By: William Lin

When thinking of the leading expert on chimpanzees in the world, people’s first thought would most likely be Jane Goodall. Goodall was born in 1934, but she was different from other children during her childhood. While other children were still playing with dolls, Goodall was already reading and exploring nature became her definition of fun.

In 1957, Goodall brought her dream of seeing her favorite animals’ habitats firsthand to life by visiting a famous paleoanthropologist named Louis Leakey in Kenya, Africa. Louis Leakey was looking for a person to study apes in order to find the connection between chimpanzees and early human history. Leakey knew Goodall would be the perfect person for the job.

Goodall started her journey studying chimpanzees in Tanzania in 1960, but she did not study the chimpanzees in the usual way. Instead, Goodall acted like the chimpanzees and ate just like the chimpanzees in order to gain their trust. This gave Goodall more opportunities to study the chimpanzees more closely.

In 1977, Goodall established the Jane Goodall Institute to provide research, care, and education about wildlife. Despite this accomplishment, she had a bigger goal. Due to deforestation and climate change that are annihilating the habitat of the animals, Goodall increased the protection of chimpanzees, provided habitats, and restored the old habitats of chimpanzees in order to help them be safe and healthy.

Jane Goodall’s contributions to chimpanzees have helped people nowadays learn more about this intelligent species. She also protected their lives. Jane Goodall dedicated her whole life to proving that “Every individual matters. Every individual has a role to play. Every individual makes a difference,” — Jane Goodall.

Source: https://eb18600f7bb2916037f5ee8e636ce199.cdn.bubble.io/f1688330210380x218651064451077950/TIME%20for%20Kids%20_%20Making%20a%20Better%20World.pdf