Dr. Jane Goodall spent ten days in Japan and visited an elementary school in the suburbs of Tokyo to give a talk on November 24. Forty enthusiastic children, well prepared with knowledge from video and books featuring Dr. Goodall, welcomed her to their classroom. They were excited when Dr. Goodall greeted them with "good morning" in chimpanzee language.

Child Research Net was honored to be able to sponsor this wonderful opportunity and to witness the lively interaction between Dr. Goodall and the children on chimpanzees, the environment and what we can do to make the world a better place for all living beings. This was Dr. Jane Goodall's second visit to CRN, but each time is such a refreshing and fruitful experience for us.

Before meeting Dr. Goodall, the children viewed a video on chimpanzees and then wrote letters to her. We have posted some of their letters below. In the future, we would like to share the children's reactions and feelings on their meeting with Dr. Goodall and introduce Dr. Goodall's activities. After preparing this material, we hope to put it on the website.

 

LETTERS

Dear Dr. Jane Goodall:

When I saw the video on chimpanzees, I was a little shocked at the scene where a chimpanzee snatches the baby of another. It was also cute when Fifi's baby touched your nose. I was amazed to find out that chimpanzees use tools. (K. Y)

Dear Dr. Jane Goodall:

Nice to meet you. Thank you very much for coming to Japan. What do you think about the Japanese environment and culture? This might be the first and last chance for me to meet you and I am looking forward to it very much. The video told me about your activities, and I think that it is wonderful to record the growth of chimpanzees. I also respect you for your great work. Please take care and keep up the good relations with the chimpanzees. (T. K.)

Dear Dr. Jane Goodall:

Your video moved me a lot. I don't think I could live such a hard life in the forest for a long time. I am sure that nobody but you can do that since you like chimpanzees so much and are really willing to study them. You named each and every chimpanzee, and first I wondered how you could tell who is who because they all looked the same to me. But, as I watched the video, I learned to tell the difference. Anyway, the video really moved me and told me as much about chimpanzees as about you. It was very interesting. (N. M.)

Dear Dr. Goodall:

Here are my impressions on "Chimpanzee Story (video)"I was shocked at the scene where a chimpanzee was eating a baby baboon. I thought chimpanzees never ate meat. In this way, I discovered lots of new things through your studies. I hope you continue your research on chimpanzees. (N. I.)

Dear Dr. Jane Goodall:

Nice to meet you!! My name is Y.M. I like chimpanzee. I want to have interest in chimpanzee. I watched your video. I was deeply moved by chimpanzee video. Thank you very much. (Y.M)

Dear Dr. Jane Goodall:

I watched your video. I felt happy when chimpanzees became friends with you after overcoming their fear of you. I thought that chimpanzees only ate plants so I was surprised to find out that they also ate meat. They are really similar to human beings in their use of tools. I was sad to see the mother keeping her dead baby in her arms for days. Fifi was so interested in babies and she took good care of her own children. I wish continued success in your studies in the future. (M. K.)

Dear Dr. Jane Goodall:

Nice to meet you. My name is E. S. Everyone in my class watched the video about your 22-year long study on chimpanzees in Gombe. Watching the video, I was surprised at your efforts over the 22 years and that you never gave up. I really respect you. Thanks to your efforts, we now know that chimpanzees use tools and eat meat. And the most surprising thing in the video was to see the two chimpanzees, a male and a female, eating a baby chimpanzee. It was horrible scene. But they have peaceful relations with baboons. Lastly, I wish you good health. Good-bye. (E. S.)

Dear Dr. Jane Goodall:

My impression on "Wild Chimpanzees Story (video)" 

I thought chimpanzees were the same as the other monkeys, so I was surprised when the video showed them walking on two legs and using tools like human beings. (T. E.)

Dear Dr. Jane Goodall:

My impression on "Wild Chimpanzees Story (video)" 

What surprised me was that chimpanzees eat meat. They eat baboons or even their own kind. Before that, I had thought chimpanzees were similar to other apes, but the video showed me that chimpanzees are more similar to human beings than to the other monkeys. I was impressed to see how chimpanzees are. I learned a lot about chimpanzees from the video. (T. O.)

Dear Dr. Jane Goodall:

My impression on "Wild Chimpanzees Story (video)" 

Watching the video "Wild Chimpanzees Story", I felt "Dr. Goodall was great because you never gave up until the chimpanzees was not afraid of you even though they tried to run away at first. I was moved because if I had been you, I would have easily given up. You are such an active person and I want to meet you very soon. I am looking forward to your visiting our school. (S. K.)

Dear Dr. Jane Goodall:

I watched the video about chimpanzees on November 19. It was a video about you. I was surprised to see a chimpanzee killing an animal to eat. And it made me laugh to see a chimpanzee wondering what was in the mirror.

(Questions)

- Have you found anything about Passion and Pom?

- Do chimpanzees eat fish?

