Jane Goodall has received the honor of being selected by Treehugger readers as the Person of The Year for 2010.

About 25% of the votes went to the vegetarian primatologist, conservationist and human and animal advocate, who has been quoted as saying that one “cannot separate the people from the animals” when performing conservation work.

In more recent years, Goodall has worked to prove that statement, as her original research site in Gombe, Africa has expanded its interest to humanitarian efforts, such as AIDS research, sanitation and education for the locals. Goodall also founded the Roots and Shoots program, aimed at getting youth excited about protecting the environment.

The 76-year old attributes her non-stop energy to her vegetarian diet and argued that humans do not possess the stomachs for a carnivorous diet.

On the subject of animal protection, Goodall said she preferred to fight what she called human responsibility and enable people to understand animals have personalities and feelings, which ultimately will get them to obey and fight for laws that protect other species.

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