Redefining human-animal relationship

Dr. Goodall's passion for animals prompted her to accept the proposal from the celebrated anthropologist Louis Leakey to collect data on chimpanzees in Tanzania. She started her research in 1960 when she was only 26. Her time in Africa's jungles led to a series of remarkable discoveries of their behaviors, including making and using tools for probing into termite tunnels, killing and eating monkeys, begging with outstretched hands, patting, embracing, and many more. Each chimp has its unique character, a mind of its own and its own emotional inclination. They can develop a lasting relationship between family members and engage in brutal warfare with one another. These findings injected brand new information into the field of primatology, rocked the scientific world and redefined the relationship between humans and animals. Dr. Leakey therefore proclaimed: "Now we must redefine 'tool,' redefine 'man,' or accept chimpanzees as humans." And Harvard's Stephen Jay Gould would call Dr. Goodall's observation "one of the great achievements of twentieth-century scholarship."

Not only did she uncover many mysteries surrounding chimpanzee communities and correct many longstanding misconceptions prevailing in academic until then. Through her unparalleled knowledge, she also helped to guide the U.S. National Institutes of Health through a pivotal change in the U.S. biomedical research: ending invasive research on chimpanzees, preventing them from being abused, giving them adequate living space, and strategically relocating them to federal sanctuaries for retirement.

From science to action, advocating nature and wildlife conservation

Her fieldwork on chimpanzees, originally scheduled to take only 5 years, has been going on for more than 60 years, the longest running wildlife study on the planet at the moment. In 1977, she established the Jane Goodall Institute to promote wildlife conservation and educate people on environmental protection. It has more than 30 offices around the world now, including one in Taiwan, which was set up in 1998.

After attending the first "Understanding Chimpanzees" conference in Chicago in 1986, Dr. Goodall became alert to the global scale of the destruction of chimpanzees' habitats and realized that no matter how shy and reserved she was innately, it was time to come forward. When in a conference venue, she can just be a scientist. Outside of it, she has to assume the persona of an activist for wildlife conservation and environmental education. From then on, she became more vocal about the rights chimpanzees should be given.