Jane stayed at that spot, now Gombe Stream National Park, in Tanzania. And they seemed to have their own set of chimp etiquette and could be kind or cruel to each other. And kind of like birds, they build complicated nests to sleep high in the trees. I think it was one of the proudest and most exciting moments of my whole life.īRIGGS: Jane Goodall made all kinds of incredible discoveries about chimpanzees: I shall never forget the day after about 18 months, when for the first time a small group allowed me to approach and be near them. GOODALL: The chimps very gradually came to realize that I was not dangerous after all. And from this vantage point I was able to gradually piece together the daily behavior of the chimps.īRIGGS: And eventually she was able to watch them close up and pioneered the study of chimpanzees in their natural habitat. JANE GOODALL (film clip): I discovered not far from camp that there was a peak overlooking two valleys. Jane spent months watching the chimpanzees and slowly introducing them to her presence. He thought observing great apes could help us understand how ancient humans lived.Įspecially chimpanzees, because they are so similar to humans-they are tied with bonobos as our closest living genetic relatives. She was 26 years old and destined to make scientific history.īRIGGS: Jane Goodall had been hired to go on this expedition in what is now Tanzania by an anthropologist named Louis Leakey. Then, in 1960 a daring young Englishwoman set out to sort fiction from truth.īRIGGS: It’s probably not too hard to guess whom this documentary is about. Even in modern times, knowledge of the elusive creature-the wild chimpanzee-was largely based on speculation. It’s been 60 years since Jane Goodall did her pioneering research, and since then, new generations of conservationists are stepping up to protect Africa’s most endangered chimps today.īRIGGS: I’d like to play you a little clip from a National Geographic documentary released way back-well, not that way back for some of us-in 1984: Among the Wild Chimpanzees.ĭocumentary voice-over: For centuries there were fearsome tales of a half-human monster roaming the African forests. This week, we meet a trio of women dedicated to learning all we can about Africa’s chimpanzees. I’m Amy Briggs, executive editor of National Geographic History magazine, and you’re listening to Overheard, a show where we eavesdrop on the wild conversations we have here at Nat Geo and follow them to the edges of our big, weird, beautiful world. And then we use the GPS coordinates from that particular location to trace them back later-this time around to get them arrested and destroy their farms and their campsite.īRIGGS: This forest that Rachel watches over is one of the last strongholds of a unique group of chimpanzees that could become extinct in just a few years. It's taking record of that particular position. So, of course, in his mind, he's thinking, Yeah, she must be right, that she's just a student because it doesn't make any sense that a woman is doing what I am doing.īRIGGS: But under all that pressure, in the back of her mind Rachel was already thinking of coming back to reclaim this small patch of forest.ĪSHEGBOFE: Right there, my GPS is on. Have you seen any monkeys lately? So, yeah, that was my strategy to avoid being killed.ĪSHEGBOFE: For a typical Nigerian-an average Nigerian man-it's unthinkable that a woman-an educated woman-would go into the forest. So I played in that female card like, Oh, just a woman researcher student who is going into the forest looking for monkeys. So I used the other weapon, which is natural to me, or to any woman. But if these men knew who she really was, they might not let her and her colleague leave.ĪSHEGBOFE: They were armed and we are not. But usually she’s prepared with motorcycles, guns, and lots of backup. Rachel is the project director for a forest conservation group and sometimes comes to uproot farms like this one. Marijuana is illegal in Nigeria and so is farming in protected forests. Unauthorized use is prohibited.īRIGGS: Rachel was in trouble.
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