Jane Goodall
Goodall, Jane (1934–), an English zoologist. Through her research on chimpanzees, begun in the 1960's, Goodall made many discoveries that advanced the understanding of nonhuman primates. Among these discoveries were that chimpanzees hunt animals for meat and modify natural objects to use as tools. Her work also showed that chimpanzee groups have social hierarchies established by means of complex behavior.
Goodall was born in London. In 1957 she went to Africa and became secretary to the anthropologist Louis Leakey. He encouraged her to study the behavior of chimpanzees at the Gombe Stream Reserve in Tanganyika (now Tanzania). Goodall began a field study there in 1960; her research continued for decades and became the longest such study ever made of an animal in its natural habitat. She received a Ph.D. from Cambridge University in 1965. She was an active conservationist and founded the Jane Goodall Institute for Wildlife Research, Education and Conservation in 1977.
Among Goodall's books are In the Shadow of Man (1971); The Chimpanzees of Gombe (1986); Through a Window (1990); and Reason for Hope: a Spiritual Journey (1999), with Phillip Berman.