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  • Hi I'm Sofia Malone

  • and you're watching Herstory.

  • Today I'm going to be Jane Goodall,

  • let's go bananas.

  • Jane Goodall was born April 3rd, 1934 in London, England.

  • She was like, “Pip pip cheerio."

  • When Jane was one

  • her father got her

  • a cute little stuffed animal Chimp,

  • and she was like, “Your name is Jubilee."

  • On Jane's exact fourth birthday

  • her sister Judy was born.

  • I wonder how Jane felt about that,

  • sharing every single birthday with her little sister.

  • Jane loved animals so much and she decided,

  • When I grow up I'm going to live in Africa."

  • In 1952, Jane's parents divorced,

  • she stayed in touch with her father

  • but she was much closer with her mother.

  • After graduating high school,

  • Jane got a job at a company

  • that made documenting films.

  • Those are films that tell stories about stuff.

  • She hadn't forgotten about her dream to work with animals

  • but it would be really hard

  • because she didn't have a college degree,

  • plus she was a woman.

  • Back in those days, women usually just became teachers or nurses.

  • In 1956, Jane got a note from a family friend

  • who bought a farm in Kenya, Africa.

  • Jane was like,“oh my gosh, hurray cheerio folks, I'm going to Africa."

  • Jane worked as a waitress

  • to save up enough money

  • and finally, she left for Africa

  • on March 13th, 1957.

  • She traveled for weeks,

  • three weeks by boat to get there.

  • At a party, Jane met

  • a famous scientist Louis Leakey,

  • who lived in Kenya

  • and found fossils from the earliest humans.

  • He offered Jane a job

  • and taught her all about chimpanzees

  • like, “Did you know that wild chimps are only found in Africa?"

  • Jane loved studying chimps so much

  • that in July 1960, she was like, “I'm moving,"

  • and moved to Gombe Stream game reserve.

  • Jane lived in a tent by herself out of the wild

  • and the African government didn't like it,

  • so her mum came to live with her.

  • Studying chimps was not easy,

  • Jane had to carry around binoculars

  • a blanket, food, and coffee.

  • She had to wear the same clothes every single day

  • and crawled through vines

  • and got bit by flies and cut by sharp grass.

  • When she tried to get close to the chimps,

  • they ran away.

  • Soon Jane and her mother

  • both got very sick with malaria.

  • They had no medicine

  • so they were sick for two weeks,

  • can you imagine being all like [coughs]

  • and for two weeks?

  • After they got better,

  • Jane's mother was like, "I'm too old for this,"

  • and went back to England

  • but Jane stayed in Africa.

  • Finally, there was a chimp

  • who accepted Jane,

  • she named him David Greybeard

  • because of his grey hair on his chin.

  • He came up to Jane,

  • looked at her, took a fruit from her.

  • That was so cool,

  • that was the closest as a chimp had ever gotten to her.

  • She noticed that he used a blade of grass to poke holes

  • and used leaves as washcloths.

  • The National Geographic Society

  • gave Jane enough money

  • for another year of research

  • When she told them about David Greybeard.

  • In August 1963,

  • Jane's first article came out in National Geographic Magazine,

  • but she couldn't also take photos

  • so Mr Leakey arranged

  • a young photographer to join Jane.

  • His name was Hugo Van Lawick,

  • Hugo was like," hey," and Jane was like, “hi,"

  • and soon they fell in love.

  • Aww so romantic and they got married in London on March 28th, 1964.

  • Mr Leakey wanted the world to accept

  • Jane as an expert

  • so he helped her

  • get into Cambridge University in England.

  • Cambridge allowed Jane's work

  • with the chimps to count

  • toward a college degree.

  • In 1965, Jane completed her doctorate

  • and now is called Dr Jane Goodall.

  • She loved being like,

  • “I'm a woman and I'm a doctor, snap that."

  • In 1967, Jane and Hugo had a son,

  • his name was also Hugo

  • but everyone called him Grub.

  • Jane grew more and more famous,

  • she wrote a book called

  • In the Shadow of the Man

  • that came out in 1971

  • and it was a best seller.

  • It was even translated

  • into 50 different languages.

  • She also had a program on TV called

  • Miss Goodall and the Wild Chimpanzees.

  • Unfortunately, after 10 years of marriage,

  • Jane and Hugo got divorced.

  • She was like, “Bye bye, see you later,"

  • and got remarried to some guy

  • named Derek Bryceson.

  • In 1977, Jane Goodall Institute was set up

  • to continue the study of chimps

  • and protect them and other wild animals.

  • She also started programs

  • Like Take Care that planted trees in Africa

  • and ChimpanZoo

  • that helped chimps in zoos

  • get bigger living spaces

  • and make their homes more like nature.

  • Jane still lives in Tanzania today

  • and spends most of her time

  • traveling the world,

  • giving talks about things

  • that are important to her.

  • And the rest you ask, the rest?

  • That's herstory. Thanks for swinging.

Hi I'm Sofia Malone

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