Growing up in England, Jane fell in love with the natural world, especially animals. When she was just 26 years old, she entered the Gombe National Forest in Tanzania and started studying the chimpanzee’s ecosystem. She discovered that chimpanzees make and use tools. Her work as a primatologist and conservationist has transformed our understanding of animal behavior and personality, and she is not done yet.
Jane Goodall, age 90, Isn’t Done Having Adventures
The Jane Goodall Institute, which opened in 1977, will be able to carry on after she is gone. However, if you were to ask Jane, she would tell you she isn’t done having adventures. She recently shared that she views death as a type of adventure.
“My next great adventure at 90 is going to be dying. There’s either nothing or something. If there’s something, I mean if there’s nothing, there’s nothing, that’s it. If there’s something, I can’t think of a greater adventure than finding out what it is,” she said in an interview with Channel 4 News. “I happen to think there is something because of experiences I’ve had, because of experiences other people have had, very powerful ones.”
As Christians, we know there is one more adventure. Jesus has told us that in the Bible. And we can be comforted that after death, we can be with him in heaven for eternity.
Her Grandfather Was a Congregationalist Minister
In an interview with Religion News Service, Jane talks about how her grandfather was a Congregationalist minister. Although her family was not particularly religious, they did go to church sometimes. “Religion entered into me,” she said. “It felt like I had a secret understanding of something other people perhaps didn't share. But I had no compulsion to share it.”
She also talks about her spiritual connection. “After I'd begun to succeed with the chimps, that's when I had time to pause, and that's when I developed a really strong feeling of spiritual connection with the natural world,” she comments. “What I love today is how science and religion are coming together, and more minds are seeing purpose behind the universe and intelligence. Einstein did. And my good friend Francis Collins.”
As Jane Goodall, age 90, prepares for her next adventure, we wish her well and know that whatever happens in the future, she will have changed the world for the better and will leave a lasting legacy for generations to come.
“In my Father’s house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you.” – John 14:2
WATCH: Jane Goodall, Age 90, Talks about Her Next Adventure
This content originally appeared on GodUpdates.com; used with permission.
Photo Credit: ©YouTube/Channel 4 News