I looking forward to your answers. (N. K.)

Dear Dr. Goodall:

The video told me many things that I had not known. For example, the fact that chimpanzees use tools. I knew that chimpanzees are cleverer than other animals, but I didn't know they soak leaves in water and use them as a sponge, or that they use sticks to get ants. And chimpanzees looked cute when they became friendly with human beings. In the video, the baby chimpanzee was so cute when he was trying to touch your nose timidly and the scene impressed me a lot. (The video taught me many things about chimpanzees.) (A. N.)

Dear Dr. Jane Goodall:

I wondered why mother chimpanzees don't get angry when a human being touches their babies. I think it is because you spent many years living with them. I was surprised to find out that chimpanzees use and made tools. The fact that chimpanzees eat meat was new to me. I think that chimpanzees are really wise animals. (S. H.)

Dear Dr. Jane Goodall:

My impression on "Wild Chimpanzee Story (video)" 

The video showed your passion for chimpanzees. I don't think most people can get near enough to chimpanzees to study them. I have some questions. Do chimpanzees use language? Do they use any tools such as heavy sticks to beat for hunting? (S.Y.)

Dear Dr. Goodall:

How are you? Although I had seen chimpanzees at zoos many times, the video showed me about many aspects of chimpanzee life, some that were nice and others that were frightening, and I had not expected this. I was touched to hear you say that it took 18 months for the chimpanzees to approach you. You must have been happy when the chimpanzees came to you after you had been waiting for such a long time. You said that you would always remember that for the rest of you life. I think I can understand how you felt. I didn't know anything about chimpanzees before I watched the video, but now I know they are so cute! Fifi was so lovely. She cried when she was left after being so devoted to the baby. And I also liked to see her gazing at the dead mouth with great interest and driving baboons away with a wooden stick. Chimpanzees are really clever, aren't they? They eat ants using leaves and drink water using chewed leaves as a sponge. Is this wisdom that comes from living in nature? I cried for you when Flow died in the tragic accident in the river. And I also felt sad to see a chimpanzee eating the baby of another. I thought chimpanzees were similar to human beings, as you said. Nobody cared about McGregor, who had trouble with his leg. It was pitiful to see him not being able to get food for himself. I leaned a lot through this video. I have much more things to write, but I will try to study by myself in future.

Dr. Goodall, please continue your research. Please take good care of the chimpanzees and of course, of yourself. I suppose Fifi and her children have grown up. Lastly, you said you would be happy if you continue to research the life and growth of chimpanzee families even after you grow much older. I agree with you. It is great and nice of you to keep loving chimpanzees in the small forest. Please have a nice life with your own son and family. I will visit the chimpanzees first when I visit a zoo next time. Please keep loving chimpanzees and discover more things about them. (E. M.)

Dear Dr. Goodall:

Watching the video, I was surprised to see that chimpanzees use tools. It was first time for me to find out that there are animals that use tools other than human beings. I was impressed to know that chimpanzees were so clever that they ate termites using sticks. And I was also surprised to see that they drink water using chewed leaves as a sponge. And since they use tools, even baby chimpanzees can scare away baboons using sticks as armor. I admired their use of armor. It was interesting that the big male chimpanzee pounded the grass and leaves or behaved violently just to hide his fear. He looked childish. When I heard that they only eat the meat of animals that they have killed themselves, I wondered why. This video taught me about the life, wisdom, interesting aspects of chimpanzees that I had not known before. I am glad that I watched the video. (S. Y.)

Dear Dr. Goodall:

All our class watched the video "Wild Chimpanzees". It showed us a lot of things. What surprised me first was the scene where a female chimpanzee caught a baby and ate it. I was unpleasant to watch. But still the chimpanzees looked sweet. Especially, I thought Floit was sweetest. I was also surprised to find out that chimpanzees spend 7 hours a day eating. It made me wonder what they do the rest of the day. I was impressed that chimpanzees used tools to catch termites. It was amazing to see them catching termites with sticks. At the same time, I wondered what other kinds of tools they use. If possible, I hope you will answer these two questions. 

The video "Wild Chimpanzees" told me many new things that I had not understood. I learned many things about chimpanzees. Like you, I like animals very much. I hope I can work with many animals in the future, just as you are doing now. I was really moved. Please keep up your research. (S. W.)

Dear Dr. Jane Goodall:

The video made me very interested in chimpanzees. They are really cute and looked just like human babies when they looked at the back of the mirror with wonder, made loud sounds with the oil drum, and watched a dead mouse. They made me smile. And the scene where the baby chimpanzee kept lying near its mother who had been dead for three weeks reminded me of the importance of mothers to all animals. The scene where the chimpanzee touched you on your nose moved me a lot and I felt what you were feeling in my heart. After watching the video, I look forward to hearing more about your story. I am waiting with many questions and look forward to your visit to our school. (S. O.)