July 2010
Jane Celebrates Gombe 50 Today
Today, July 14, 2010, marks the 50th anniversary of the day that Jane first stepped onto the shores of Lake Tanganyika to begin her pioneering chimpanzee research in what is now Gombe National Park. To celebrate this tremendous milestone, Jane is spending the month of July in Africa including time in Gombe, the site of her groundbreaking field study. Jane will enjoy today reflecting and celebrating with local members of Jane Goodall's Roots & Shoots.
Jane's Journal: Excerpt from July 14, 1960
14th July 1960
“We really did manage to get off today. We woke at dawn ... Left about 9 and arrived about 11. The fisherman were all along the beaches frying their dagga fish. It looked as though patches of sand had been whitewashed. Above, the mountains rose up steeply behind the beaches. The slopes were thickly covered with accacia and other trees -Miombo woodland? Every so often a stream cascaded down the vallys between the ridges, with its thick fringe of forest -the home of the chimps.
Jane's first big discovery: chimps eat meat
At 7:40 a.m. on October 30, sitting on her Peak, Jane heard a wild commotion in the treetops below her. She heard some "angry little screams," and finally saw 1 of 3 chimpanzees grasping something pink. Two bushpigs ran around the base of the tree, and chased a smaller chimpanzee up it. Baboons tried to get close, snarling and skirmishing with the chimps. Eventually the chimp with the coveted goods moved out onto a high, bare branch and Jane could see he was holding a piece of carcass.
'Big Man' fossil looks more human than chimp
A fossil discovery described in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences is inconsistent with common notions that our direct evolutionary ancestors looked more like chimpanzees or gorillas than humans.
Like the famous "Lucy," this fossil, dubbed "Big Man," is Australopithecus afarensis, a bipedal primate and direct ancestor of humans. Big Man stood about 5'5," had legs that would have been good for running, and had a rib cage similar to our own. He was much taller than Lucy.
