Conservationist Dame Jane Goodall, a world-leading expert on chimpanzees, has died at the age of 91, while in California on a speaking tour of the US. Actor and environmental campaigner Leonardo DiCaprio spoke of how she had “inspired millions to care, to act, and to hope”, and called her a “a true hero for the planet”.
Born in London in 1934, Dr Goodall was always fascinated by animals. In her mid-twenties she met leading primatologist Prof Louis Leakey who recognised her potential and helped to set up her first research trip to the Tanzania jungle in 1960. By chance, she became the first person to witness a large male chimpanzee using a tool, at a time when it was thought only humans were intelligent enough to do so. From that point on, she was set on the path of challenging much of conventional scientific thinking and shaping the future of evolutionary science. A BBC obituary reports that in 1965 she made the front cover of National Geographic, introducing the world to the emotional and social lives of primates.
As well as discoveries which changed the way science regarded the natural world, Dr Goodall was a tireless advocate for the protection and restoration of the natural world. The United Nations recognised how she “worked tirelessly for our planet and all its inhabitants, leaving an extraordinary legacy for humanity and nature”.
But why is this important for us, particularly when many Christians still struggle with the notion that humans are descended from apes. Surely Christianity is about truth, whether that truth is comfortable for us or not. Jesus challenged plenty of views that emerged from his own religious and cultural inheritance, and it cannot be unreasonable that we should do the same.
Of course, no one claims that humans are descended from modern apes, but science suggests that we and great apes like chimpanzees share a common, long-extinct ancestor that lived 5 to 8 million years ago, a distinct primate species from which both modern humans and modern apes have evolved, albeit along different branches of the evolutionary tree, adapting to our own specific environments. And this is evidenced by fossils, proteins, genetic studies, and the comparison of human and ape genomes.
So why should this be seen as a threat to the notion of a God who created this order in which we live and allows it to grow and develop and branch off, and respond to distinct events and specific environments.
But more importantly, at a time when the natural world is so under threat, not only from pollution and levels of carbon in our atmosphere never witnessed before in human history, but also from politicians who view climate change as a hoax, it is important to remember someone who’s life was so connected to the natural world, who found such interest, energy and enlightenment in the company of animals.
In the words of Naturalist Chris Packham, reported by the BBC, “To have lost a hero at a time when we need all of them on the frontline fighting for life on earth is a tragedy.”
Read the story on the BBC here.
Picture above: Dr. Jane Goodall at the Tournament of Roses, 2012 by Floatjon. This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license.