Jane Goodall Reflects On How A Childhood Dog Changed The Way She Saw Animals
HuffPost
"Rusty, I’ve never known a dog like him," the famed primatologist said, remembering her beloved canine companion.
Iconic primatologist Jane Goodall changed how the world sees chimpanzees ― but one of her biggest influences was a dog.
The trailblazing scientist’s years of research, beginning in 1960 in Tanzania, won her international acclaim and played a pivotal role in the world’s understanding of animal intelligence.
But Goodall, now 89, told The New York Times in an interview published Wednesday that she remembered a point in her career when the prevailing scientific establishment told her she had “done everything wrong.”
She recalled being told, “Chimps shouldn’t be named, they should be numbered. You can’t talk about their personalities. You can’t talk about them having brains capable of solving problems. And you certainly can’t talk about them having emotions.”
It was the memory of her childhood dog, Rusty, that gave her the conviction her critics were wrong.
