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  • And happy 85th birthday today.

  • [CHEERING]

  • 85, and you have been doing this for a long time.

  • And I mean, I've loved animals since I was a little kid.

  • But you loved animals and then really

  • immediately started working with them right away, right?

  • Well it was not that easy.

  • But I loved them when I was born.

  • I studied worms.

  • I saw the chickens.

  • I've studied all kinds of things.

  • I met Dr. Dolittle book when I was

  • eight, Tarzan when I was ten.

  • Of course, I fell in love with Tarzan.

  • Sure.

  • And what did he do?

  • He married the wrong Jane.

  • Right?

  • Anyway, that was when my dream began.

  • I will grow up, go to Africa, live with wild animals,

  • and write books about them.

  • You know, we weren't scientists in those days-- women.

  • And everybody laughed, except my mother.

  • And what she said to me is what I say to young people

  • around the world.

  • If your really want this, you have to work really hard,

  • take advantage of all opportunities,

  • but don't give up.

  • That's a good message to give to everyone, especially

  • young girls.

  • And it's amazing because so you were the first.

  • You went to study chimpanzees 1960.

  • Is that right?

  • That's correct.

  • And then Dian Fossey went with the gorillas in '67, I believe.

  • And then Biruté-- what's her name?

  • Galdikis.

  • And she studied orangutans.

  • That's right.

  • So it was three women who--

  • I mean, do you think there's a reason that they sent women

  • to do this?

  • Well, Leakey felt women made better observers.

  • And I think, you know, if you think back

  • over a woman's role in evolution,

  • we needed to be good mothers.

  • And for that, you need to be patient.

  • You need to understand the wants and needs

  • of a non-speaking little creatures.

  • And you really need to gauge the relationship between the family

  • members, so that little Tommy can be kept away from Uncle Joe

  • if uncle Joe is in a bad mood.

  • Right.

  • So when you were able to-- because you

  • can't do that anymore, where you can touch them and hold them.

  • I mean, I see--

  • I'm so jealous of that.

  • We're not allowed to do that.

  • But you actually interacted with these chimpanzees.

  • By the way, chimpanzees are the closest related to us.

  • They're 98%?

  • Well people differ.

  • 98.6 is what I was told.

  • And then next come gorilla, and then orangutan.

  • Right and gorillas at 97, I think.

  • And then 96 for--

  • We're all very close.

  • Yes.

  • So I mean, it's amazing that chimpanzees are so close to us.

  • Explain to people why it's important to, first of all care

  • about animals and protect them, and what it does for our planet

  • and for us.

  • Well, for me, animals are, you know,

  • they're part of our world.

  • And just because we can destroy our world

  • and exterminate species for ourselves

  • doesn't mean that we should do it.

  • I don't think we have the right to do it.

  • And we look in books and see dinosaurs.

  • I don't want my great grandchildren

  • to only know chimps and gorillas and giraffes and elephants

  • from books.

  • And so, you know, we are destroying our own future.

  • Yeah, and I want more people to educate themselves and see

  • what we are destroying.

  • I mean, look at that.

  • So you still are able to.

  • But that's probably a place where you're

  • releasing that one, right?

  • Yes.

  • She's being released into a beautiful forested island.

  • And that embrace she gave me, I'd

  • never met her until that day.

  • It's just that she knew somehow.

  • Yeah, well of course.

  • I mean, they're so intelligent.

  • Look at it.

  • Just because she's thanking you, saying,

  • I'm going back into the--

  • Yes, I mean, that guy there who's been looking after her,

  • you know, he said, how does she know this lady is

  • responsible for all this?

  • Well, of course, the chimp didn't know that.

  • But I think there is a connection.

  • Yeah.

  • Well, it's amazing.

  • And I watched last night the penguins.

  • It's a Disney nature series, right?

  • You saw Steve.

  • You met Steve.

  • I saw Steve, and I have questions.

  • How do we know for sure we followed Steve the whole time?

  • They look exactly alike.

  • And that may have been Steve sometimes,

  • and it may have been another.

  • Possibly.

  • I wasn't on that shoot.

  • But they were there four whole years.

  • And you see the conditions.

  • I think it's incredible, the footage that they got.

  • If you get a chance--

  • You must see it.

  • You must see it.

  • And you show your children to see how incredible they are.

  • And that's the little baby.

  • And what they do, and how the fathers

  • take care of the babies and the eggs

  • as much as the mother does.

  • And it's incredible.

  • So hopefully, because really, they worked on it,

  • like you said, four years.

  • Four years.

  • And it starts on the 17th.

  • And the first week, all the money

  • goes to support penguin research through the wildlife

  • conservation network.

  • That's pretty amazing.

  • That is pretty amazing.

  • It's a fantastic-- I hope you watch it.

  • It's Disneynature's Penguins.

  • It opens in theaters April 17th.

  • And thank you so much for being here.

  • Thank you.

  • Dr. Jane Goodall.

  • We'll be back.

And happy 85th birthday today.

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