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At any given moment, Jane Goodall is most likely on an airplane. She travels an incredible amount of the time, giving lectures, visiting zoos and chimpanzee sanctuaries, and meeting young people involved in her Roots & Shoots (R&S) global environmental and humanitarian education program.
"Dr. Jane", as many children call her, spends most of her time spreading her conservation message and vision of cooperation all over the world. Unfortunatley this means she is not able to spend much of her time at the Gombe Stream Research Centre, the site of more than 40 years of study on wild chimpanzees.
Jane is always publishing new books about her life and working with the chimpanzees. Other members of her research team also publish books and articles about their work at the Gombe Stream Research Center.
Jane very much enjoys hearing from people interested in chimpanzees and in her work. She receives hundreds of letters and answers as many as she can, particularly letters from children. Those she can't find the time to answer she passes along to colleagues who will respond on her behalf.
Dr Jane spends her time traveling all over the world, all year long, to talk with adults and children about conservation and the ability we all have as human beings to make a difference. She values the hope, creativity, and energy of children, taking their questions and input seriously. Jane often spends time meeting young people involved in her Roots & Shoots global environmental and humanitarian education program to learn what they are doing for the environment and animals in their community.
From childhood, Jane wanted to go to Africa to live with animals and to write about them. Her family was not wealthy, and Jane's dream was very unconventional for a girl during that time. Nevertheless Jane's mother had always told her that if she tried hard enough and believed in herself, she would find a way.
In 1956, a close friend named Marie-Claud (know as 'Clo') Mange invited her to Kenya. To earn money for her fare to and from Africa, Jane quit her job, moved back home and became a waitress. That summer she "worked herself to the bone." Finally, in 1957, Jane embarked on her ocean voyage to Kenya. When she arrived, she met the famed anthropologist and archaeologist Louis S.B. Leakey, who hired her as an assistant. After some time, Leakey asked Jane if she would be interested in studying a group of wild chimpanzees in Tanzania.
Although Jane mostly observes the chimpanzees, sometimes she and other scientists have to communicate a message -- for example, that they are not threats. They will do this by avoiding direct eye contact with the chimpanzees and using a submissive posture (such as a crouch).
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