Jane Goodall

This passage is about a female scientist named Jane Goodall, who was famous for studying apes and monkeys.

Lexile Level: 610L

Categories: People & Places Animals & Nature

Dr. Jane Goodall is a famous primatologist. A primatologist is someone who studies apes and monkeys. As a little girl, Jane dreamed of living in Africa. She wanted to work with animals. At 23, Jane finally visited Africa. While she was there, she met Dr. Louis Leakey. Dr. Leakey hired Jane to study chimpanzees in Tanzania. Some people were worried about a woman going into the forest alone. So in 1960, Jane's mother came with her to Gombe National Park. Her mother only stayed a few months. But Jane lived in the forest with the chimps for many years. During her research, she saw two chimps make a tool with twigs. The chimps used the tool to get termites to eat. Scientists had thought only humans made tools. They were wrong. Jane also discovered that the chimps, like humans, have many emotions. Over the past 40 years, she has written many books about the chimps.