congress Cataloging-in Publication Data

G re e ne , M e g .

Jane G ood a l l : a b iography / Meg Gr een e .

p . cm. — (Greenwood b iographies , ISSN 1540-4900)

Includes bibl iographical references .

I SB N 0 - 3 1 3 - 3 3 1 3 9 - 1 (alk. paper )

1. G ood a l l , J a ne , 1 9 3 4 - 2 . P r i ma t o l og i s t s — E ng l a nd— B i ogra phy .

I. Title. II. Series.

Q L 3 1 . G 5 8 G 7 4 2 0 0 5

590'.92—dc22

2 0 0 5 0 1 6 8 1 8

Bri t ish Library Cataloguing in Publ icat ion Data is avai lable .

Copyr ight © 2005 by Meg Greene

All r ights reserved. No port ion of this book may be

reproduced , by any process or t echnique , wi thout the

express wr i t t en consent of the publ isher .

L ibra ry of Congress Ca ta log Card Number : 2005016818

I S B N : 0 - 3 1 3 - 3 3 1 3 9 - 1

I S S N : 1 5 4 0 - 4 9 0 0

Firs t publ ished in 2005

Greenwood Press , 88 Pos t Road Wes t , Wes tpor t , CT 06881

A n imp r in t of Gre enw ood P ubl i sh ing Gr ou p, Inc .

w w w . g re e nw ood . c om

Pr in ted in the Uni ted S ta tes of A me r i c a

The paper used in this book complies wi th the

Permanent Paper S tandard i s sued by the Na t iona l

In fo rma t i on S t a nda rds O rga n i z a t i on (Z 39 . 4 8 -19 84 ) .

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2

http://www.greenwood.com/http://www.greenwood.com/


6/170

CONTENTS

Series Foreword

Preface

Introduction

Timeline

C ha pte r 1 A C hild of Dest iny

C ha pte r 2 Afr ica Cal ls

C h a p te r 3 A M om e n tous M e e t ing

Ch apte r 4 T h e H idd en W or ld of the Chim panzee

C ha p te r 5 Gombe

C h a p te r 6 Th e B a na na C lub

Ch apt e r 7 T he Journey Deepens

Ch apt e r 8 Expand ing Hor izons

Ch apte r 9 Money, Murder, and M ourn ing

C ha pt er 10 T h e Celebr i ty and the Crusader

Bibliography

Index

Photo essay follows page

58

v u

x

x

x v

1

13

23

33

45

59

71

87

1 5

119

137

141


7/170

his page intentionally left blank


8/170

SERIES FOREWORD

In response to high school and public l ibrary needs, Greenwood developed

this distinguished series of full-length biographies specifically for student

use. Prepared by field experts and professionals, these engaging biographies

are tailored for high school students who need challenging yet accessible

biographies. Ideal for secondary school assignments, the length, format,

and subject areas are designed to meet educators ' requirements and stu

den ts ' interests.

Greenwood offers an extensive se lec t ion of biographies spanning a l l

curriculum-related

subject areas including social studies, the sciences,

l i te ra ture and the ar ts , h is tory and pol i t ics , as well as popular cul ture ,

and covering public f igures and famous personalit ies from all t ime peri

ods and backgrounds , bo th h is tor ic and contempora ry , who have made

an impac t on Amer ican and/or wor ld cu l ture . Greenwood b iographies

were chosen based on comprehensive feedback f rom l ibrar ians and

educa tors . Cons ide ra t ion was g iven to bo th cur r icu lum re levance and

inherent interest . The resul t is an intr iguing mix of the well known

and the unexpected, the sa ints and s inners f rom long-ago his tory and

contemporary pop cul ture . Readers wil l f ind a wide ar ray of subjec t

choices f rom fasc inat ing cr ime f igures l ike Al Capone to inspir ing

pioneers l ike Margare t Mead, f rom the grea test minds of our t ime l ike

Stephen Hawking to the most amazing success s tor ies of our day l ike

J .K. Rowling.

W hi le th e emph asis is on fact, n o t glorif ication, th e boo ks are m ea nt

to be fun to read. Each volume provides in-depth information about the


9/170

Vlll

S E R I E S F O R E W O R D

subject' s life from b ir th th rou gh c hi ld ho od , the t een years , and adu l thoo d.

A thorough account re la tes family background and educat ion, t races per

sonal and professional influences, and explores struggles, accomplishments,

and contr ibut ions. A t imeline highl ights the most s ignif icant l i fe events

against a his tor ica l perspect ive . Bibl iographies supplem ent th e reference

value of each volume.


10/170

PREFACE

Born in

1181

or 1182, Giovanni Francesco di Pie tro Bernardone was the

son of a prosperous merchant . About

1205,

while Giovanni was s t i l l in

his ear ly twenties , he renounced his inher i tance and adopted an austere

life of poverty and faith. Caring for the sick, the infirm, the old, and the

dying, he became ever after known as Francis of Assisi.

In her work with the chimpanzees of Gombe, and in her genera l devo

t ion to an imals and the envi ronment , Jane Gooda l l has opera ted wi th in

the t radi t ion tha t Francis es tabl ished a t the beginning of the thir teenth

century. Besides his recognition of human fellowship, Francis also regarded

th e wh ole of na tur e as his brother and his sister. He was the first writer

to emphasize the beauty and goodness of crea t ion, and to introduce into

Western thought the idea tha t human beings had an obl iga t ion to care

not only for each other but for all l iving things.

During the centuries that followed Francis 's death in 1226, the human

respect for , and stewardship of , nature took many forms. Nearly 800 years

la ter , Jane Goodal l has cont inued to nur ture and advance tha t inher i

tance in her efforts to bridge the human and animal worlds. I t has been

an extraordinary and rewarding enterpr ise .

From the outset of her career, Goodall never distanced herself from the

subjects of her study. She sought not merely to attain objective, scientific

knowledge, but instead pursued a deeper understanding of chimpanzees

and their relation to human beings. Goodall sensed that the kind of under

standing she wanted to achieve could arise only through empathy with

the chimps and participation in their l ives. This modest approach enabled

Goodall to avoid imposing her own preconceptions on them. Instead, she


11/170

X

P R E F A C E

allowed the chimps to tell her about themselves. Her methods, which as

often as n o t bro ug ht censure from th e scientific com m unity, proved th e

source of her most groundbreaking insights.

GoodalPs

research and field-

work showed that chimpanzees could think, feel, and communicate in ways

that approximated human capaci t ies .

In addition to revolutionizing the way scientists viewed chimpanzees,

G oo da ll has also felt a responsibility to care for and p rotec t th em . In rece nt

years, she has done her utmost to acquaint governments around the world

and the public at large with practices and conditions that threaten the

chimps ' welfare and exis tence . Although she accepts the use of chimpan

zees in scientific and medical research, for example, she has pressed for the

development of computer models and the extraction of t issue samples that

would en able research to go on w itho ut c him ps. She has also crit icized th e

treatment that chimps receive in laboratories and other research facili t ies.

At the same t ime, she condemns poaching and the capture of chimps for

zoos and circuses, activit ies motivated by greed and ignorance that have

dramatically reduced the chimpanzee population. "We must speak for

them," Goodall insists, "for they cannot speak for themselves."

O ver t he years I hav e had th e opp or tun i ty to write about th e l ives

of many interesting men and women from different periods in history

and different walks of life. I completed each project feeling that I had

unlocked some of the secrets of l ives well l ived. With every biography

I wrote , I ga ined new insight in to wh at m akes great people great . W hi le

vision, heroism, and courage are aspects of any successful life, other quali

t ies stand out even more fully, including decency, compassion, empathy,

respect, hope, and faith. Researching and writing about the l ife of Jane

Goodall has differed from my previous experiences. My study revealed

not only a l ife well l ived, but touched something deep and personal inside

m e.

Jane Goodall has now dedicated more than 40 years of her l ife to

speaking for and with chimpanzees. I marveled a t her commitment to ,

and was moved by her love for , the chimpanzees at Gombe. I admire her

quest to make the world a l i t t le less barbarous and a l i t t le more humane.

For through the years , GoodalPs mission has remained constant : to

remind human beings of the ir unique obl iga t ions toward a l l the crea tures

with whom they share the ear th .


12/170

I N T R O D U C T I O N

In recent polls, Jane Goodall has emerged as the most easily recognizable

living scientist in the Western world. Her work with the chimpanzees at

Gombe has been renowned as one of the grea t achievements of sc ient i f ic

research. GoodalPs research and dedication are held in the same regard

as Albert Einstein 's . Her approach to f ield study, once r idiculed and chal

lenged by the scientif ic world, has now become the model for other ethol-

ogists to use. Young girls want to be like her; adults respect her. Children

across the world have tr ied to help her. Throughout i t a ll , Goodall stays

steady as she continues to bring her message of peace, hope, and chal

lenge to make the world—for all living creatures—a bet ter place .

