August 6, 2009 Jane Goodall Discusses "Hope for Animals and Their World" at Library of Congress on Sept. 10

The American crocodile, the California condor and the black-footed ferret were once on the verge of extinction. But they and other members of the animal kingdom have managed to survive, thanks to the heroic efforts of some of the world’s premier scientists.

Jane Goodall—primatologist, conservationist and humanitarian, whose work with wild chimpanzees in Gombe, Tanzania, is known throughout the world—will talk about these inspiring success stories and the efforts of dedicated environmentalists, in a lecture at the Library of Congress.

Goodall will discuss her new book “Hope for Animals and Their World: How Endangered Species Are Being Rescued from the Brink” at 11:30 a.m. on Thursday, Sept. 10 in the Coolidge Auditorium on the ground level of the Thomas Jefferson Building, 10 First St. S.E., Washington, D.C.

Free and open to the public, the lecture is sponsored by the Library’s Science, Technology and Business Division and the Center for the Book. No tickets or reservations are needed. Goodall’s book will be available for sale, and a book-signing will take place after the lecture.

Goodall’s childhood dream of living among wild animals to study and write about them came true. Through seasons and decades of tireless, unobtrusive observation and meticulous record-keeping, Goodall’s unconventional methods in the wild produced results that made the scientific community take note. She not only broke new ground in research and field methods, she brought an intuitive viewpoint to her work. She named the chimpanzees she observed rather than assigning them numbers. She looked at each chimp as an individual with its own temperament—behavioral, emotional and mental—and appreciated the characteristics and quirks of each. At a time when ethology was all about measurements and statistics, Goodall injected the human element.

Today, Goodall’s philosophy and dedication finds a home at the Jane Goodall Institute (JGI) located in Arlington, Va. Founded in 1977, JGI continues Goodall’s pioneering research on chimpanzee behavior—research that transformed scientific perceptions of the relationship between humans and animals. Today JGI is a global leader in the effort to protect chimpanzees and their habitats. It also is widely recognized for establishing innovative community-centered conservation and development programs in Africa, and the Roots & Shoots global environmental and humanitarian youth program, which has groups in 110 countries. For more information, visit www.janegoodall.org and www.rootsandshoots.org.

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