In the 1960s a young British woman with no scientific training traveled to Tanzania to pursue her dream of living in the jungle and to study the habits of one of our closest relatives: the chimpanzee. He was the first person to verify that these primates perform tasks that until then had only been attributed to our species , such as the use of tools, a discovery that surprised the world and the scientific community. Since then, Jane Goodall has not stopped working and fighting to know and conserve this species, and travels the world to publicize her work and raise awareness of the importance of preserving our planet .
Taking advantage of Jane Goodall’s visit to Spain, the Muy Interesante team was able to speak with the primatologist at the conference organized by National Geographic Store Madrid. And it is that this tireless fighter still has the strength to continue spreading her message and infect those around her with her love and passion for chimpanzees.
You lived in the jungle for a long time. What were your best and worst moments there?
There were thousands of good moments, but it was really wonderful when one of the older females lost her fear, to the point of letting her five month old calf come up to me and touch me. It was a very special moment.
The hardest moments in the jungle had nothing to do with the chimpanzees. The worst thing was when I had to climb a steep slope and some rock moved, or I slipped, since it was very dangerous, I was always alone, and several times I had the feeling that I was going to die. On one occasion, a huge rock fell off the cliff and pounced on me. Luckily it didn’t hit me on the head, although it dislocated my shoulder. If I had fallen off the cliff, I would no longer be here counting it.
What is a day like in the life of a chimpanzee?
It is different depending on the individual. If, for example, you are a mother with a baby , you will get up in the morning, eat something, maybe you will meet another mother with her child, you will feed together, you will rest a little and then you will separate. You may come across a couple of males, feed yourself, and then build your nest for the night. Other times, if you are part of a group, you will get up, and there will surely be a lot of ruckus, with the males jumping and screaming. Then you will go to guard the borders, you will come into contact with the members of other neighboring communities , perhaps there will be a great fight, you can also go hunting monkeys , or have dominance conflicts with other members of the group … every day is different.
Did you communicate with chimpanzees?
No. I wanted to know how chimps communicate with each other, not with me.
You were the secretary of the famous anthropologist Louis Leakey. What was it like working for him?
He was a very interesting man. It could be very abrupt, because he was so absorbed in his thoughts that sometimes he did not say hello, nor did he realize that we were there, things like that. He had a lot of character, but he was a genius, and I was very lucky to work with him, I learned a lot.
A few days ago he visited the Atapuerca deposit. What were your impressions?
It was wonderful to go to the museum and see everything they have there, but more exciting was visiting the site and imagining what it was like to live there, with all those prehistoric creatures around : the birds, the saber tooth tigers, the hippos … I felt very lucky to think of all that.
A few weeks ago the United States announced that it will stop funding projects that experiment with chimpanzees. What do you think of this article?
Well, obviously I’m happy. In Spain, for example, it would be very easy to stop experimentation projects with chimpanzees, because they do not experiment with them, although they do with monkeys, and monkeys are raised for research. It is true that the European Union has made great strides in regulation to protect these and other species . The problem is to implement the new law, that is where many countries are left out. The law is a paper, but its entry into force is something else.
A few days ago he went to the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona to promote his mobile recycling project. What does it consist of?
Yes, the Jane Goodall Institute of Spain is carrying out this project. They are reused to extract coltan and other minerals, thus preventing conflicts in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. With the money obtained, projects are supported to improve the living conditions of people and chimpanzees in Africa.
How is the crisis affecting your work?
The crisis affects us, of course. When there are cuts , we have to scour heaven and earth in search of the necessary financing to continue our work, a very difficult task in the context of the economic recession. It is hard, because we are responsible for the lives of chimpanzees and we have to find that money.
You always explain that with our lifestyle we can protect the environment and help the conservation of chimpanzees. What can an individual person do to help your cause?
When you become aware of the enormity of the problems you almost always think: ‘I am a person, I cannot do anything.’ And this is true if only one person acts, but the sum of the efforts of many people can change things. If everyone thought about the consequences of their choices: in what they buy, eat, wear, in the way they interact with people, animals, the environment … if everyone thought about that, at the collective level there would be enormous changes . This is the most important message we want to convey in our youth programs.