Jane GoodalPs childhood dream to l ive among, study, and write about

wild animals in Africa seemed the stuff of which fantasies are made. Even

now, it takes little effort to imagine Goodall sitting at the big oak dining

room table in a warm and comfortable English home, explaining to her

grandchildren what she wanted to do when she grew up. I t is much harder

to conceive of this woman, still slender and attractive at the age of 70,

recounting all that she has accomplished during more than 40 years study

ing chimpanzees at the Gombe National Park in Tanzania, East Africa.

The improbabili ty of her story only deepens when the many obstacles she

encountered and overcame come more clearly into view.

Goodal l was a pre t ty , demure , though somewhat f l i r ta t ious, woman in

her early 20s when she accepted the invitation of a fr iend to visit Africa

in 1957. Because her family could not afford to send her to a university,

she did n o t ha v e a college degree. Yet, she was well read, tho ug htfu l, int el

l igent , and determ ined . The se qual i t ies favorably impressed the no ted bu t


13/170

x u


controv ersia l anthrop ologis t Louis Leakey, th en cura tor of the M useum of

Natura l History in Nairobi , Kenya, who offered Goodal l the oppor tuni ty

to research chimpanzees in the ir na t ive habi ta t .

With a vested interest in preserving the status quo, the scientif ic

community demeaned the projec t and doubted the qual i f ica t ions and abi l

ities of Leakey's untutored protege. As is often the case, the experts were

wrong. GoodalPs unconventional approach to her work yie lded s tunning

results. Contrary to accepted scientif ic opinion, which dismissed chimpan

zees as uniformly brutish and vicious, Goodall found chimps to be capable

of a wide range of emotions, including affection, compassion, and love.

Goodall also showed that chimps could reason, think, and solve problems.

They formed hunting parties to capture small monkeys, baby baboons, and

baby bush pigs. Scientists had previously assumed that chimpanzees were

vegetar ian. More s tar t l ing, Goodal l d iscovered tha t chimpanzees could

fashion primitive implements from grass, twigs, and leaves, dispelling the

notion tha t humans were the only species tha t made tools .

Goodall drew these and other conclusions about the behavior of chim

panzees only after months of careful, painstaking observation. Yet, contrary

to the accepted standards and procedures of field research, she had also

encouraged social interaction with the chimps in an effort to win their

t rust . T h e em otional a t ta ch m en t th a t Goo dal l developed with her subjec ts ,

symbolized by her unorthodox practice of naming them rather than identi

fying th em by num bers or letters, prom pted m any scientists to ques tion the

validity of her f indings. Her attr ibution of human characteristics to chim

panzees, her critics have charged, robbed Goodall of the critical distance

essential to making objective judgments.

Goodall not only broke new ground in research and f ield methods, she

also opened the door for many others, notably Dian Fossey and her work

with goril las and Birute Galdikas and her studies of the baboon. Goodall

has never considered herself a feminist, nor was her desire to join the

ranks of other noted ethologists and in doing so breaking a gender barrier .

All she ever wanted to do was observe her chimps. But through her work,

Goodal l brought a woman's touch, a view that emphasized re la t ionships

ra the r tha n rules , to be recept ive ra ther th an c ontrol l ing, to be em pat het i c

instead of objective. Her approach f lew in the face of conventional sci

en ce ,

a science dominated and defined by male views and values. It was a

star t l ing break and one tha t earned Goodal l a reputa t ion as a maver ick.

W h e n G ood al l firs t began observing the chimp s a t G om be , they were

lit t le more than black blurs at the end of her binocular lenses. Their move

ments appeared jerky as if in rapid motion like an old black and white


14/170

I N T R O D U C T I O N n

xm

f i lm. As the days and months passed, Goodall began seeing the chimps

in a new light; as personalit ies with l ikes and dislikes, who had emotions

much like humans and who were capable of noble deeds and base acts.

More important, she saw the beginnings of what defined humans, their

early heritage and the journey traveled to become straight-standing men,

women, and chi ldren.

In the first 18 months of her study, Goodall amassed over 850 pages of

observat ions, with nary a measurement or number in s ight . Instead she

wrote, describing in words, devoid of cold technical terms, what she saw

and felt . She had no theories to prove; she was content to watch as the

chimps slowly invited her into their world. She never took for granted

the gif t she had been offered by these remarkable animals. All she could

do was to present, as accurately and as passionately as possible, the amaz

ing discoveries she had witnessed at Gombe.

Goodall brought to her work an intuitive rather than deductive or objec

tive viewpoint. She named her chimps instead of assigning them numbers.

She stepped in to do what needed to be done in order to help chimps who

were ailing, hurt, or dying. At a time when the field of ethnology was

becoming m ore technical, impersonal, and statistical, Go odall imp leme nted

a new approach that emphasized the feminine point of view. She made

friends with certain chimps. She laughed at their antics, appreciated their

feelings, was happy when they gave birth. She wept at their deaths. Without

them, she would never have had the remarkable journey that she has trav

eled over the last four decades.

G oo da ll has suffered th ro ug h trials in he r life: a divo rce, the d ea th of he r

second husband, a deep spiritual crisis, the criticisms, and the naysayers

who find her current mission unduly optimistic . Through it a ll , Goodall

has rema ined steadfast. She is con vin ced th at objectivity in science, or

any intelle ctual e nd eavo r for th at m atter , is n ot on ly impossible but also

undesirable . Although researchers must be thorough and honest , they

cannot and should not set their emotions aside, because understanding is

always personal and participatory. That humility may have compromised

Good alPs objectivity, bu t at the same tim e it has also m ade he r mo re aw are

of, and more sensitive to, the integrity of her subjects and the potential

harm tha t researchers m ight do to them . She is con vince d th a t th e world,

its lands, waters, and air can be saved and that animals will finally receive

the respect they so richly deserve.

Today, GoodalPs work cont inues through the Jane Goodal l Inst i tute

for Wildl i fe Research, Educat ion, and Conservat ion, though Goodal l

herself can spend no more than a few weeks a year at Gombe. She has


15/170

XIV


instead expa nded th e focus of he r conc erns, t ravel ing and lec tur ing abou t

chimpanzees, pr imate research, environmenta l conservat ion, and world

peace . Yet , t ime has vindica ted GoodalPs methods as much as i t has

certif ied her m ost im po rta nt discov eries. Sh e is now, and has long bee n,

recognized as the principal authority on chimpanzees in the world. I t is

the improbable fulfillment of a little girl 's dream.


16/170

TIMELINE

1934 Jane G oo dal l is born A pri l 3 in Lo nd on Eng land

1939 Goo da l l s move to Bo urne m outh

1942 V ann e and M ort im er M orr is-Goo dal l d ivorce

1952 G ood al l mov es to Lo nd on to begin secre tar ial school and

find work

1957 Tak es first trip to Africa

Begins work with Louis Leakey at Olduvai Gorge

1958

Leakey asks G oo dal l to take o n a field study of chim panz ees

1960 July—Goodall begins her f ield study at Gombe Stream

Game Rese rve

October—Goodall observes David Greybeard fishing for

termites

November—Goodall sees chimps eating meat

1961

G oo da ll receives he r f irst gran t of

$

1,400

from t he N atio na l

Geographic Socie ty

Summer—David Greybeard's first visit to camp

1962 G oo dal l enters Cam bridge as a graduate s tud ent to begin

work on her Ph.D.

