Who were Jane Goodall’s parents? Renowned chimpanzee expert was born to a racer and a novelist

Dr. Jane Goodall, a highly regarded ethologist and conservationist, devoted her career to studying chimpanzees and fighting to protect the natural world.

Although she is most closely associated with pioneering research on primates at Gombe Stream National Park in Tanzania, her earliest influences were not in East Africa but from her parents. Born in 1934 in London as Valerie Jane Morris-Goodall, she was the first daughter of Mortimer Herbert Morris-Goodall and Margaret Myfanwe Joseph.

Mortimer Herbert Morris-Goodall, Jane's father was an engineer by trade and was also a motor racing enthusiast. He was described as a businessman and a motor racing driver. Jane's parents divorced, yet Mortimer always supported Jane's goals.

Rest in peace, Jane Goodall.
You taught us that kindness is a form of strength and that respect for life in all its forms is the truest measure of humanity. You will be dearly missed. 💔 pic.twitter.com/94YV7ksMqp

— Jo (@JoJoFromJerz) October 1, 2025

One of the things he gave her that she would remember most from her childhood was a stuffed toy chimpanzee named Jubilee. At the time, monkeys and apes were not ordinary toys for children, so it became one of Jane's most cherished gifts.

She would keep the chimpanzee all her life and it represented her early interest in primates. This small act represented Mortimer's steady but long-term investment in Jane's budding interest in animals.

According to the Jane Goodall Institute, Jane’s mother, Margaret Myfanwe Joseph was a more direct influence on her daughter's direction. As a novelist who wrote under the name Vanne Morris-Goodall, Margaret provided a home that fostered imagination and inquiry.

When Jane, at the age of 26 went to conduct her pioneering research on chimpanzees in Tanzania, the colonial authorities at the time did not allow a young woman to live alone in the forest.

In order to help facilitate the study, Margaret Myfanwe Joseph volunteered to accompany her daughter on this trip. After struggling in living conditions at Gombe, Margaret supervised the household, while Jane spent her days in the forest and her presence created legitimacy for the research.

A look into Jane Goodall's legacy within the scientific research world

In 1960, Jane Goodall visited Gombe Stream National Park in Tanzania and began her unprecedented study of wild chimpanzees mentored by anthropologist Louis Leakey.

Goodall had no formal education but she used patience, observation and empathy traits that led to remarkable findings. Goodall recorded chimpanzees making and using tools, against the conventional wisdom that only humans were capable of such actions.

She also observed the extensive emotional lives and social arrangements of chimpanzees, demonstrating feelings of affection, grief, aggression and even collaboration, all traits similar to humans.

In 1960, Dr. Jane Goodall’s early fieldwork observing chimpanzees at Gombe Stream Game Reserve, in Tanganyika (now Tanzania), unveiled groundbreaking research of shared behaviors between humans and apes.
The Jane Goodall Institute announced on October 1, 2025, that Jane Goodall… pic.twitter.com/c7AkEZsHeh

— National Geographic Documentary Films (@natgeodocs) October 1, 2025

She has transformed primatology, dismantling scientific norms about labeling research subjects with numbers instead of their names. By using names such as David Greybeard, Flo and Fifi, she acknowledged their personalities and individuality and has changed the way scientists regard animals forever.

In addition to her research, Jane Goodall emerged as an international voice for conservation and animal welfare. In 1977, she initiated the Jane Goodall Institute which continues to protect chimpanzees and their habitats while supporting conservation practices being carried out by communities.

In 1991, she founded the Roots & Shoots program which supports youth in more than 70 countries taking action for animals, the environment and human communities.

Goodall wrote over two dozen books, spurred countless documentaries and held titles like Dame of the British Empire and a United Nations Messenger of Peace. Until her death at age 91, she was an avid supporter of action against climate change and biodiversity loss.