19 hours Ago
By Marc Bekoff and Marlon H. ReisIn 2024, on the occasion of the 90th birthday of Dr. Jane Goodall and in honor of her many remarkable contributions to the fields of animal behavior and conservation biology, Governor Jared Polis proclaimed April 3 Animals Matter Day in Colorado.
Her ground-breaking work continues, inspiring compassion and fomenting action for animals the world over, including in the great State of Colorado. This Animals Matter Day we renew our commitment to the values of kindness and respect for all, the pillars upon which Dr. Goodall has founded her extraordinary life.
Now more than ever, we must recognize that animals do matter. They are more than symbols of geographic and political divides. They deserve more out of life than to be casualties in our own failed efforts to coexist with one another, much less the natural world.
Their worth is not a function of how “human” they look or act. And just as we appreciate individuality in people, so too must we value it in animals.Here are some of our individual reflections on Dr.
Goodall. Marc: Dr. Goodall’s pioneering research has set the agenda for more than 65 years of study on chimpanzees, other great apes, and countless other nonhuman animals.
She named the chimpanzees she observed, recognizing the importance of studying identified individuals and the value of each and every life and underscoring that each individual has a unique personality. For doing this she was strongly reprimanded by her colleagues but thankfully she continued to name the animals she studied.Dr.
Goodall’s methods and approaches to animal behavior were what I found so astonishing — starting with her habit of naming chimpanzees and stressing their individual personalities. I, too, was told that naming animals is too subjective and would influence how data are explained and that individual differences amounted to “noise in the system,” while talking about animal personalities was fraught with error. Subsequent research has shown how wrong our critics were.
In 2002, Jane and I published “The Ten Trusts: What We Must Do to Care for the Animals We Love” and I also began working closely with Dr. Goodall’s Roots & Shoots program. I fully share her firm belief that everyone can make a positive difference in the lives of other animals and in saving their homes.
On the personal side of things, Jane and I share a passion for good single malt scotch and whenever we meet, I always bring a small flask of what she calls her “cough medicine.” Marlon: I could hardly believe my ears when, in early 2023, Marc asked if I would like to meet Dr. Goodall at an upcoming talk she would be giving in Denver.
My admiration and respect for animals goes back as far as I can remember. And as a strong believer in the power of stories to change the world, I had long looked up to Dr. Goodall as an ambassador for the natural world with a unique talent for narrating her own story of passion and purpose.
For most of us, unearthing the formative moments of our lives is a voyage into the vast and uncharted thicket of memories shaped and reshaped by time. Not so for Dr. Goodall, who cuts through the mist with ease, plucking out the befores and afters — vivid and fully formed — and weaving them together as if there’d been no dead ends, no wasted time, no fruitless pursuits.
The prospect of meeting Dr. Goodall was a dream come true, and a gift I won’t ever forget. Marc even arranged for my husband, Governor Jared Polis, and our two kids to attend her talk.
For a few precious moments, before she went onstage, our children peppered her with questions about how she became THE Jane Goodall.In her work as both a scientist and a storyteller, Dr. Goodall has inspired and taught me so many things, but perhaps most importantly: The secret to a life well-lived is discovering what you truly care about — that which stirs the heart most — because doing what you love is never work.
It is fulfillment. In stringing together the moments that mattered most throughout her remarkable 91 years on planet Earth, we come to learn not only that time is never wasted in pursuit of what is heartfelt, but that all life is interconnected, and we cannot tell the story of one without telling the story of the other. Every life — human and nonhuman alike — is marked by beginnings, middles and ends.
The closer we look, the clearer it is to see that our fates are not solitary, but inseparable — a tapestry of lives that matter profoundly each to each.Marc Bekoff is professor emeritus of ecology and evolutionary biology at CU Boulder. Among his many books is “Jane Goodall at 90: Celebrating an Astonishing Lifetime of Science, Advocacy, Humanitarianism, Hope, and Peace” in which 90 essays celebrate Jane’s remarkable life.
You can read more about the book here. Marlon H. Reis is Colorado’s First Gentleman.
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