In 1960, at the age of 26, with secretarial skills and no formal scientific education, Jane Goodall arrived by boat to study chimpanzees in what is now the Gombe Stream National Park of Tanzania. What she lacked in academics she made up for with passion, and a love for animals cultivated since childhood. After securing a job at a natural history museum in Kenya, her boss, famed paleoanthropologist Dr. Louis Seymour Bazett Leakey, felt her deficiency of schooling would be beneficial—she would approach her observations in a completely original way, without bias, and with an open mind.
Studying the behavior of wild chimpanzees as never before would give them information no fossils or captive specimens could, perhaps giving us a greater understanding of our ancestors.
Goodall’s first attempts failed; the chimps would simply run away. But she persevered, and schemed ways to gain their trust. She observed one elder in the community, who she called David Greybeard, using tools like rocks to open food, twigs to fish for termites, sticks to probe where he couldn’t see. Greybeard’s acceptance led other chimps to be more comfortable with her presence. She started the delightful-sounding “Banana Club,” a daily feeding of the monkeys to learn from their behaviors. Soon they came to accept her as one of their own and helped her to garner great insights that challenged the accepted thinking at the time. Human exceptionalism was turned on its head. Chimps also have a complex social system. And not only do they make and use tools, but they’re omnivores, not herbivores as previously thought.
April 3 marked Goodall’s 90th birthday, and in the last 65 years, she’s become one of the world’s foremost ethologists, conservationists, and activists. Moreover, she’s been a fierce champion for women, and what they could accomplish, society’s restrictions be damned.
You’d think she’d be tired. But today Dr. Goodall still travels approximately 300 days out of the year for her work (she’s currently in Australia). But in this birthday year, she’s having a little fun to mark the milestone. She’s gotten a 90-dog salute in California (her favorite animal, she says—don’t tell the chimpanzees), had a talk at the Beacon Theater in Manhattan and events for her across Canada, and multiple shindigs with people like Leonardo DiCaprio and Dave Matthews (“Everybody wants to visit me on my 90th birthday,” she’s said). She’s also released a film about her life’s work and had a party in her honor at LA’s Greek Theater, including a screening of the documentary Jane.
Best of all, she’s partnered with conservation photography organization Vital Impacts, co-founded by award-winning National Geographic conservation photographer Ami Vitale, to raise money for the Jane Goodall Institute, selling works by innovative female photographers in The Nature of Hope: 90 Prints in Honor of Jane Goodall.
“Jane Goodall epitomizes hope and action. She shows us that each individual effort, no matter how small, contributes to a collective force for positive change,” Vitale tells me. “I had met her several times, so we reached out and asked to partner in this. She understood immediately the power of art and stories—that they’re catalysts for change, encouraging a powerful reimagining of our relationship with nature and each other.”
Photographers included in the sale are a mix of well-known, underrepresented, and up-and-comers, but all keep the planet at the forefront. “We thought this was appropriate to have a sale for women photographers to honor the impact this one woman had on the world and for all of us,” explains Vitale. There are works by the photo media artist Tamara Dean; the Brooklyn-based Brooke Holm, who studies the interaction between humans and nature; and Pulitzer Prize-winning photographer Melissa Farlow.
For her photo in the sale, Vitale chose a never-before-seen portrait of a two-year-old female giant panda named Hua Yan (Pretty Girl), right before being released in the wild after being born in captivity. “Giant pandas are iconic symbols of conservation, and the opportunity to document these incredible creatures allowed me to contribute to the broader conversation about wildlife conservation,” she says. “Yes, they’re adorable, but I needed to get beyond their charisma and illustrate the challenges they face in the wild as well as the dedicated efforts made to protect them.”
Though pandas have been around for millions of years, they were once as mythical as Bigfoot, a fact that fascinates Vitale. The first one was captured relatively recently, in 1927, and today there are only a few thousand in the world. “This story allowed me to document a side of China that often goes unnoticed—the collaboration between scientists, conservationists, and local communities,” says Vitale. “It was also formative in my own evolution as a storyteller. It isn’t about where you go to tell your story, but how you tell your story. When told well, conservation narratives can be powerful tools for change.”
The sale ends July 2, beginning with 30 prints and more added weekly, with the one common denominator that every photographer has been inspired by Goodall and her compassion, advocacy, and stewardship for our planet. “Jane’s legacy epitomizes breaking barriers, nurturing empathy, and forging profound connections with nature,” says Vitale. “Her spirit continues to inspire all of us who have been touched by her words.”
