Jane Goodall

It just didn't enter my thinking that I couldn't do some things because I was a woman.

So when Leakey suggested I went out, we didn't actually talk about it much.

as being strange that I was a female.

And it wasn't until the British authorities started saying they were horrified that I realized it was perhaps a little strange at the time.

But he just felt that women would be more patient and therefore make better observers.

Well, no, because at the same time, he taught me that I had to be very careful and that animals were dangerous or could be.

And that, for example, if you got between a mother and her young, you'd be in big, big trouble.

If you startled an animal, you'd be in big trouble.

and that you might come across some creature who'd been wounded and who hated people.

So I was perfectly aware of possible danger and tried to be as careful as I could.

And he spent quite a lot of time teaching me so that he didn't tell me not to be afraid.

And I think there are moments when fear is terribly important.

You know, if you suddenly hear stamping or snorting close by in the undergrowth, it's better to have some kind of mechanism to deal with it.

Like climbing a tree, which I once did just in time not to be charged by two buffaloes.

Well, you just described a close call.

No, I never was actually harmed until quite recently.

We have one chimp who's a bully, Fifi's son, Frodo.

And he just loves, he's not trying to actually really hurt or kill anyone, but because the ground is so rugged and rocky, if he knocks you over and drags you and stamps on you, you can get a little bit hurt.

And I did.

What did he do to you?