On July 4, 1960, 26-year-old Jane Goodall arrived at Gombe Stream Game Reserve in Tanzania to study the behavior of chimpanzees. Through her accounts of the drama-filled lives of Fifi, David Greybeard and other chimps, she showed that these apes share many traits previously thought to be unique to humans. These days the 76-year-old Goodall works to save endangered chimps and their habitats. Scientific American recently reached Goodall by phone in Hong Kong, where she was commemorating the 50th anniversary of the start of her work in Gombe. Edited excerpts from the conversation follow.

Scientific American: When you first arrived at Gombe, what were your preconceptions about chimpanzees?

This article was originally published with the title Jane of the Jungle.

3 Comments

1. 1. edromar 06:02 PM 12/4/10

   Jane Goodall is such a b eautiful and intelligent person whose beauty is reflected in her FACE. iT IS ENOUGH TO MAKE ME RESUME pAINTING FACIAL PORTRAITS IN MY OLD AGE NOW THAT i CAN BETTER SEE TRUE BEAUTY!

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2. 2. edromar 06:07 PM 12/4/10

   I was pretty good aT AINTING THE BEAuty od adolescents in my youth in 1960 (9SEE MY PORTRAIT OF Princess kISSLUK puNGOWI). But I was blind to some other beauty that I never tried to paint. Thanka for revealing that to me!

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3. 3. edromar 06:12 PM 12/4/10

   Sorry! When I clicked on Kissluk to enlarge my painting od her, she hid somewhere. Maybe you can find her.

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