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[1] Jane Goodall was interested in the outdoors since childhood, but it was one toy she received as a toddler that would send her on her life's path: a stuffed animal, a chimp named Jubilee.
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[2] Valerie Jane Morris-Goodall was born on April 3rd, 1934, in London, England. While staying on a farm at age 4, she hid for hours in a hen house just to see how hens lay eggs, while her worried family called police to report her missing.
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[3] It was after reading The story of Dr. Dolittle at age 8 when she knew she just had to get to Africa.
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[4] At age 12, she founded her own nature club, the Alligator Society. Members were required to identify 10 dogs, 10 trees, 10 birds, and five butterflies or moths.
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[5] In May 1956, a friend invited her to visit the family farm in Kenya. Jane waitressed to earn the round-trip boat fare. She arrived in Africa in April 1957.
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[6] While there, she met famed anthropologist Dr. Louis Leakey. He hired Jane as his secretary and set her up to study chimpanzees in Tanzania.
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[7] In 1960, Jane arrived at the Gombe Stream Chimpanzee Reserve in western Tanzania with her mother as her chaperone.
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[8] At first, the chimps ran whenever they saw her, but she was persistent. Eventually, they allowed her to get closer to them.
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[9] Jane observed chimpanzee behavior that was previously unknown, such as hunting and eating meat, as well as the use of tools.
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[10] After hearing of Jane's discoveries, Dr. Leakey said, "Now we must redefine tool, redefine man, or accept chimpanzees as humans."
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[11] In 1963, National Geographic published an article about Jane for the first time. They had sent a photographer, Hugo van Lawick, to document Jane's life.
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[13] At Dr. Leakey's urging, Jane got her PhD⁽¹⁾ in ethology from Cambridge University in 1965. She was one of eight people who got a PhD without first getting a bachelor's degree.
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[14] Work demands took its toll on the marriage, and Jane and Hugo divorced in 1974. Jane married Derek Bryson, the head of the Tanzania National Park, in 1975. He died in 1980.
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[15] Through Jane's writings, the average person got to know the lives of chimpanzees of Gombe. When one chimp, Old Flo, died in 1972, the London Times even printed an obituary.
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[16] In 1977, she founded the Jane Goodall Institute to benefit the people in Africa who are living in poverty and to spread the word about conserving animals in nature.
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[17] Jane has founded several educational programs, including Roots & Shoots, an environmental educational program for young people.
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[18] In 2002, Jane's work got the attention of the United Nations when then-Secretary-General Kofi Annan appointed her as United Nations Messenger of Peace. She was reappointed in 2007.