Jane Goodall and Our Closest Relatives

Hello everyone,

Jane Goodall is someone I have admired since I was an animal loving 4th grader. For those of you who've never heard of Dr. Goodall, she is a philanthropist, primatologist, ethologist, anthropologist, animal rights activist, founder of the Jane Goodall Institute (JGI), and a United Nation's Messenger of Peace. 

In Dr. Goodall's early life, she decided, without any college education and care of what others thought of her, to move to Africa in 1960, specifically in the Gombe Reserve National Park in Tanzania, to pursue her dream of studying chimpanzees in person. When scientists caught word of this, they didn't take Dr. Goodall or her research efforts seriously. 

Surprisingly, it took Dr. Goodall two years to gain the chimps' trust. As the years went by, she discovered many relatable characteristics such as:

• Laughter
• Having lifelong relationships and familial bonds
• Tool utilization
• Mourning
• Playing
• Grooming
• The ability to empathize

Even more interesting, Dr. Goodall discovered their language which consists of twenty sounds. 

Chimpanzees share 98.8% of our DNA, according to the 

American Museum of Natural History. (Photo: Pixabay)

Sadly, our closest relatives are on the Endangered Species List due to:

• Poaching
• Deforestation
• Bushmeat hunting
• Exploitation for greed and entertainment

Even infants are stolen for profit. When chimps are stolen from their homes, they are then sold as pets, sold to labs for unethical scientific research, and to the entertainment industry. As disappointing as it may sound, the United States and Gabon are the only two countries in the world that continue to perform invasive, violent and disturbing experiments on chimpanzees. 

According to the World Wildlife Fund (WWF), there are now at least 150 000 to 250 000 chimpanzees left in the world. 

Fortunately, people like Dr. Jane Goodall continue the fight for ecological justice and preservation. After her time spent in Africa, she continued to educate people about the suffering of chimpanzees and the destruction of their environment. In 1977, she founded the Jane Goodall Institute (JGI) which strives to educate and inform people about primates, habitat preservation, and their well-being. With young people in mind, she created the Roots & Shoots Program. This program was designed to build a network of youth who want to learn about their communities and care for all living things and their environments. They have the amazing opportunity to practice environmental stewardship and peace. 

Dr. Goodall continues to travel the world to advocate for wildlife conservation. People have laughed at her, judged her efforts, and denounced her credibility. Of course, being the exceptional person she is, negativity hasn't prevented her work. She acquired her Ph.D. and has since dedicated six decades of her life to wildlife conservation and education. 

If you would like to gain a little more insight on chimpanzees, I recommend watching this video on National Geographic. It's about the lives of retired research chimpanzees. Don't worry, it's not graphic, just informative. Also, there are ways to fight deforestation. One of the great ways to do this is to purchase FCS-forest products (i.e. paper). For more information, click here. 

As the late and great Elie Wiesel once said, "There may be times when we are powerless to prevent injustice, but there must never be a time when we fail to protest."

Use your voice. It's stronger than you can imagine. 

Until next time! 

Nala