1963 Go oda l l meets wildli fe ph otog raph er Hu go Van Lawick

1963 G oo da ll receives th e Fra nk lin Burr Aw ard for he r con tribu

tion to science

GoodalPs f irst ar ticle , "My Life Among the Chimpanzees"

appears in the August issue of National Geographic

1964 G oo da ll m arries Van Lawick, M arch 28


17/170

XVI

T I M E L I N E

Flo gives bir th to Flint, which allows Goodall to observe

chimpanzee pa ren t ing

Mike ga ins dominance in the ch impanzee communi ty

Gombe S t ream Research Cente r in founded , December

1965 G oo dal l rece ives he r Ph .D . in Ethology f rom Cam bridg e

Universi ty , becoming the e ighth person to ever rece ive the

degree without a Bachelor ' s Degree

Second a r t ic le , "New Discover ies Among Afr ica ' s

Chimpanzees" appears in National Geographic

Film "Miss Goodal l and the Wild Chimpanzees" is broad

cas t on Amer ican te lev is ion

1966 Fifteen Kas ekela ch im ps are afflicted w ith po lio

1967 H ug o Eric Louis V an Lawick (G ru b) is bo rn

1968 Hila l i

Matama

is hired as GoodalPs first official field

assistant

1970 Kasa kela-Kah am a (KK) com m un ity began to divide .

19 70 -19 75 G oo dal l app oin ted to facul ty a t Stanford Un iversi ty

1971 Shadow of Man, G ood alPs first bo ok , is pu blis hed

1972 Go odalPs f irst child ren's boo k,

Grub, the Bush Baby,

is

published

GoodalPs mentor Louis Leakey dies

19 74 -19 77 Kasakela co m m un ity males begin a ser ies of a t tacks against

members of the Kahama communi ty tha t led to the dea ths

of all Kahama males. This is the first record of "warfare" in

n o n h u m a n p r i m a t e s

Goodal l and Van Lawick divorce

1975 Go od al l marr ies her second hus ban d, th e H on . Derek

Bryceson

Four researchers kidnapped by Zairian rebels; although they

are unh arm ed, outside researchers are no t allowed into G om be

until 1989

1977

T h e Jane G oo dal l Inst i tu te for W ildl ife Research , Ed ucat ion ,

and Co ns erv a t i on is e s tab l i shed in Sa n Franc isco ,

California

1979 G ood al l publ ishes ar t ic le "Life and D ea th a t G om be " in

National Geographic

1980 Go od al l rece ives th e O rder of the G ol de n A rk, th e W orld

Wildl i fe Award for Conservat ion presented by Pr ince

Bernhard of the Ne ther lands

1984 GoodalPs second te levis ion special , "A m on g th e W ild

Chim panze es" a ir s


18/170

TIMELINE

xvn

T h e Chim pan zoo projec t is c rea ted to co nt i nu e research on

chimp behavior whi le promot ing more s t imula t ing envi

ronments for chimps and other capt ive pr imates

1986

The Chimpanzees of Gom be

is published

1987 G oo da ll receives th e A lbe rt Schw eitzer Aw ard from th e

Animal Welfa re Ins t i tu te in Washington , D.C .

1988 Jane G ood al l Inst i tute -UK is es tabl ished in Lo nd on

1988 G oo dal l receives the C en te nn ia l Award from th e N atio na l

Geographic Socie ty

1990 Jane Go od al l Inst i tute-Tanzan ia is laun ched in con jun ct io n

with GoodalPs 30 year anniversary a t Gombe

"Chimps Like Us" an HBO documenta ry a i r s ; the program

is la ter nominated for an Academy Award

Through a Window

is published

Goodall receives the Kyoto Prize for Science, the Japanese

equivalent of the Nobel Prize

1991 R oo t s & Shoots program is created

1992 Tch im pou nga Sanc tuary for Ch imp anzees is c rea ted in th e

Congo Republ ic

1993 First video of a chim pan zee bir th is recorded

Visions

of

Calaban: O n Chimpanzees and People is p ublish ed

1995 Kitwe Poin t Sanctu ary for Ch imp anzees establ ished in

Tanzania

Gooda l l r ece ives the Na t iona l Geographic Soc ie ty ' s

Hubbard Award for Distinction in Exploration, Discovery,

and Research

G oo dal l is awarded the ti t le CB E (Co m m an de r of the

British Empire) by Queen Elizabeth II

1996 G oo da ll receives th e Tan zan ian Kilim anjaro M eda l for he r

work in wildlife conservation

1998 Jane Go oda l l Ins t i tu te -U gand a Sanc tua ry re loca tes 19

orphaned chimps f rom other overcrowded sanctuar ies

1999

Reason

for H ope: A Spiritual Journey

is published

Hugo Van Lawick dies

2001 V ann e G ood al l d ies

2004 G oo dal l invested as D am e of th e British Em pire by Prince

Charles for her service to the environment and conservation

Goodall receives the 2004 Nierenberg Prize for Science in

the Public Interest


19/170

his page intentionally left blank


20/170

Chapter 1

A C H IL D O F D E S T IN Y

If early interests in a young life offer a clue to a child's destiny, then Jane

Goodall forged her path at a tender age. The f irst daughter of Mortimer

Herber t Morr is-Goodal l and Margare t Myfanwe Joseph, Valer ie Jane

Morris-Goodall was born on April 3, 1934 in a London hospital. Four years

later , the Morris-Goodalls welcomed a second daughter , Judy, into the

family. Later it was discovered th at th e tw o girls suffered from a neu rolog ical

c ond i t ion known a s

prosopagnosia

, or m em ory im pai rm ent for faces and

patterns. Goodall could not recognize people 's faces, more interesting is

that she had no trouble recognizing animals, especially the chimpanzees

that she would one day meet .

During the 1930s England was relatively quiet. The First World War,

which had robbed the country and Europe of their innocence and belief

in inevitable progress, had ended more than a decade before Jane's birth.

Although England, like much of the rest of the world, suffered in the throes

of depression, and although menacing governments had come to power in

Russia, Italy, and especially in Germany, the Goodalls' world was tranquil.

A W O R L D O F C O N T R A S T S

Jane GoodalPs early l ife was, however, marked by dramatic contrast .

Her fa ther , who had once worked as a te lephone cable tes t ing engineer

in London, had, by the t ime of Jane 's bir th, discovered his love of racing

cars. Herbert Morris-GoodalPs passion for speed was such that he left his

job to become a racecar driver. As a member of the Br i t ish Aston-Mart in

race team, Morris-GoodalPs l ife was transformed into an endless round of


21/170

2

JANE GOODALL

competi t ion. Travel ing f rom track to t rack throughout England and the

Euro pean co nt i ne nt , Morr is-G ood al l soon earned a repu ta t io n for be ing

a skilled driver as well as a gentleman whom other drivers held in high

esteem. His career spanned more than two decades, and by the t ime of

his re t i rement in the 1950s, Morr is-Goodal l had not only earned nat ional

glory, but also the distinction of being the only British driver to have

competed 10 t imes in the famous and gruel ing Le Mans Grand Pr ix .

The world tha t Morr is-Goodal l inhabited—a world of noise, speed, and

danger—did not impress his eldest daughter, who showed little interest in

her father 's passion. Her mother, "Vanne," claimed Jane's time and lovingly

kindled the spark that in time guided her to Africa.

Vanne introduced Jane to na ture , beginning with the family ' s back

yard garden at their house in suburban Weybridge. They also visited the

many public gardens in London. Jane 's earliest memories are of wandering

with her mother in the backyard. Earth, sunlight, birds, bees, insects, and

other small creatures caught Jane 's eye and f ired her mind and imagina

tion. She recalled that: "I was lucky enough to be provided with a mother

wise eno ugh to nurture and en courage m y love of l iving things and my pas

sion for knowledge."

1

From these garden wander ings developed GoodalPs

intense passion for animals.

One o f Vanne's favorite stories about Jane involved Jane 's discovery

of a bed of earthworms. One day, GoodalPs nanny ran from her young

charge ' s bedroom to Vanne, excla iming tha t Goodal l had hidden in her

bed a small handful "horrible, pink, wriggling worms."

2

The nanny a lso

expla ined tha t the worms had been hidden under Jane ' s pi l low and she

adamantly refused to let them go. Vanne later recalled: "A peach-col

ored light from the setting sun was flooding the nursery. Jane's eyes were

already closing, one hand was out

o(

s ight beneath the pi l low. I pointed

out that the little creatures would find it altogether too hot and stuffy

under the pillow."

3

Rath er th an get t ing angry about th e mess Jane ha d

made, her mother instead expla ined:

J

an e

>

if you keep them here they' l l

die . They need the ear th ."

4

Although she was only 18 months old , Jane

understood and obeyed, re turning the worms to the ir garden home.

V ann e la ter adm it ted tha t the ent i re inc ide nt me ant more to Jane th an

the simple act of having to give up her newfound "pets." But in later

years,

Vanne believed that GoodalPs interest in the natural world was so

intense that her curiosity about nature and desire to interact with i t were

more mature and deep than would be expected f rom a young chi ld .

Vanne Morris-GoodalPs greatest desire was to provide a secure and

stable life for her family, though she also wished to expose her daughters

to the harsh realities of the world. As a result, Jane learned early that man


22/170

A CHILD OF DESTINY

3

and nature did not always coexist peacefully. After watching a man crush a

dragonfly t h at w as ho ver ing abou t her, youn g Jan e cried, "no t because I was

afraid but because I felt bad that such a pretty thing was destroyed."

5

In 1 936, w he n Jan e was two years old, Lo nd on residen ts were en thr alle d

by the f irst bir th of a chimpanzee ever to take place at the London zoo.

T h e new chim p, nam ed Jubilee, became an in stant local celebrity. In ho no r

of th e new arrival, an E nglish toy ma nufa cture r pro du ced a series of stuffed

"Jubi lee" chimps for young chi ldren. Even Morr is-Goodal l was caught up

in the excitement and purchased one of the toys for Jane.

