Goodall with Mr. H, a plush toy gifted to her, which has become her mascot. (YouTube)
The Story of Jane Goodall
Jane Goodall (b. 1934) is a world-famous primatologist considered to be the foremost expert on chimpanzees. She has been working with chimps since 1960 when she first went to Gombe Stream National Park in Tanzania.
She founded the Jane Goodall Institute in 1977 which has partnered with the Tanzanian Sesame Street co-production Kilimani Sesame. She has authored over a dozen books in her field of study and written nearly as many children's books.
Goodall has been the subject of over 40 documentaries, such as the PBS series In Their Own Words (which also profiled Jim Henson) and 2017's Jane scored by Philip Glass. She has appeared on countless talk shows including The Mike Douglas Show, The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson, Nova, The Daily Show, The Tavis Smiley Show, StarTalk, and 60 Minutes, among others. She also featured on a 1994 episode of Reading Rainbow, voiced herself in a 2001 episode of the Nickelodeon series The Wild Thornberrys, and appeared in a 2019 commercial for British Airways (with Gary Oldman and Winnie the Pooh).
Her recognition in popular culture has been cemented by references in books such as Brad Meltzer's I Am Jane Goodall released in the same series as his I Am Jim Henson (she also features alongside Joan Ganz Cooney in Meltzer's Heroes for My Daughter) as well as multiple awards, honorary doctorates, and honors including a plaque on the Tree of Life at Disney's Animal Kingdom.
References[]
- When Grover helps Nina find a book about a scientist at the Library in Sesame Street Episode 4911, one of the books in the biographies section is The Story of Jane Goodall.
- A photo of Goodall features among a number of inspirational women on Doctor Doc's Shero Wall in Fraggle Rock: Back to the Rock.