Jane Goodall Reading Comprehension Lesson

Into the Forest

Jane Goodall was born on April 3, 1934, in London, England. From the time she was very young, Jane had a passionate curiosity about animals. As a child, she once sat in a henhouse for four hours waiting to see how a chicken laid an egg. Her mother, rather than scolding her for disappearing, listened eagerly to Jane’s report. That patient curiosity would define Jane’s entire career.

Jane did not have a university degree when she traveled to Africa in 1957 to visit a friend. She was 23 years old and had saved up money working as a waitress and a film librarian. While in Kenya, she managed to meet Louis Leakey, a famous paleontologist and anthropologist who was looking for a researcher to study wild chimpanzees in Tanzania. Leakey believed that someone without formal scientific training might make a better observer — someone who would watch without preconceptions. He hired Jane.

In 1960, Jane began her work at the Gombe Stream Chimpanzee Reserve (now Gombe National Park) in Tanzania. At first, the chimpanzees fled whenever they saw her. She spent months quietly sitting near them, letting them grow accustomed to her presence. Gradually they accepted her, and she began to observe their behavior in detail that no scientist had ever documented before.

Discoveries and Conservation

Jane’s most famous discovery came in 1960, when she observed a chimpanzee — whom she had named David Greybeard — stripping leaves from a twig to make a tool for extracting termites from a mound. Until that moment, scientists believed that only humans made and used tools. When Jane sent word to Leakey, he famously replied: “Now we must redefine tool, redefine man, or accept chimpanzees as humans.” The discovery made headlines around the world and fundamentally changed the scientific understanding of the boundary between humans and other animals.

Jane also documented that chimpanzees have complex social lives: they form lasting family bonds, show emotions like joy, grief, and fear, and even engage in warfare with neighboring chimp groups. She named the individual chimps she studied and described their distinct personalities — a practice that was controversial at the time but is now standard in animal behavior research. She went on to earn a Ph.D. in ethology from Cambridge University in 1965, one of the few people ever to receive a Cambridge doctorate without an undergraduate degree.

Today Jane Goodall is as well known for her environmental advocacy as for her science. In 1977 she founded the Jane Goodall Institute, which works to protect chimpanzees and their habitats and to empower local communities in Africa. She also founded Roots & Shoots, a global youth environmental program active in more than 60 countries. Jane travels nearly 300 days a year, speaking about conservation and the importance of individual action. She has received the United Nations’ Messenger of Peace designation and countless honorary degrees. Now in her 90s, she remains one of the world’s most passionate advocates for nature.

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