For Goodall , the toy was love at f irst sight. Although many of her

m othe r 's lady friends w ere aghast, believing th at su ch a large and ung ainly

toy would fr ighten Jane, Jane herself clutched the animal t ightly to her

chest. The stuffed chimp became her most prized possession, accompanying

her wherever she went. I t was the f irst indication of what would become

her life's work.

In 1939, when Jane was five years old, her father moved his family to

France to be nearer the major racing centers. He also wanted his daughters

to learn th e language an d be educate d t he re. But his plans soon w en t awry,

for only months after the GoodalPs arr ival in France, on September 1,

1939, the Nazis invaded Poland and began the Second World War in

Europe. By June 1940, G erm any had con que red France . W h e n he learned

what was taking place in Eastern Europe, Morris-Goodall did not hesitate .

He immediately moved his family back to England, se t t l ing them in the

home of his pa ternal grandmother in the Kent countryside .

Goodal l adored her new surroundings. Sheep and ca t t le grazed and

lulled near the old manor house, which was built of gray stone. Not far

from the house were the ruins of an old castle where King Henry VIII had

imprisoned one of his six wives, but which now housed families of spiders

and bats. Her grandmother 's house was sti l l l i t by oil lamps instead of by

electr icity. But for Goodall , that made the house all the more magical. At

the very mo m en t th a t Europe descended into war, Jane ente red o ne of the

most idyllic periods of her life.

Jane 's interest in nature continued to grow and deepen. On a visit to

her grandmother 's farm, she was asked to collect eggs. She was more than

happy to obl ige , but soon became annoyed tha t she did not understand

how the hens formed and laid the eggs, telling an interviewer years later,

"I had always wondered where on a hen was an opening big enough for

the egg to come out."

6

W h e n th e ex pla nat ion s she received did n ot satisfy

her, Jane decided to find out for herself.

Following a hen into the henhouse , Jane resolved to s i t and watch

for as long as it took to learn the secret. But after the hen, upset at her


23/170

4

JANE GOODALL

presence, began squawking, she decided to wait for the hens to leave the

chicken house so tha t she could enter i t unobserved and conceal herse lf

inside . Crouching quie t ly in a corner , she waited unt i l a hen entered and

settled into i ts nest. Soon the hen stood up and Jane noticed a small white

egg emerging from between its legs. With mounting fascination, Jane

watched as the hen shook its feathers, nudged the egg out, and left .

Later tha t a f ternoon, Vanne re turned home, only f ind the house quie t

and em pty. Sh e found out th a t ev eryone ha d gone in search of Jane , wh o

had by now been missing for more than four hours. By seven o'clock con

cern had been replaced by worry from her family and neighbors. Vanne

la ter wrote about Jane ' s homecoming: "I don ' t remember who saw her

first—a small disheveled f igure coming a l i t t le wearily over the tussocky

field by the hen houses. There were l i t t le bits of straw in her hair and on

her clothes but her eyes, dark r inged with fatigue, were shining."

7

W h e n

Jane at last appeared, her mother was more relieved than angry. Sensing

Jane 's exci tement , Vanne Goodal l d id not scold her but instead l is tened

to the s tory of her adventure . Jane then excla imed, "So now I know how

a hen lays an egg."

8

Vanne, looking at her weary and disheveled daughter ,

took her hand and walked her home. At the same t ime, Vanne recognized

that her daughter had achieved a cer ta in success with her vis i t to the hen

house: Jane had completed her f irst animal f ield study.

A WORLD AT WAR, A LIFE AT PEACE

Jane 's idyllic life did no t last long. O n Se pte m ber 3 , 1939, two days after

the Nazis had invaded Poland, the government of Great Br i ta in declared

war on Germany. Years later , Jane 's memories of that day remained vivid.

Gathered in the drawing room, the family heard the sad announcement

on the radio. For several moments, the room fell si lent. As young as she

was, Jane kne w som ething h ad ch ang ed and ha d a sense th at i t was terr ible.

Like most Englishmen, Herber t Morr is-Goodal l resolved to f ight . He

wasted li t t le t ime enlisting in the British Army and was assigned to the

Royal Engineers, serving first in Europe and later in the Pacific.

With her husband gone, Vanne decided to leave Kent and take her two

daug hters to stay with her m other , "D ann y N u tt " as Jane ca l led her , a t t he

Birches, a lovely red-br ick Vic tor ian home located in Bournemouth not

far f rom the English Channel . Also s taying a t the home were Vanne 's two

sisters. In this all female household Jane spent the rest of her childhood.

She cont inues to ca l l the Birches home whenever she re turns to England.

One of the few men to come to the Birches during this t ime was Vanne's

older brother , a surgeon in Lo nd on, w ho vis i ted every weeken d. N o t long


24/170

A CHILD OF DESTINY

5

after Vanne and her daughters came to l ive with her, Jane 's grandmother

opened the Birches to women lef t homeless by the German bombardment

of London.

Despite the upheaval that the war had brought, Jane found life at the

Birches to be pleas ant. T he re was so m uc h to see and d o; everyday prom ised

a new adventure for a spirited girl with a fertile imagination. The Birches

had a large garden in which to roam, and there were countless bushes and

trees just waiting to be used for hiding and climbing. Jane spent as much

time outside as she could, watching the birds make their nests, the squir

rels scurrying to and fro and gathering nuts, and the spiders spinning

their webs. At the Birches, Jane also enjoyed the company of several cats,

guinea pigs, a number of hamsters, a few turtles, and a canary named Peter.

Another favorite pastime in which Jane and her sister Judy engaged was

racing snails on whose shells the gir ls had painted small numbers.

But i t was a dog named Rusty, a black mongrel with a white patch on

his chest, who had the most profound influence on Goodall . "The Litt le

Black M an " as Jane af fec t ionately ca l led him accom panied Ja ne on m any

of her adventures. Rusty belonged to the owners of a hotel around the

corner. Each morning at six, he would arr ive, bark outside the door until

Jane came for him, and stay with her all day except when she was in

school. Jane had trained him to do tr icks such as closing a door and roll

ing over. Many years later, Goodall stated that if hadn't been for Rusty,

she wouldn' t have been nearly as effective at conducting her studies at

Gombe: "Rusty the dog taught me tha t animals have personal i t ies , minds

and feelings of their very own."

9

Along with two other gir ls who came to Bournemouth every summer,

Jane and Judy formed the Alligator Club, which met in a small clearing

near the house. They served tea, and sometimes met late at night for

"feasts," which, because of the rationing of food that the war occasioned,

often consisted of little more than a crust of bread or a biscuit. For Jane,

these la te night meet ings were not so much about playing as about

sneaking outs ide without be ing caught . The All iga tor Club produced a

small magazine that was filled with discussions of nature and anatomical

drawings. On her own, Jane crea ted a "conservatory" tha t conta ined

flowers, shells, and ev en a h u m an sk eleton . Sh e the n charged adm ission.

The monies she collected were donated to a local society that rescued

old horses from being sold as meat and instead took them to safe havens

where they could live out their remaining days.

Despite the disruptions of war, Jane's life at the Birches eventually

fell into a comfortable routine. She grew close to her aunts and to her

maternal grandmother. Raised a Congregationalist and having married a


25/170

6 J A N E G O O D A L L

Congregat ional minis ter and scholar , Danny Nutt t r ied hard to show her

granddaughte r s the impor tance of Chr is t ian teach ings . Hers was no t a

deeply intellectual faith; she emphasized instead the simple goodness of

God and the importance of l iving a spir itual l ife . One of her favorite

sayings, "As thy days, so shall thy strength be," would in t ime become a

source of spir i tual comfort for Jane.

REACHING

OUT

TO DESTINY

By the t im e she was eight years old, Jane h ad dev eloped an un sha keab le

fasc inat ion with nature and animals . She read about them. She observed

them. She drew pic tures of them and wrote about them. In 1942 she

received as a Christmas gift a copy of the children's classic The Story of

Dr. Doolittle , a novel about a kindly doctor who develops the remarkable

abili ty to talk to animals by learning their many languages. "I read it a ll

the way thro ug h," she recal led,

then

I read it again. That was when I first

decided I must go to Africa some day."

10

Jane also admired the Tarzan books, in which a young boy, raised

by apes in the jungles of Africa, grows up to become the protector of

the animals. She later wrote: "I was madly in love with the Lord of the

Jungle, terr ibly jealous of his Jane. I t was daydreaming about l ife in the

forest with Tarzan that led to my determination to go to Africa, to l ive

with animals and wri te books about them."

1 1

She also enjoyed reading

other animal stories such as The Wind in the Willows and Call of the Wild.

