Jane Goodall loved animals even as a child. When she was just over a year old, her father gave her a toy chimpanzee which she named Jubilee. She carried Jubilee with her everywhere. Today, more than 65 years later, Jubilee-now completely bald from so many hugs-sits on Jane's dresser in England.

In the summer of 1960, Jane arrived in Tanganyika (later to become Tanzania) to study chimpanzees. At first, the Gombe chimps fled whenever they saw Jane. But she persisted, watching from a distance with binoculars and gradually the chimps allowed her closer. One day in October 1960 she saw chimps David Greybeard and Goliath strip leaves off twigs to make tools for fishing termites out of a termite mound. Up until this time, scientists thought humans were the only species to make tools but here was evidence to the contrary.

In 1965, Jane and her husband started the Gombe Stream Research Centre, which meant graduate students and others could come and assist with the chimpanzee observations. The Centre became a place where students could learn about wild chimpanzees and how to study them. The Centre still trains primatologists to this day. Jane visits Gombe every year and is very involved in the research but she no longer does the actual day-to-day field work.

As the research went on at Gombe, it became clear that chimpanzees had a dark side, just like human beings. Jane and the other researchers were surprised when the female chimpanzee Passion and her daughter Pom killed and ate several infant chimpanzees, ripping them from their mothers' arms. They also observed a period of conflict between different chimpanzee groups. Chimpanzees may be capable of cruelty but they also demonstrate cooperation, affection, happiness, sometimes even seem to help each other just for the sake of helping, not to get a reward.

The Jane Goodall Institute, which she founded in 1977, has programs designed to benefit people who are living in poverty in Africa and to spread the word about the importance of conserving the forests and animal populations. The Institute also has the Roots & Shoots global youth program, which helps young people learn about problems in their communities and the world and then take action towards solving them.

Says Jane: "Young people, when informed and empowered, when they realise that what they do truly makes a difference, can indeed change the world. They are changing it already." Jane is a dedicated scientist and has been designated by Kofi Annan as a 'UN Messenger of Peace'.

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Reason for hope
Jane Goodall at the public forum \'Reason for hope\' 30 November, Patan Museum.