Primatologist Jane Goodall came to the University of Toronto over the weekend to mark Earth Day with a discussion about her life, work and the need to protect the planet.



In front of a sold-out audience at Convocation Hall, she recalled her adventures at Gombe Stream Game Reserve (now a national park) and the observations of wild chimpanzees starting in the 1960s. Her eyewitness accounts and analysis of chimp behaviour – their use of tools and their complex social structures – changed people's understanding of their closest cousins.



Goodall, who celebrated her 84th birthday this month, went on to found the Jane Goodall Institute and spends much of the year travelling to raise money and awareness for conservation efforts. Her impact is such that she appeared in cartoon form in the Google doodle for Earth Day.



At U of T, she urged people, particularly youth, to protect the environment before it's too late. “We have a window of time – I don't think it's very big but I think we have a little window – to try and turn things around,” she said. “Every individual makes a difference every day, and we can choose what kind of difference we'd like to make.”

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Image via University of Toronto.