Another favor i te , the Vic tor ian ta le At the Back of the North Wind whic h

told t he story of a poo r young boy living in a horse stable, impressed up on

Goodall the extent of human suffering, a sad fact the war also brought

home to her. Yet, these and other, more scientif ic books deepened Jane 's

knowledge of the natural world and whetted her appetite for further

study. She had begun to dream about visit ing Africa to investigate i ts

wildlife. Making such a journey was, even now in the midst of her girlhood,

becoming her hear t ' s desire .

But i t was a free book, purchased with coupons, that ignited her pas

sion for learning. In a 2004 interview, Goodall recalled how she received

the book:

I had a nanny, I was about 6 at the t ime she stayed on when my

sister was born. She saved up coupons. In those days you really

got things free if you cut coupons off the packet of something, you

didn' t a lso have to send a check for 50 pounds as you do today. They

say 'free' and it's not free at all. The prize was a hefty book, heavy,


26/170

A CHILD OF DESTINY

7

dense , with photographs ca l led

The Miracle of Life.

It was not for

children. I t went into the history of medicine and the discovery of

anesthetics, and I can still see the pictures and I loved it. I read it,

I drew it. I drew the insect mandibles. I really was a naturalist from

the time I was born.

1 2

ALL CLEAR

Increasingly, the droning of the German aircraft dropping their bombs

intruded upon the peace of Bournemouth. While the Birches i tse lf never

was hit, Jane and her family spent countless hours huddled in a small air-raid

shelter measuring six by five feet wide and four feet high, listening to

the window glass shake and ratt le . This small , steel-roofed structure was

located in what had once been a servant ' s bedroom. Sometimes as many

as six adults along with Jane and her sister crowded into the shelter ,

where they waited uncomfor tably for hours unt i l the

All

Clear" siren

indicated that the air raid was over and they could once more go about

their business.

By the t ime Jane was seven, war had been raging in Europe for more

than two years. She was by now familiar with news of the war and was

coming to understand the immeasurable cruel ty tha t humans could

inf l ic t upon each other . A narrow escape f rom German bombs dur ing

the summer of 1944 only increased her awareness of how uncertain and

fleeting life could be. W h e n new s of th e Nazi Holo cau st against E uro pea n

Jews,

accompanied by harrowing photographs of death camps, emerged,

Jane was t ransf ixed yet bewildered. The Second World War and the

horrors i t brought exerted a profound impact on Jane 's mature view of

the world. She often despaired of humanity and sought solace in nature

among animals .

A C H A N G I N G W O R L D

In 1946, the year af ter the Second World War had ended, Mort imer

Morris-Goodall divorced his wife. Jane was twelve years old and had

become accustomed dur ing the war to not see ing her fa ther . With the

divorce, however, her father and mother remained fr iends, and Jane kept

in contact with her father throughout his l ife . Litt le else changed. At the

time of her parents ' divorce, Jane, her sister , and mother had been living

at the Birches for almost seven years. Vanne's mother had since remarried,

so for Vanne, her daughters, and her sisters, the Birches became truly their

home and life continued on as before.


27/170

8

JANE GOODALL

Jane started school, which she regarded as a necessary evil . Although

she did enjoy learning about the subjects that interested her, such as the

English language and li terature, history, and biology, other subjects did

not command her a t tent ion or induce her to work hard a t her s tudies .

The tedium of school did nothing to diminish her passion for reading and

wri t ing, which she cont inued to do on her own. Weekends and hol idays

were her escape. She spent t ime outdoors or curled up with a book. She

had taken up writing poetry; many of her first efforts were about the joys

of na ture . Jane a lso cont inued to t rack local animals , keeping deta i led

notes of a hedgehog cour t ing i ts mate , a weasel hunt ing mice , and a

squirrel gathering nuts for the winter . Rusty sti l l accompanied her on

these out ings.

She also began to talk more to Vanne about her dream to study wild

animals in Africa. She also told her mother about the frequent taunts or

scornful comments tha t she received f rom other s tudents and teachers

about her desire to study animals. Vanne told her never to take no for an

answer. O n ce w he n Va nn e was describing to her broth er Eric he r dau ghter 's

plans , Goodal l heard her uncle say, "She doesn ' t have the s tamina ."

1 3

From that day on, Goodall , who suffered from migraines since she started

school , never complained about her headaches again.

By this t ime, Goodal l a t tended r iding lessons on most Saturdays.

Because she did not have the money to pay for the lessons, she cleaned

saddles, bridles, and stalls . She was so dedicated and enthusiastic in

her work that her teacher often gave her additional lessons for free and

granted extra t ime to r ide on her own. Jane soon began showing horses

and par t ic ipa t ing in jumping competi t ions. She was an able r ider and

looked forward to her t ime at the stables.

W h e n Jane got the op po r tuni ty to par t ic ipa te in a foxhu nt , she was

only too pleased to show off her horsemanship. She vowed not to let her

teacher down. The day of the hunt found Jane in high spir i ts , too exci ted

to think about the purpose of her r ide. After r iding for the better part of

the afternoon, Jane f inally spied the fox, exhausted by the long chase.

Now she watched in horror as the hunting dogs se t upon i t , tear ing i ts

body apar t . For Jane , the ex hi lara t ion cam e to a sudden and crash ing end .

Horrif ied and saddened by what she had just seen, she silently berated

herself for participating in what she now regarded as a barbaric activity,

just so she could display her horsemanship. That night, Jane lay awake in

bed, haunted by the vision of the dogs and the fox. Even years later , she

was angry with herself and could not forgive her lapse in judgment and

character . Although Jane never gave up r iding horses , she vowed never


28/170

A C H I L D O F D E S T I N Y

9

again to participate in a foxhunt or any other blood sport that resulted in

the death of an animal .

G R O W I N G U P

As she grew older, Jane increasingly preferred to spend time by her

self.

After school she sat alone in her grandmother 's garden or did her

homework in the summerhouse. She also spent a great deal of t ime in a

special beech tree where she read or wrote. She was so attached to the

tree she asked her grandmother to leave it to her in her will . Sitt ing in

the branches 30 feet above the ground, Jane felt l ike a part of the tree

and a t one with nature . Sometimes when she la id her cheek against the

bark, she thought she could feel the sap, the lifeblood of the tree, coursing

through its l imbs.

W h e n G o o d a l l t u r n e d 15 in 1949, her sporadic a t tendance a t church

became more regular . The reason for the change was the Reverend Trevor

Davies , the new parson a t the Richmond Hi l l Congrega t iona l Church .

A Welshman, Davies was intell igent and a powerful speaker. Young Jane

experienced her first crush, and over the next year she eagerly accompanied

her grandmother to Sunday services .

But see ing Davies once a week was not enough. Soon Jane took to

making excuses to take walks at night to stroll past his home. If she was

lucky, she m igh t ca tch a glimpse of hi m as he w orked o n his sermo n. In an

attempt to impress him, Jane started to read her grandfather 's old theolog

ical books. Periodically, she went to the parsonage, rang the doorbell , and

asked Davies for his opinion of a theological dispute about which she had

read or to borrow on e of th e books from his perso nal l ibrary for add ition al

s tudy. Once he lent Jane a book on the phi losophy of sensat ional ism in

which the author argued tha t nothing exis ted outs ide the mind. For Jane ,

this was too much. She wrote Davies a humorous poem about the idea ,

which closed with the l ines:

And therefore I will cease to write

Since I cannot be here ,

And none can ever read these l ines

For nobody is there

1 4

To her dismay, Davies never mentioned her effort . Stil l , her infatuation

grew. W h e n th e Rev eren d D avies shoo k her ha nd , she refused to wash it

for days. On another occasion when Davies suggested to his parishioners

that they go " the second mile"

1 5

in all they did, Jane took his message


29/170

10 JANE GO OD AL L

to a comic extreme. She began to fetch two buckets of coal and to brew

two pots of tea . She even took two baths and told people "good night"

twice. Her effort to live by the literal meaning of Davies's words nearly

exasperated her family.

As many adolescents are wont to do, Goodall fantasized about l iving a

saintly l ife and dying a martyr for her faith. She imagined traveling to the

Sovie t Union, which had banned a l l re l igious ac t ivi ty and imposed an

official atheism. There she would join with the small groups of Christians

and Jews who cont inued to meet despi te the severe punishments the

government inflicted for engaging in religious worship. Inflamed by the

stories of the early Christians who met secretly in Rome after the govern

ment had outlawed their movement, Jane now saw herself as a missionary,

bringing the Word of God to communist Russia. If caught, she would give

up her life for her faith.

These religious fantasies of self-sacrifice and martyrdom were surely

the heroic daydreams of an unusually thoughtful and sensitive teenager.

