The House — Jane Goodall

Today in our weekly portrait series on the women of CASA the illustrious primatologist the one who names our brown-gray color: JANE GOODALL .

She was born on April 3, 1934 in London. Doctor Jane Goodall has upset the sciences of nature, ethology, and all our limited conceptions of “animal-machines”.

She conducted in Tanzania, the longest survey ever made on chimpanzees, living among them, studying them day and night. She observed that monkeys strip twigs and use them to “fish” for ants, treat themselves with medicinal plants, crack nuts with stones.

She showed that they each develop a personality, form families, recognize each other in a puddle, transmit knowledge to their young. His discoveries (1960) undermined the definition of “human being” at the time, which then attributed these behaviors exclusively to humans.

Thanks to his research, we now know that chimpanzees are biologically similar to humans and that we are “the third chimpanzee”, their close cousin.

Founded in 1977 in California, the JANE GOODALL INSTITUTE , takes its action within a global approach to the protection of biodiversity, assistance in the sustainable and equitable management of natural resources, and the education of the youngest.

The Jane Goodall Institutes now have thirty-eight offices around the world and are dedicated to the protection of great primates, the creation of animal sanctuaries, the study of animals, reforestation and development (Africa Programs). Some nine thousand JANE GOODALL – ROOTS & SHOOTS groups, designed to educate school children about environmental destruction, have been formed across 95 countries.

Dr. Jane Goodall has been honored for her work by the National Geographic Society, received the Benjamin Franklin Medal for the Life Sciences, the title of "Messenger of Peace" from the United Nations, the Gandhi-King Award for Non -violence – and she is an officer of the French Legion of Honor and a Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire.

She is the author of several important ethological books, essays and articles. It now travels the world and has given itself the essential mission of alerting public opinion to the dangers facing our planet and of changing individual behavior towards a better awareness of our environment.

This is the portrait of an indignant 82-year-old woman, a modern-day activist who, according to people who met her, always keeps a bright, frank smile.

Next week, we will introduce you to George Sand.

Sandra and Valentine.

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