Jane Goodall (born
April 3,
1934) is a
primatologist and
anthropologist conducting a forty-year study of
chimpanzee social and family life in
Africa. She was instrumental in recognition of social learning, thinking, acting, and culture in wild chimps, their differentiation from the
bonobo, and the inclusion of both species along with the
gorilla as
Hominids.
One of Goodall's biggest contributions to the field of primatology was the discovery of tool use in chimpanzees. She discovered that some chimpanzees poke twigs into termite holes. The termites would grab onto the stick with their mandibles and the chimpanzees would then just pull the stick out and eat the termites.
One of cartoonist Gary Larson's The Far Side cartoons shows two chimps grooming, one finding Jane Goodall's hair in the fur of the other. The Goodall institute complained that this was in bad taste; however an appeal to Jane Goodall herself revealed that she found the cartoon amusing; since then, all profits from sales of the t-shirt featuring this cartoon go to the Jane Goodall Institute.
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