But they cannot be so easily dismissed, for they reveal important facets

of Jane's character. While still a young girl, she had developed a selfless

devotion to the weak and the powerless . She showed a determinat ion

to bat t le injust ice , untruth, and despot ism. Perhaps most important , she

struggled to change a world tha t she thought was increasingly dominated

by barbarism, suffering, and evil.

In addition to reading the Bible everyday, Jane continued to indulge

her love of poetry. She haunted the used bookshops, always on the look

out for affordable copies of her favorite poets: William Shakespeare,

John Mil ton, Rober t Browning, and John Keats . She was a lso fond of

the English poets of the First World War, especially Rupert Brooke and

Wilfred O w en . W h e n no t pla nn ing her m ar tyrdom or, a l te rnate ly , her

tr ip to Africa, Jane dreamed of being a great poet, perhaps even one day

becom ing th e Poet Laureate of England. H er poems were of ten hum orou s,

but others incorpora ted her love of na ture or explored her deepening

spir ituality. In "The Duck," for example, she wrote:

The lovely dunes; the sett ing sun;

T h e

duck—and

I;

One Spir i t moving t imelessly

Beneath the sky.

16

By the t ime she entered her m iddle teenag e years , Jane ex per ienced a

change in her spir itual l ife . Her growing sense of being one with nature ,

a theme she explored in "The Duck," gave r ise to thoughts about the


30/170

A C H I L D O F D E S T I N Y

11

place and role of humanity in the world and to quest ions about whether

human beings had the r ight to dominate na ture just because they had the

power to do so.

In the meantime, Jane had to a t tend to more prac t ica l matters tha t

intruded upon her reflections. After graduating from high school in 1951,

J an e , l ike many students, faced the problem about what to do. Her family

did not have enough money to send her to a universi ty and, a l though

she was intelligent, her grades in the subjects for which she cared little

now prevented her f rom winning a scholarship. As she wrest led with her

future, there arr ived the unexpected invitation from one of her aunts, her

father 's sister , to visit her and her husband in Cologne, Germany. Vanne

agreed to accompany her daughter and together they set off .

For Jane, the tr ip was exciting yet dismal. The area she and Vanne

visited was cold, bleak, and dreary. She did enjoy going with a young girl,

He lga ,

to vis i t ne ighbor ing farms where she got to ea t th ick homemade

bread and wear clogs. She enjoyed long walks where she stopped to watch

hares making their way through the f ields. Part of the purpose of the tr ip

was for Jane to learn German. But the people around her were so anxious

to learn English tha t she had l i t tle chan ce to prac t ice the ir na t ive tong ue.

It was just as well, for Jane realized that she was not particularly adept at

learning languages.

O n e of th e hig h po ints of he r stay was visit ing th e great city of Co log ne .

Still scarred by the ravages of war, Cologne had already recovered some of

its former charm. There was much to see and do. Jane wrote that gazing

upon the spire of the grea t Cologne Cathedra l , r is ing undamaged f rom

the bombed ruins tha t surrounded i t , brought home to her the ul t imate

power of good over evil . Vanne, being more practical, a lso hoped that

Jane would master the German language in the hopes tha t i t would help

her daughter f ind work. Unfortunately, Jane showed no aptitude for i t .

Instead, Jane continued to plunge herself into seeing the sights. Yet, even

amid the excitement of visit ing a new country and seeing relatives, Jane

could not escape her growing worries. Soon she and her mother would

re turn to England, where she would have to confront anew the problem

of what to do with the rest of her life.

NOTES

1. Jane Goodall with Phillip

Berman,

Reason For HopeN(New York: Warner

Books, 1998), p. 7.

2. Jennifer Lindsey and the Jane Goodall Institute, Jane

Goodall: 40

Years

at

Gombe

(New York: Stewart, Tabor

&

Chang, 1999), p. 19.


31/170

12

J A N E G O O D A L L

3 . Jenn i fe r L indsey and the Jane Good a l l Ins t i t u t e , Jane Goo dall: 40 Years at

Gombe (New York: Stewart , Tabor & Cha ng , 1999) , pp . 19-2 0 .

4 . Jane Gooda l l w i th Ph i l l i p Berman , Reason For Hope (New York : Warner

Books, 1998), p. 5.

5. R o n A r i a s , Jane G o o d a l l , " People Weekly, M ay 14, 1990, p. 94 .

6 . "Jane Go oda l l ,"

Current

Biography

Yearbook,

1991 (New York: H . W. W ilson

Co m pany 1992) , p . 249 .

7.

Jenn i fe r L indsey and the Jane Gooda l l Ins t i t u t e ,

Jane Goo dall: 40 Years at

Gombe (New York: Stewart , Tabori

&

C h an g , 1 9 9 9 ) , p . 18.

8. Jenni fer Lindsey and the Jane Goodal l Inst i tu te , Jane Goodall: 40 Years at

Gombe (Ne w York: Stew art , Tabori 6k C ha ng , 1999), p .

18.

9. Steve Dale ,

An

In t e rv iew w i th Jane Goo da l l : W h at I Learned f rom

Dogs ," S tud io One Networks , h t t p :/ / w w w . t h ed o g d a il y .co m/ y o u _ d o g / mo m en t s /

archive/goodall_interview/(accessed

N o v emb er 1 5 , 2 0 0 4 ) .

10. All ison Lassieur,

When

I Was a Kid : Chi ldhood Exper i ences o f Famous

People , " National Geographic World (S ep t emb e r 1 9 9 9 ) : 11.

11.

Jane Gooda l l w i th Ph i l l i p Berman ,

Reason For Hope

(New York : Warner

Books, 1998), pp. 2 0 - 2 1 .

12. Lua ine Lee , ' "Re turn to Gombe ' w i th Jane Gooda l l on Animal P lane t , "

Knight

Ridder/Tribune

News Service,

Feb. 23, 2004, p . K4623.

13.

Sy M ontgomery ,

Walking with the Great Apes: Jane Goodall, Dian Fossey,

Birute Galdikas

(Boston: Houghton Miff l in , 1991), p . 29.

14. Jane Gooda l l w i th Ph i l l i p Berman , Reason For Hope (New York: Warner

Books, 1998), p . 23.

15. Jane Gooda l l w i th Ph i l l i p Berman ,

Reason For Hope

(New York : Warner

Books, 1998), p . 23.

16. Jane Gooda l l w i th Ph i l l i p Berman ,

Reason For Hope

(New York : Warner

Books , 1998) , pp . 29-30 .

http://www.thedogdaily.com/you_dog/moments/archive/goodall_interview/http://www.thedogdaily.com/you_dog/moments/archive/goodall_interview/http://www.thedogdaily.com/you_dog/moments/archive/goodall_interview/http://www.thedogdaily.com/you_dog/moments/archive/goodall_interview/


32/170

C hap te r 2

AFRICA CALLS

In the winter of 1952, 18-year-old Jane Goodall , fresh from her excursion

to Germany, came home to the Birches where she faced an uncer ta in

future. Unable to attend a university, and with no job prospects in sight,

Jane was at a loss about what lay ahead. Recalling this uncertain period

in her l ife , she wrote: "What would I do next? I only wanted to watch

and write about animals. How could I get started? How could I make a

living doing that?"

1

Goodall knew that the t ime had come to put as ide her dreams of t rav

eling, at least for the moment. For the eldest daughter of a middle-class

English family, there were more pressing matters at hand. She needed to

find work to help support the all-female household at the Birches. Again,

V an ne devised a solu tion: if Jan e too k classes to polish her typew riting,

shorthand, and bookkeeping skills , she could f ind a job as a secretary. As

Jan e recalled, "M um said secretaries could get jobs any wh ere in the world,

and I still felt my destiny lay in Africa."

2

LEARNING, LEARNING, LEARNING

In May 1953, Goodall enrolled at the Queen's Secretarial College in

So uth K ensington, just outside of Lo ndo n. She lived in the L ond on h om e of

Mrs.

Hilliet, th e m oth er of on e of Van ne's friends. Goo dall dutifully atte nd ed

classes during the week, but she was bored. Writing to a friend, Goodall

complained:

I'm

very nearly dead. This shorthand is terrible hard work,

and also rather monotonous as it only requires learning, learning, learning.

The typing is not too bad, but that again, is a little bit automatic."

3


33/170

14 J A N E G O O D A L L

Weekends were bet ter . As soon as she could, Goodal l escaped to the

Chantry, a prosperous apple farm in Kent tha t was the home of another

family fr iend. At the Chantry, Jane rode horses, took long walks, and

relaxed.

For tunate ly for Goodal l , by Apri l 1954 she had completed her t ra ining

and returned to the Birches. In no time, she was back in her former rou

t i n e .

