Number 25 of 52 Compelling Communicators: Jane Goodall
June 24, 2013
Jane Goodall has been compelling us through her work with chimpanzees for decades. She has demonstrated that animals feel, communicate and have distinct personalities. They are capable of rational thought and have social relationships. Why anyone would doubt that is a mystery to me. If you have ever shared space with a dog or cat, you know this to be true.
Not only do I find her compelling, I find the study of animal communication just as fascinating. Like the Dr. Doolittle ditty “If we could talk to the animals... what a neat achievement that would be.” If we pay attention, perhaps that might be possible. At minimum, we might start to have a higher level of compassion for and understanding of the critters that share our planet.
Here is a quick snapshot
of Jane’s work:
In the book, Wisdom, by Andrew Zuckerman which profiles 50 of the world’s most prominent people over the age of 65, Jane Goodall starts her section with the following point:
“It’s awfully sad that
with our clever brains, capable of taking us to the moon and developing these
sophisticated ways of communicating around the planet, that we seem to have
lost wisdom; and that’s the wisdom of the indigenous people who would make
major decisions based on how that decision would affect people seven
generations ahead.”
Later in the piece she writes:
“People have different
ideas as to why we are these unique animals. The human animal is different. The
chimp brain and the human brain are almost the same, but the chimp is smaller
and what makes us uniquely human, what had led to the explosion of the
intellect is the fact that as some point in our evolutionary history we
developed a sophisticated spoken language that enabled us to teach about things
that weren’t present, to think back to the past and share memories, to plan for
the distant future, and, perhaps most important of all, to have discussions so
that you can bring in people from different areas and they can contribute their
own unique wisdoms and insights, and that can lead to all kinds of exciting
ideas.”
So true, Ms. Goodall. We
have this amazing gift. Let’s use it wisely.
The “Widsom” book is an
education in communication. Aside from the 200 pages of 50 amazing people
sharing their perspectives on how they view wisdom in the written word, you get
to see how they say it. There is a captivating video disc that comes with
the book. Worth every penny of the $55 price tag.
On a side note, I recently
heard Con Slobodchikoo, PhD on CBC radio explain the complex language of
Prairie Dogs. They even describe different shirt colours on humans.
What about that!?
Time to start listening to
the animals.
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