I love to write - it is a great source of reflection, especially as I continue to meet many new inspiring people. Jane Goodall More Quotes by Jane Goodall More Quotes From Jane Goodall As a child, we couldn't afford holidays overseas, so instead I travelled through books. I was inspired by Dr Dolittle and Tarzan. Jane Goodall holiday book children I wasn't trying to be a scientist. I only ever wanted to be a naturalist, like a David Attenborough. Jane Goodall naturalist scientist trying The chimpanzees taught me a lot about nonverbal communication. The big difference between them and us is that they don't have spoken language. Everything else is almost the same: Kissing, embracing, swaggering, shaking the fist. Jane Goodall kissing differences communication I always loved animals. And when I was ten, I decided I had to go to Africa and live with animals and write books about them. Jane Goodall writing animal book Maternal behavior helps when you have to be patient with nonverbal creatures. Jane Goodall patient behavior helping When I was a child, the African forest sounded like a dream to me, because it was full of animals and it was wild. Jane Goodall dream animal children The more we spread the word, the further it will go and more it will change! Jane Goodall spread Nothing is more precious than your baby. Jane Goodall baby There are many people out there (me being one of them) who can vouch that animals have feelings; they feel compassion and love, as well as pain! Jane Goodall pain compassion animal You have to realise that touching is a real violation of personal space. Jane Goodall touching space real A good mother is protective but not over-protective. She's patient, she's affectionate, she's playful, but above all she is supportive. Jane Goodall supportive patient mother I think the most important thing to do is to be willing to listen, willing to care, and willing to admit mistakes and change your ways for the better! Jane Goodall important mistake thinking Chimpanzees are incredibly intelligent. They can learn more than 400 signs of American Sign Language. They have memories for spatial distribution, like numbers on a TV screen, way better than ours. You come onto the emotions: happiness, sadness, fear, and despair - all the things for which I was accused of being anthropomorphic when I ascribed them to chimpanzees. Jane Goodall sadness intelligent memories Whales, like elephants, are so social and intelligent. This hurts me to think of them being transported, put in noisy airplanes, and brought to a horrible concrete pen when they're supposed to be out in the sea. Jane Goodall airplane intelligent hurt The awful thing is we don't respect each other. Jane Goodall awful respect-each-other People say, "Oh, we ought to fight for animal rights." We fought for human rights, but even if humans have rights, they can still be horribly abused and are every day. You don't have to go to some far off land, far away place; we have a lot of child abuse in our own society. Jane Goodall fighting animal children We now know that the structure of the DNA in humans and chimpanzees differs by only just over one percent. You could even have a blood transfusion from a chimp, provided you have the same blood group. Jane Goodall groups dna blood Chimpanzees can be quite political. Jane Goodall chimpanzees political Of course we're all programmed genetically to some extent. But the "selfish gene" thesis doesn't explain everything. Jane Goodall thesis genes selfish Even in chimps there is true altruistic behaviour; behaviour that doesn't fit into the sociobiological model that says you either help a close relative and thereby your own genes, or you help somebody else now in return for their help in the future. When a very high-ranking male chimpanzee rescues a little orphan, saving his life, that kind of explanation doesn't work. Jane Goodall saving return littles