She rode horses whenever she could, and renewed her crush on the

Congregat ional is t minis ter , Trevor Davies , though now her wri t ing about

him tended to be more i ronic than romantic . All the while , though, Jane

was th in ki ng abo ut how to realize he r desire to journey t o Africa a nd write

about animals. That summer, Goodall confided in a letter to a fr iend that

she ha d no t given up he r dream of beco m ing a journal is t , bu t now tho ug ht

th at to "write any thin g wo rth an yon e reading, I mu st hav e lived a few m ore

years and acquired a little experience of life, as they say."

4

In the meant ime , Gooda l l ea rned money by he lp ing he r aunt

Oily,

a physiotherapist , a t a local clinic. Many of Olly 's patients were young

children who had been paralyzed by polio, or who suffered from such

crippling ailments as muscular dystrophy and cerebral palsy. Goodall

t ranscr ibed Olly ' s comments on each case and then typed and f i led the

repor ts . Although she dreamed of going to Afr ica and pursuing a career

in journal ism,

GoodalPs

t ime a t the c l inic was not misspent . Working

day after day with the i l l and infirm, especially children, Jane 's empathy

grew for those who were weak and disabled. In fact, her first boyfriend was

a young man injured in a terr ible car crash and in a cast from his waist

to his ankles . W h e n w orking a t he r aunt ' s c l inic , G oo dal l v is i ted h er

uncle , who was a surgeon and who le t her watch him as he opera ted. As

a resul t of these exper iences, Goodal l developed a new sense of compas

sion and a deep gratitude for her good health. She also came to marvel at

the indomitable spir it of those who faced serious, debili tating, and often

painful injuries or illnesses.

OXFORD

In August 1954, Goodal l took advantage of an oppor tuni ty to move

to Oxford to work as a typist for the Oxford University Registry. Like her

other secre tar ia l jobs, th is one did not provide much s t imula t ion. But i t

enabled Jane to ea rn a decent income and to work in C la rendon House ,

one of the more interesting buildings at Oxford University. Built during

the ea r ly e igh teen th cen tury , C la rendon House boas ted grand double

entrance doors , la rge Doric columns, and magnif icent s ta tues tha t over

looked the grounds. Jane liked going to work in such an elegant sett ing.


34/170

A F R I C A C A L L S

15

She enjoyed bringing her pet hamster , Hamlette , with her everyday. Yet,

C la rendon House and Hamle t te were no t enough to a l lev ia te the drudg

ery of her work. She wrote to a fr iend that I have been miserable these

last few weeks because of the boredom of this foul job."

5

Still , she did enjoy living in Oxford. Her residence was a boarding

hous e located a t 225 W ood stock R oad. She beca m e c lose f riends w ith h er

roommates , a l l of whom were s ingle women near her own age . In addi

t ion, she met other congenia l young men and women a t work. Things

went well enough for Jane in Oxford. She had a decent job and pleasant

com pa nio ns. But Jan e soon grew frustrated and restless. N o th in g it seemed

could dispel her feelings of uncertainty about the future.

TO LONDON

By la te July 1955, Goodal l had moved once more , th is t ime to London

where she took a job a t Schof ie ld Product ions, a company tha t made

documentary f i lms. Goodal l ' s job a t Schof ie ld was more interest ing than

her former position: she selected the music for the films. The job offered

a welcome break from her dull secretarial duties. At Schofield, Goodall

learned a great deal about making f ilms, knowledge that later proved

invaluable to her . In addition, she made the most of l iving in London.

She took classes, attended lectures, went to concerts, and enjoyed an

active social l ife . Goodall enthusiastically wrote about the many gentle

men who called on her, sometimes referr ing to them by their full names

(David, Kei th , Horst , and Hans) . She referred to those who became

closer to her simply by using a letter , such as "B ." W h ile in Lon do n, Jan e

also saw more of her father; her letters home speak of their going to the

theater and to restaurants .

For the f i rs t t ime in a long t ime, Goodal l seemed content with , and

even enthusiastic about, her l ife . But in May 1956, Goodall 's fortunes

took a n unex pec ted turn , and she rea lized her dream of wo rking with , and

wri t ing about , animals might come true .

KENYA CALLING

By the m orn ing post on W ednesday, Decem ber 18, 1956, Jane received

an interest ing le t te r . Mailed with s tamps tha t depic ted e lephants and

giraffes, the letter had come from an old school friend, Marie Claude

Mange, who had moved to Kenya with her parents and had recent ly

bought a farm. Mange wrote to ask whether Jane would be interested in

coming to see her in her new home. Goodal l was dumbstruck. She could


35/170

16


not believe her good fortune. For so long, she had wanted to go to Africa,

and now, qui te unexpectedly, an oppor tuni ty to do so had come. Jane did

not hesi ta te . She was going.

The problem was tha t t ravel ing to Afr ica cost money, and Jane could

not afford to make the tr ip. She also knew that she had to raise the price

of a round-tr ip t icket, for Vanne would never let her go if she thought

Jane had no plans to re turn to England. In any event , ne i ther English

nor Kenyan author i t ies permit ted vis i tors to enter Kenya with a one-way

ticket, unless someone assumed legal responsibili ty for their welfare. Not

wishing burden Marie and her family, Goodall made up her mind to raise

the money she needed to purchase a round- tr ip t icket .

Jane gave notice that she intended to quit her job at Schofield shortly

after receiving Marie 's letter . She returned to the Birches where she could

live rent free. She took a job as a waitress in the Hawthorns, a local hotel.

In a letter written during late summer 1956, Jane explained: "I am work

ing myself absolutely to the bone. It really is dreadful during the peak of

the season. We only get one day off a fortnight [two weeks], two after

noon teas and one la te night per week."

6

Yet, despite her unhappiness

with th e job, G ood al l was saving a lot of mo ney. W ith each paych eck and

every tip, she moved a l i t t le closer to Kenya. She hid her money under

the carpet. After f ive months, Jane and her family shut the curtains one

evening and pul led up the carpet to see what she had saved. Much to her

del ight , Jane found tha t she had more than enough money to pay for a

round-tr ip passage to Kenya. She was nearly on her way.

Before she left, however, Jane had to disentangle herself from her

London beaus. In letters to her friends, she describes having to reject at

least two proposals of marriage. It was now that Jane began the slow retreat

from her familiar l ife and instead began to concentrate on what became

her destiny.

SAILING TOWARD DESTINY

"It is now 4

P.M.

on Thursday," wrote Goodal l on March 15, 1957,

"and I

still

find it difficult to belie ve th at I am o n my way to

Africa.

T h a t

is the

t h i n g — A F R I C A . "

7

Now that Jane ' s dream was coming t rue a t

last , i t seemed more than ever l ike a dream to her. That "the adventure,

the voyage to Tarzan's Africa, to the land of l ions, leopards, elephants,

giraffes, and monkeys had actually begun,"

8

that she was really on her

way to Africa, seemed incredible. All Jane 's efforts, however, might have

come to nothing, for a t the t ime she planned to leave , Great Br i ta in and

Egypt were at war. As a result , the Suez Canal, through which her vessel


36/170


17

would have to pass, closed the week before Jane was to sail . There was

a possibili ty that the voyage would be canceled. To her great

relief,

Jane

learned tha t the company decided to go forward with the t r ip , though she

had pay more for her t icket and spend an extra week at sea. For Jane, the

extra money and the inconvenience were worth i t .

Her send-off had been both a happy and sad occasion. Vanne and her

Uncle Er ic came to bid Goodal l bon voyage. The Kenya Castle, on which

she had booked passage, was a large passenger liner of the famed Castle

Lin e . Goodall l iked the ship because it was one of the few that did not

separate traveler 's quarters into steerage and f irst class. Although she had

to share a small s ta teroom with f ive other young women, these ar range

ments could not dampen Jane ' s exci tement . In three shor t weeks, she

reflected as the ship set sail, she would arrive in Africa. At the age of 23,

Goodal l sensed tha t th is journey involved more than a reunion with a

former classmate. It was, rather, the turning point of her life.

Gooda l l en joyed the voyage . When the Kenya Castle made for open

sea, she stood in the bow of the great ship and looked out over the water

that stretched in endless waves toward the horizon. She even liked the

stormy weather, and ventured out on deck to feel the sea spray against

her face. She made fr iends with her cabinmates and indulged in a few

shipboard f l i r ta t ions. Years la ter , Goodal l admit ted tha t while the human

faces from that voyage had grown somewhat hazy, she sti l l remembered

clearly her moods while watching the ocean, the sky, and the sea l ife .

She a lso recognized something important was happening to her : "I th ink

it was then, sail ing along just out of sight of land, that I made an uncon

sc ious commitment to Afr ica . The days of my chi ldhood, and of my ado

lescent preoccupat ion with phi losophy and the meaning of l i fe , of t ime,

of eternity, had come to an end."

