Jane Goodall became famous almost overnight when she observed chimpanzees stripping a branch to make a spear–when told of her discovery Louis Leaky, who had hired her to observe the chimps noted, “ “We must now redefine man, redefine tools, or accept chimpanzees as humans.”
On World Animal Day We Explore Jane Goodall's Hidden Legacy
It’s World Animal Day But this year feels different. We just lost Jane Goodall—a woman the world knew for her love of chimps but whose legacy went so much deeper. Here are 5 things about her legacy that might surprise you.
1. Her favorite animals weren’t chimps!
“My favorite animal… everybody thinks is a chimpanzee, but it’s not true… My favorite animal altogether is a dog because dogs have unconditional love, and I don’t like to think of a world without dogs.”
Her childhood dog Rusty helped her see that animals have personalities and feelings long before her studies in Africa. At Global Strays, we see that same truth every day in our work with dogs and the families who love them.
Mr. H was given to Jane by Gary Haun, a man who lost his eyesight at 21 years old. Despite this he went on to climb mountains and even become a magician. Today Mr. H the monkey has travelled around the world inspiring youth to never give up.
Jane Goodall’s first animal love were her dogs.
2. She built Roots and Shoots
From creating recycled-tire beds for strays in Bosnia to saving horseshoe crabs in New Jersey– Roots and Shoots empowers kids in 140+ countries to discover and implement their own solutions to the issues they care about.
“My mission is to create a world where we can live in harmony with nature and can I do that alone? No… There is a whole army of youth that can do it.”
3. She needed a chaperone to change science
“When I was a little girl, I used to dream as a man, because I wanted to do things that women didn’t do back then such as traveling to Africa, living with wild animals and writing books.”
In the 1950s, young women rarely traveled alone but Jane waitressed to save for a trip to Kenya. Once there, even though Jane convinced a famous scientist to hire her at 23, the British colonial government still required her to have a chaperone in the field.
4. She taught us to see animals not as “them,” but as us.
“It’s pretty clear, isn’t it, that there isn’t a sharp line dividing us from the rest of the animal kingdom.”
You probably know that Jane discovered that chimps use tools and express emotions. But did you realize it was one of the key discoveries that shifted the way we see ourselves as humans? Her work helped us understand that we are a part of nature. That same understanding — that animals, people, and the environment are deeply linked, aka the One Health approach — guides Global Strays’ work.
5. She became a vegetarian and later a vegan.
She believed in changing her own habits and living true to her values. Global Strays’ school garden project in Liberia, Africa, teaches kids to grow their own crops and encourages them to learn about the benefits of a plant based diet.
“I have for decades been concerned about factory farming… because of the tremendous harm inflicted on the environment, but also because of the shocking ongoing cruelty perpetrated on millions of sentient beings.”
Jane Goodall’s work was never just about chimps — it was about the bond between people, animals, and the planet. On this World Animal Day, let’s follow her call to build a better world.