Saturday, Aug 31, 2013
Dubai: The next time you watch a nature show featuring the family life of lions named Maliki and Nala or meerkats named Mimi and Rex, you can thank one person: Jane Goodall.
Goodall was the first researcher to name the animals she was studying in the 1960s. At that time, the convention among scientists was to give animals numbers, to prevent emotional attachment with the subjects of the studies.
But Goodall, with her unconventional educational background - she received a Ph. D from Cambridge without getting an undergraduate degree - observed the chimpanzees from a perhaps less formal light. She gave the chimpanzees she was studying names like David Greybeard (a gray-chinned male), Goliath (the alpha male of the group) and Flo, a high-ranking female with five children.
These chimps were not just Goodall’s subjects. For 22 months, they were her troop, and she observed in them individual personalities and an ability to feel emotions like joy, sorrow, love and hate. Their internal relationships were also much like those of humans, with chimps showing practically political guile to get what they want and take control of their troop. It was a first for scientists and researchers of animals, and although criticized by some as a research method, it fuelled the idea that humans have much in common with chimpanzees and animals in general.
Today, many nature shows and documentaries focus on groups of animals, showcasing their individual personalities and their interactions with each other. Meerkat Manor, one of Animal Planet’s most successful shows, featured the ‘Whiskers’ family and ran for four seasons, functioning almost like an animal reality show. While functioning as entertainment for millions, Meerkat Manor, along with other shows, is also a source of research into the natural processes and lives of the animals on-screen.
At the same time, shows like Meerkat Manor allow the human audience to connect with animals in a way that, before Goodall’s work, may not have been imaginable. A Time magazine review of the show in 2007 called it a “saga of turf wars, sex, betrayal and cuddly pups.” Goodall would understand the description. Her contemporaries would likely have found it silly.
By Nadia Eldemerdash ?Web Producer
Gulf News 2013. All rights reserved.
