Primatologist Jane Goodall dies at 91
(NBC, KYMA) - Celebrated scientist Jane Goodall, who changed forever the way we think about chimpanzees, has passed away.
It was perhaps a basic instinct that chimpanzees recognized they had a friend in Jane Goodall.
The young British woman with little scientific training who went to Tanzania in 1960, and changed the way we look at these great apes by doing everything established scientists thought was wrong.
"When I got to Cambridge, finally, they were totally horrified...I had NAMED the chimps. I talked about them having personality. I talked about them having minds and rational thoughts, emotions, happiness, sadness, fears. And all of these things were supposed to be attributes only of humans," Goodall shared.
She discovered the chimps could make tools, described wars between groups of chimps and captivated the world.
"Fortunately, when I was a child. I had a great teacher who taught me that in this respect these erudite scientists were completely wrong. And that was my dog Rusty," Goodall remembered.
The child that fell in love with "Tarzan of the Apes" conducted her research as an adult by immersing herself in the chimps habitat for endless hours of observation, building trust with her subjects.
"Being out in the wild. You know, back when I dreamed of it, there was nobody doing anything like that," Goodall explained during her 2017 interview with Al Roker.
Goodall devoted her life to the protection of the chimps and the Earth, fighting against the destruction of forests, and more recently, climate change that threaten the endangered species.
"If all around the world, the importance of protecting and restoring forests was understood, that will go a long way toward mitigating the effects of climate change," Goodall remarked.
Goodall married twice and had one son, but her lasting legacy is the relationship forged in the wild.
"I want to be remembered for having helped people to understand the true nature of animals, that they do matter as individuals, that they do have a part to play in the scheme of things. They're not just objects, they're beings. They're a part of it," Goodall spoke.
In her later years, Goodall was outspoken on climate change around the world.
Earlier this year, Goodall was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by former President Joe Biden.
Goodall was 91.
