“In the Shadow of Man” By Jane Goodall “In the Shadow of Man” tells the backstory to the famous study of chimpanzees done by Jane Goodall. I had the pleasure of meeting Dr. Goodall in 2016 at the IUCN World Conservation Congress, she is passionate about her work and it was great to read about the story behind her groundbreaking research. In the first couple of chapters of her book she speaks about her early interest with animals and chimpanzees. She also talks about her excitement about working with Dr. Leakey in The Gombe Stream Chimpanzee Reserve in Africa. Dr, Leakey was found of Goodall’s “unbiased by theory” mind when it came to studying and analyzing the chimpanzees behaviors. Continuing into the book, upon finally reaching …show more content…
She goes into detail about the sex life of a senior female, Flo. Next, she goes into detail about the feeding station that was set up to lure the chimps out into one place, there she worked with her photographer Hugo. With all the chimps in one place Jane was able to make observations about the community hierarchy and Flo’s family. Through the study, a hierarchy was established starting with top ranking chimps, subordinates, adolescents, children, and infants and their roles in the society are all determined. Jane then goes into detail about each of these stages and the chimp’s relationship with the colony of baboons in the vicinity.
After discussing the similarities between human and chimpanzees and the mistreatment of chimps, she goes into a much melancholier topic. Sadly, disease and death are another topic of research, including the epidemic of polio that stampedes through the camp. This topic leads to the last but most important chapter of the book. At the end Jane discusses the unjust and inhuman ways of man that are endangering the chimpanzee species. Overall “In the Shadow of Man”, is an eye opening and inspirational book of the life-long dedication and commitment to biological