An important objective was to learn about chimpanzee behaviour so that, because of the many similarities between chimpanzees and humans, we could gain a better understanding of the behaviour of early humans. Early humans lived under conditions comparable to those of chimpanzees.
The findings of Jane Goodall’s work were groundbreaking.
The discovery that chimpanzees made tools and adapted them to their circumstances meant that the definition of being human had to be revised. Until then, it was assumed that only humans were capable of making tools. We now know that many more animal species make and use tools. Jane Goodall’s advocacy for chimpanzees, whose survival is under threat, and her work in nature conservation and habitat restoration are among her major contributions.
To my great regret, and even frustration, her most important breakthrough as an ethologist is never mentioned. The breakthrough underlying the findings on chimpanzee behaviour was that Jane Goodall established a relationship with chimpanzees in the wild based on mutual respect and mutual trust. This made it possible to observe their natural behaviour without her presence negatively affecting it. Creating this kind of relationship with non-domesticated animals in the wild has been a source of inspiration to me throughout all these years.
Unfortunately, it has become “Jane Goodall’s secret” because no one has taken “the secret” seriously.
In my book, “The Secret of the Kindergarten Teacher”, this secret is linked to Jane Goodall’s secret. The definitions of behaviour that I formulated, Professor Niko Tinbergen’s definition of displacement behaviour and the five-step behavioural protocol I developed make it possible to create a relationship with parrots, animals and children based on mutual respect and mutual trust. Such a relationship safeguards the welfare of the parrot, animal or child, as well as the wellbeing of the carer, owner or parent.
It remains “fascinating” that experts in animal behaviour and welfare, as well as experts in addressing behavioural problems in children, are not interested in Jane Goodall’s “secret” or in the “secret” of the Preschool Teacher.
Professor Klaus Jaffe, who headed the ethology department at a university in Venezuela for several decades and is an expert in behaviour and the evolution of behaviour, describes it as an inconvenient truth and, at the same time, as a milestone in raising animals and children.
