Goodall’s groundbreaking observations included her discovery that chimpanzees use grass stalks and twigs as tools to fish termites from their mounds.
On the strength of these findings, Leakey encouraged her to pursue a doctorate at Cambridge University, where she became only the eighth person ever to earn a PhD without first obtaining an undergraduate degree.
In 1977, she founded the Jane Goodall Institute to further research and conservation of chimpanzees. In 1991, she launched Roots & Shoots, a youth-led environmental program that today operates in more than 60 countries.
Her activism was sparked in the 1980s after attending a US conference on chimpanzees, where she learned of the threats they faced: exploitation in medical research, hunting for bushmeat, and widespread habitat destruction.
Source: CNA
