Dame Valerie Jane Morris-Goodall was an English primatologist, anthropologist, and conservationist. She is best known for her study of chimpanzees and various primates, having become the leading expert in the field of research. Having been mentored under Louis Leakey, Goodall took to studying the chimpanzees that inhabited Gombe Stream National Park, Tanzania. She spent many years there where she learned that the primates displayed behavior very similar to humans. Her work was considered radical at the time, as she developed the habit of "humanizing" them and determining that the chimps had personalities. She was further shocked to discover that they were capable of having darker sides to them.
In 1977, she formed the Jane Goodall Institute which worked to further research on chimpanzees. She continued to fight for the primates and soon became an activist, giving speeches about her time in Tanzania and inspiring others to continue with protecting animals.
Goodall has actually had several notable ties to The Walt Disney Company. Under the National Geographic banner, Goodall was the subject of two documentaries: Jane, and Jane Goodall: The Hope, the latter of which was released on Disney+. For Fox, she voiced herself in an episode of The Simpsons. She also had a significant hand in developing Disney's Animal Kingdom for Walt Disney World Resort. A plaque dedicated to her, along with an image of David Greybeard, the first chimpanzee she observed, is featured on the Tree of Life. In 2024, it was announced that Disney was developing a biopic centered on her life, of which she will be listed as a producer.
She was also referenced near of the end the 1997 comedy George of the Jungle where Beatrice Stanhope, upon seeing the large assortment of gorillas, tells her husband that she feels like Goodall, only for Ape to tell her, "Madam, I knew Jane Goodall, and you are NOT Jane Goodall."
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- Despite spending her entire career studying primates, Goodall actually admitted that dogs were her favorite animal.
- She was diagnosed with prosopagnosia, otherwise known as face blindness.
- While not necessarily a confirmed cryptozoologist, Goodall was amused at, and openly willing to believe in, the idea of Bigfoot.
- Goodall was open to the idea of theistic evolution, having been raised in a Christian household.
