Today is Dr. Jane Goodall's 80th birthday. Dr. Jane is the most inspirational, influential, amazing, and delightful primatologist. When she ventured into Gombe in her twenties, nobody knew anything about chimps. Now we know that they're the best animal ever. :) I love chimps, I love Dr. Jane, and I have since I was six years old.
lift a
long purple hand
to her nose
When the chimps started to approach her, one of them touched her nose and was caught in a heartbreaking photo, hence the verse above. She named all the chimps, even when other scientists - "real" scientists with university education - told her she should number them. This is repeated throughout history, often in worse scenarios. Aboriginal children were numbered. People in WWII concentration camps were numbered. The chimps were numbered. To dehumanize, even when Louis Leakey said "Now we must redefine man, redefine tool, or accept chimpanzees as humans," apparently means to number, and we are so ridiculously xenophobic that we do this all the time.
lift a
long purple hand
to her nose
When the chimps started to approach her, one of them touched her nose and was caught in a heartbreaking photo, hence the verse above. She named all the chimps, even when other scientists - "real" scientists with university education - told her she should number them. This is repeated throughout history, often in worse scenarios. Aboriginal children were numbered. People in WWII concentration camps were numbered. The chimps were numbered. To dehumanize, even when Louis Leakey said "Now we must redefine man, redefine tool, or accept chimpanzees as humans," apparently means to number, and we are so ridiculously xenophobic that we do this all the time.
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