("What True Self?"

by Chris Zabriskie) - [Ira] Now, I know you do wonderful chimp calls.

- [Jane] Well, I'm going to do the greeting that's the kind of sound you'd hear if you went to Gombe and you climbed up onto the ridge in the morning, and if you're lucky, you hear the chimpanzees calling out, saying, "Here I am.

"It's a wonderful day.

"Where are you?"

And.

(imitates chimp howling) - [Ira] Wow.

- [Jane] And each one has his or her own individual voice.

You know exactly who's calling.

- [Voiceover] It's a pleasure to speak with you.

I wanted to know if you believe there are any undiscovered large ape species.

- [Jane] You're talking about a yeti, or bigfoot, or a Sasquatch.

- [Ira] Is that what he's talking about?

(laughs) - [Jane] Yes, yes he is.

- [Voiceover] Pretty much.

- [Ira] (laughs) I'm out of the loop.

Go ahead.

- [Jane] Well now you'll be amazed when I tell you that I'm sure that they exist.

I've talked to so many Native Americans who've all described the same sounds, two who've seen them.

There was a little tiny snippet in the newspaper just last week which says that British scientists have found what they believe to be a yeti hair.

And that the scientists in the Natural History Museum in London couldn't identify it as any known animal.

- [Ira] Did you always have this belief that they existed?

- [Jane] Well, I'm a romantic, so I always wanted them to exist.

Animals were my passion from even before I could speak, apparently.

Then when I was about 10, 11 I found the books about Tarzan of the Apes.

Fell in love with Tarzan.

He's got that wife Jane, you know, so I was terribly jealous of her.

And that was when my dream started.

When I grew up, I would go to Africa, live with animals and write books about them.

That's how it all began.

I got the opportunity when a school friend invited me to go and stay on their farm in Kenya.

So you know, I was 23, and I sort of said bye-bye to family, friends, and country, and off I went.

And that was when I heard about the late Louis Leakey.

And somebody said, "Jane, if you're interested in animals, "you must meet Louis."

Louis realized that I was the sort of person he said he'd been looking for for about 10 years, who didn't care about hairdressing, and clothes, and parties, and boyfriends.

You know, I really wanted to be in the wild.

It took him a year.

He searched for money, and eventually found a wealthy American businessman that said, "OK Louis, here you are.

"Here's enough money for six months.

"We'll see how she does."

The chimpanzees ran away as soon as they saw me.

They had not seen a white ape before.

And I knew if that six months money ran out before I'd seen something really exciting, everyone would, you know, I would have let Louis down.

Of course at that time, we were defined as man the toolmaker.

That was supposed to differentiate us more than anything else in the rest of the animal kingdom.

- [Ira] And you discovered that chimps could make tools.

- [Jane] David Greybeard, bless his heart, I saw him crouched over a termite mound.

The whole thing, putting in the grass, picking the termites up, picking a leafy twig and stripping off the leaves, which is the beginning of tool making.

I couldn't actually believe it.

I had to see it about four times before I let Louis Leakey know.

And then I sent a telegram, and he sent back his famous, "Ha ha, now we must redefine man, "redefine tool, or accept chimpanzees as humans."

("Feels Bogus" by Chris Zabriskie) After a bit, Louis said, "Jane, you have to get a degree "because otherwise you can't get your own money.

"And I won't always be around to get money for you."

But he said, "We don't have time to mess about with a BA, "so you'll have to go straight for a PhD."

So he managed to persuade Cambridge in England to accept me as a PhD student.

And when I got there, it was actually a very unpleasant and hostile reception that I had.

I shouldn't have named the chimps.

It wasn't scientific.

I didn't know.

I knew nothing.

And worse sin of all was that I was ascribing to them emotions, like happiness, sadness, and so forth.

- [Ira] And they were just aghast at you?

- [Jane] Yeah, they were.

- [Ira] Whippersnapper.

- [Jane] Yeah, I was even accused of teaching the chimps how to fish for termites, which, I mean, that would have been such a brilliant coup.

(laughs) ("Let's Watch Jason X" Chris Zabriskie ) - [Voiceover] Do you think a primatologist's gender influences how they conduct their work?

- [Jane] Well, I think in many cases it actually does.

Louis Leakey always thought women were better as observers.

He felt that they were more patient.

Certainly it's very often true that women tend to be a bit quieter and more prepared to sit there and let the animal tell you things.

- [Ira] Would you rather be remembered for discovering the tool making abilities of the chimps or for your work in the environment today?

- [Jane] I think I'd like to be remembered as someone who really helped people to have a little humility and realize that we are part of the animal kingdom, not separated from it.

When I do go back to Gombe, it's to be in that timeless world where it's soft, and where life is entwined, and you actually see the pattern of nature.

And I always feel this great spiritual power, which I believe is around.

("Let's Watch Jason X" by Chris Zabriskie)