Conservation legend Jane Goodall will speak at FIU this week
When legendary conservationist and animal welfare advocate Dr. Jane Goodall takes the stage at Florida International University’s Ocean Bank Convocation Center on Friday, nearly 60 years will have passed since her breakthrough discoveries on chimpanzees in Africa.
Her South Florida visit is part of FIU’S Explorers and Innovators lecture series.
Goodall is best known for her groundbreaking discovery in the late 1960s that genetically linked chimpanzees to humans. She made that breakthrough, which was considered one of the greatest achievements in 20th century scholarship, at age 26.
Her findings came during her first year at Gombe Stream National Park in Tanzania. She observed chimps making tools out of stripped leaves that they used to dig out termites in a nearby mound.
“Jane’s work builds on scientific innovations, growing a lifetime of advocacy including trailblazing efforts through her international organization,” said Melany Freiria, director FIU’s division of academic and student affairs.
When Goodall first visited Gombe, equipped with a notebook, binoculars and a fascination with wildlife, she had received no formal scientific training. Having no preconceived notions of animal research allowed her to use unique methods that led her to many discoveries.
In these unique methods, she immersed herself into a realm of the unknown, to give the world a remarkable window into humankind’s closest living relatives. She discovered the complex society of chimps as a neighbor, rather than a distant observer, and came to understand them not only as a species but as individuals with emotions, intelligence and long-term bonds.
Six decades later, just short of her 89th birthday, Goodall travels an average of 300 days each year, speaking about threats facing chimpanzees and other environmental issues, hoping that humankind will solve the problems it has imposed on the earth.
Goodall has been relentlessly fighting to protect all species and advocating the importance of restoring balance to our natural world ever since.
By 1977, the Jane Goodall Institute was founded, and Goodall’s pioneering research on chimpanzee behavior continued. Now, the institute is a global leader in the effort to protect chimpanzees and their habitats.
Mireya Mayor, primatologist, director of exploration and science communication in FIU’s College of Arts, Sciences and Education, longtime friend of Goodall, will be moderating a Q&A as part of the lecture.
“To have Dr. Goodall come to FIU, where our scientists and students are leading such important research and conservation work and give our students, alumni, faculty and staff her personal vision of hope, will be incredibly inspiring,” said Mayor in an FIU press release.
At the University of Miami in 2013, and Florida Atlantic University in 2019, she lectured and spoke of dwindling species, the devastation of the forests, climate change and green energy. She also promoted Jane Goodall’s Roots & Shoots, a global environmental and humanitarian youth program she founded in Tanzania in 1991.
In a lecture titled “Inspiring Hope Through Action: An Evening with Dr. Jane Goodall,” she will discuss her life’s work, as well as the power each of us has to make a difference.
Sponsored by Zoo Miami and SOLFL, the event will take place at 7 p.m. this Friday, March 31, with a moderated Q&A. Tickets are sold out, but organizers say a limited number of tickets may go on sale the day of the event..
This story was produced as part of a partnership between the Florida International University Lee Caplin School of Journalism & Media and the Miami Herald. Lauren Wurts is an FIU journalism student.
This story was originally published March 29, 2023 at 10:42 AM.