9

Goodal l thought about a l l she had

learned growing up and began to see how her upbr inging, her schooling,

her deep love for the natural world, and even the horrors of the war had

readied her to enter the most significant stage of her life. She had no idea

of what lay ahead, but felt a growing confidence that she could meet the

new challenges without fear .

On the journey to Afr ica , the

Kenya Castle

visited four ports: the

Canary Is lands, Cape Town, Durban, and Beira . At each por t of ca l l ,

Goodal l was taken by the exot ic food, the heat , the markets , and the

people. But her experience was also tempered by a cruel dose of real

i ty . While in Cape Town, Goodal l came face to face with apar theid, a

prac t ice in South Afr ica tha t imposed s tr ic t segregat ion between blacks

and whites. Everywhere she looked she saw signs that read in Dutch

"S LEGS B LANC S " ( "WHI TES ONLY") . The s igns r e minde d he r o f the


37/170

18


treatment the Jews had received in Germany and e lsewhere in Europe

dur ing the

1930s

and the dark years of the Second World War . She never

forgot e i ther exper ience .

During the early hours of April 2, 1957, the

Kenya Castle

chugged into

the por t a t Mombasa , Kenya. For the next severa l hours , Goodal l made

he r way throu gh customs an d by no on was on a t ra in for N airob i s ta t ion, a

daylong journey from Mombasa. She was as entranced by the landscape of

East Africa as she had been by the sea. On the morning of April 3, which

also happened to be Goodall 's 23rd bir thday, she stepped off the train in

Nairobi where her f r iend, Clo Mange, Clo ' s fa ther , Roland, and another

fr iend named Tony were waiting to meet her . After gathering Goodall 's

belongings, they set out for the farm. Driving north, they soon entered

the White Highlands. Paved highways gave way to dir t roads. The t r ip

was long and uncomfortable, but at last the travelers arr ived at the small

t rading center of Naivasha and the greystones where the Mange family

farm was located. Goodall could hardly believe her eyes when she spied a

giraffe standing beside the road.

AN AFRICAN LIFE

For the next few weeks, Goodal l s tayed with the Manges on the ir

farm. She tr ied to make the most of every moment; she took in the crisp

mounta in a ir and the beaut iful c lear s t reams. She was enthra l led by the

m any different kinds of birds and was excite d to see the footprints of a gian t

leopard. For Goodall , Africa was almost a magical experience. As a young

girl, she had d ream ed of th e m om en t w he n she set foot in Africa. Now , m ore

than a decade later , she was standing on African soil .

Unfortunately, Goodall 's efforts to view African wildlife were ham

pered by polit ical chaos and bloodshed. Kenya was under British rule.

But by th e late 1940s, m any n ati ve K eny ans grew increasingly dissatisf ied

with being subjects of the British Empire and began to call for indepen

dence . Violence exploded throughout the country. On October 7 , 1952,

Chief Kungu Waruhiu, a strong supporter of the British, arr ived at the

Seventh Day Adventis t mission seven miles outs ide of Nairobi . Moments

later , bullets r iddled his car and killed him. The gunmen were Mau Mau

rebels, members of a secret society who had vowed to free Kenya from

Brit ish rule and dr ive the white man out . Already suspect of commit

t ing arson and s laughter ing ca t t le be longing to Br i t ish ranchers , the

Mau Mau's dramatic assassinat ion of Chief Waruhiu s tunned the Br i t ish

colonia l government , which, in response , declared a s ta te of emergency

in Kenya that lasted nearly eight years.


38/170


19

The home government in England dispatched t roops to he lp quel l the

violence and mainta in order . Colonia l author i t ies de ta ined more than

100,000

Kenyans in de ten t ion cam ps and ordered t roops to h u n t dow n an d

capture members

of

the Mau Mau. Despite these efforts and precautions,

the violence continued and, in fact, accelerated. The Mau Mau engaged

in horrif ic massacres, usually among those l iving in the more remote high

land regions of central Kenya. Yet, only 32 Europeans died as the result of

these attacks. The principal targets of the Mau Mau's rage and vengeance

were the more than 2,000 Kikuyu, a native Kenyan people who were loyal

to , and who cooperated with, Brit ish authorit ies. I t took another six years

of bloodle t t ing before the Br i t ish government granted Kenyan indepen

den ce. T h e brutali ty an d horro r of these eve nts affected G oo dal l deeply, as

much, certainly, as the stories of the Holocaust. Goodall never ceased to

be amazed at the pain human beings willfully inflicted on one another.

A SHAMEFUL EXPERIENCE

During her tim e with th e Man ges, Jane decided to do som ething she swore

she would never do again: go hunting. She later asked herself why she had

agreed to go along with an activity that she clearly found shameful and

despicable. Yet, she had to admit, at least to herself, tha t he r a t t r ac t ion

to a local young man fueled her participation in the hunt. Trying vainly

to impress him, Jane asked to r ide his horse, which had a reputation for

being difficult to han dl e. T h e horse ha d already th row n a nu m be r of r iders

more skilled than Jane, and was one of those horses that choose their own

master , consenting only to be r idden by his owner. Jane persisted, and the

young man finally but reluctantly agreed.

Jane mounted the horse, which at more than six feet tall , was the big

gest horse she had ever ridden. She set off with a group of other riders for

what she thought was nothing more than a r ide through bush country.

Not until i t was too late did Goodall realize that she was on a hunt for

jackal . To her immense

relief,

the hunters had bad luck tha t day and

shot nothing. Nonetheless , Jane was ashamed, even unwit t ingly, to have

again taken par t in an ac t ivi ty tha t she had come to condemn and loa the .

Angry a t her vani ty , Goodal l never par t ic ipa ted in another hunt .

A STEP CLOSER

In the three weeks since Jane had arr ived in Kenya, she busied herself

explor ing the countryside and observing the anim als . Jane , thou gh, of ten

had men on her mind. As a young woman, she was something of a f l ir t


39/170

20


and found no shortage of men eager to call on her. She even received, and

evidently entertained, one serious proposal of marriage. Jane also moved

in a privileged social circle. The primary focus of the group was on riding,

breeding, and racing horses, and Jane quickly established herself as a

capable r ider . But as for her romantic adventures, Jane never thought of

marrying a r ich man and becoming par t of the horsing se t in Kenya. She

enjoyed herself, but was consumed with other ambit ions.

In the fall of

1957,

after Goodall arr ived in Africa, Vanne wrote her

daughter a letter : "Sometimes now I feel you are utterly lost . That great

gorgeous pr imit ive cont inent has swallowed you

whole—you

are engulfed

in huge clouds of

heat—stolen

by a thousand a l ien

voices—utterly

remote from this t iny grey island where cold winds take the warmth from

the sun."

1 0

By now Goodall knew she wanted to stay in Africa and, in

some capaci ty , to work with and w ri te abou t anima ls . N o t wishing to tak e

further advantage of her hosts ' hospitali ty, Jane wanted to f ind a place of

her own and begin looking for a job. So it came about that she left for

Na i robi .

The capi ta l of Kenya, Nairobi is s i tua ted in the southern highlands.

N o t surprisingly, i t is th e eco no m ic and cu ltural cen ter of th e co untry,

in addition to being the hub of i ts polit ical l ife . The manufacture of tex

tiles,

c lothing, and t ranspor ta t ion equipment , a long with the processing

of food, dominated the economy of the c i ty , which a lso depended on an

extensive tourist trade.

Historically, Nairobi was part of an area once dominated by the Masai,

a nomadic people. Brit ish colonists actually established the modern city

in the la te nineteenth century as a ra i l road s top on the Mombasa-Uganda

l ine .

Betw een 1899 and 1905, N airo bi served as the B ritish pro vinc ial

capital for the region. In 1905, the city became the capital of the entire

British East Africa Protectorate. By the t ime Goodall arr ived in the late

1950s, th e city was also kn ow n as Ken ya C olo ny . A few years later, in 1 963 ,

Nairobi was sti l l the capital , but this t ime of an independent Kenya.

Thanks to her Uncle Er ic , Jane had managed to secure a job as a sec

retary for the Kenya Branch of a major British company. She found the

job to be extremely boring, but i t provided a steady paycheck, allowing

her to stay in Kenya. Her l iving quarters were modest. To keep expenses

to a minimum, she stayed in a local hostel that was cheap but comfort

able . Yet, she dreamed of finding a job that would fulfill her desire to work

with animals .

Within two months of taking up residence in Nairobi , Jane once more

enjoyed a busy social l ife that consisted of r iding, attending social events,

and going to dinner par t ies . At one of these numerous dinner par t ies , her

8/17/2019 Meg Greene - Ja

Documents

Meg Greene - Jane Goodall a Biography