Jane Goodall

Chimpanzees and humans share about 95% of their DNA. If affinity and awareness count, Jane Goodall may have a smidge more. As the world's most renowned primatologist, her work has changed what we think of our primate brethren as thinking and feeling creatures, toolmakers, peacemakers and warmongers. One of the original "Leakey Ladies," anointed by the paleoanthropologist Louis B. Leakey, Goodall still returns twice each year to the chimpanzees of Gombe, Tanzania. In a world of fleeting celebrity, she remains both famous and influential.

Jane Goodall was clearly out of her element recently when she walked the red carpet for the premiere of a new film. After all, the conservationist has spent much of the last 50 years in the wilds of Africa studying primates. But this was no mere movie, and the title alone explains why it brought Goodall, 78, to a red carpet in Orlando, Fla. Disneynature's "Chimpanzee" opens in theaters Friday, giving the world a breathtaking glimpse into the lives of a family of chimps in the Tai Forest National Park in Africa's Ivory Coast.

Jane Goodall was clearly out of her element recently when she walked the red carpet for the premiere of a new film. After all, the conservationist has spent much of the last 50 years in the wilds of Africa studying primates. But this was no mere movie, and the title alone explains why it brought Goodall, 78, to a red carpet in Orlando, Fla. Disneynature's "Chimpanzee" opens in theaters Friday, giving the world a breathtaking glimpse into the lives of a family of chimps in the Tai Forest National Park in Africa's Ivory Coast.

Birding with Jane Goodall is a fantastic notion, but not an unrealistic one this spring. The naturalist best known for her longtime work among chimps in Africa will be on hand for a March trip to witness the migration of sandhill cranes at preserves and viewing areas in Kearney, Neb. The Jane Goodall Institute sponsors this four-day trip that features an evening of crane viewing plus cocktails and dinner with Goodall. Other activities include visiting the Rowe Sanctuary on the Platt River, birding and hiking in Rainwater Basin with natural history author Scott Weidensaul and naturalist Bill Wallauer and a nature photography workshop.

Serfdom, war and dying for the tribe: It reads like a page out of a Russian novel. In fact, we're talking about ant life. Mark Moffett, an ecologist and a research associate at the Smithsonian Institution, has observed all of these behaviors in ants — and much more. Known for his detailed photographs of insects and other small creatures, the author of books about the rain forest canopy and frogs has now written "Adventures Among Ants: A Global Safari with a Cast of Trillions."

Primate expert and wildlife champion Jane Goodall "pant-hooted" like a chimpanzee at the State Department as she teamed up with U.S. Secretary of State Colin L. Powell to fight deforestation on Earth Day.

JANE GOODALL, as a small child, already had the patience and curiosity that would make her a scientist who studies animal behavior. Born April 3, 1934, in London, she lived her early years in the country in an old manor house where her father, an engineer, had grown up. There was a big farm next door. One day, when she was 4, Jane crouched in a henhouse, curious to find out where eggs came from. The straw tickled her legs.

Marshall Flaum, an award-winning producer, director and writer who specialized in documentaries, died Friday at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles of complications after hip surgery, his family said. He was 85. Flaum won five Emmy Awards, had several more nominations and was twice nominated for an Academy Award, for the documentaries "The Yanks Are Coming (1963) and "Let My People Go: the Story of Israel" (1965). Flaum wrote, directed and produced both documentaries.

Serfdom, war and dying for the tribe: It reads like a page out of a Russian novel. In fact, we're talking about ant life. Mark Moffett, an ecologist and a research associate at the Smithsonian Institution, has observed all of these behaviors in ants — and much more. Known for his detailed photographs of insects and other small creatures, the author of books about the rain forest canopy and frogs has now written "Adventures Among Ants: A Global Safari with a Cast of Trillions."

As Miss Teen South Carolina reminded us so memorably in 2007, "Some people in our nation don't have maps. . . ." So true. But you can't blame the National Geographic Society. For more than a century, the House That Grosvenor Built has been one of the world's most ambitious educational and scientific organizations. These are the people who brought us unforgettable documentary films about Jacques Cousteau and Robert Ballard, Jane Goodall and Dian Fossey. The society's flagship publication, National Geographic magazine, remains the platinum standard of glossy-book journalism: lucidly written, beautifully photographed and humanely informed, a study in elegance.

Hope for Animals and Their World How Endangered Species Are Being Rescued From the Brink Jane Goodall Grand Central: 378 pp., $27.99 Dawn Light Dancing With Cranes and Other Ways to Start the Day Diane Ackerman W.W. Norton: 240 pp., $23.95 The frogs are dying. From Canada to Panama, swamps have gone still and rivers silent; insects the amphibians would have devoured proliferate. Creatures with 100 million-year histories have begun disappearing so fast biologists can hardly keep pace.

Chimpanzees and humans share about 95% of their DNA. If affinity and awareness count, Jane Goodall may have a smidge more. As the world's most renowned primatologist, her work has changed what we think of our primate brethren as thinking and feeling creatures, toolmakers, peacemakers and warmongers. One of the original "Leakey Ladies," anointed by the paleoanthropologist Louis B. Leakey, Goodall still returns twice each year to the chimpanzees of Gombe, Tanzania. In a world of fleeting celebrity, she remains both famous and influential.

Jane Goodall's research has changed the definition of what it means to be a human. When she went to what is now Tanzania in 1960 to study the chimpanzees of Gombe, humans were thought to be the only animals capable of making and using tools. Goodall showed not only that chimps could do that, but also that they had personalities and complex social lives, could hunt for game and even engage in warfare.

SAN DIEGO -- The small room was dark and windowless, the lights dimmed. "Jane prefers low light," said one of her staff members. Jane Goodall, 74, walked into the room, her hands still moist after a quick stop at the restroom (she doesn't use paper towels). The renowned primatologist who began her work with chimpanzees in Tanzania nearly 50 years ago is, these days, on a broader assignment.

IN 1962 the National Geographic Society provided more money for Jane Goodall's research. The society sent Hugo van Lawick to Africa to photograph the chimps. Van Lawick found Goodall living a very frugal life with only one knife, one fork and one plate for eating. He brought about better conditions. Among the many pictures Van Lawick took were ones showing chimps killing and eating smaller animals and sharing their feast. Before this, it was always assumed that chimps were vegetarians.