Still surprised by nature

Jane Goodall speaks to youth at Beijing's Beihang University on Nov 16. The iconic naturalist, who travels 300 days a year, visited China to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the founding of the China branch of her NGO Roots & Shoots, which has 600 groups in the country.[Photo provided to China Daily]

At 80, celebrity scientist Goodall continues to savor joy of discovery.

The fish kept vanishing.

No evidence of break-ins. No corpses. Nothing.

So, the US aquarium installed cameras.

The footage shows an octopus escape its tank, slither across the floor and slip into the fish tank to eat a fish, then slink back to its container - closing the lid behind it.

This is just one of the amazing recent discoveries about other life forms' previously unfathomed capabilities, celebrity scientist, environmentalist and animal-welfare advocate Jane Goodall says.

"Trees can communicate with each other," she said during her Nov 16 Beijing visit to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the China establishment of her youth NGO Roots & Shoots, which has grown to more than 600 branches in the country among 150,000 active groups globally.

Plants have been found to broadcast messages by transmitting chemicals from their leaves or the fungi that live on them. If a caterpillar chomps some trees' leaves, for instance, they emit chemical signals that cause nearby members of the same species to release toxins, she explains.

While Goodall discovered chimpanzees make tools, UK researchers recently found crows will fashion hooks from wire to retrieve food.

"Birds can be really intelligent. An octopus, with no brain but with a central nervous system, is still able to show such intelligence. Even fish can learn to recognize individual humans," Goodall told the crowd at Beihang University.

"It makes us think about what we do to other animals in a different way ... I'm telling these stories because there are a lot of young people. There's so much left to learn. There are so many discoveries to make."

She tells China Daily: "It's the young people who are going to change the future. We have to work with them."

The 80-year-old UN Messenger of Peace and Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire shows no signs of slowing down.

She typically must traverse among crowds encircled by volunteers joining hands to keep at bay the crush of young fans. Passersby of her appearances may presume a pop diva like Lady Gaga is performing, rather than that an octogenarian primatologist and environmentalist is speaking.

Goodall still travels 300 days a year to campaign and says she absorbs energy from the inspired people she meets in each country. The elderly activist and the youth take inspiration from each other.

She toured the project booths Roots & Shoots groups had set up at Beihang.

"She thought our project was great," says 16-year-old Shandong Experimental High School student Qi Zhengyang, whose group presented a wetlands-conservation venture.

"She said we're doing a good job. She paid attention to us."

Goodall plans to continue full-throttle to grow Roots & Shoots as much as possible.

"I'll go on as long as I can," she says.

"I hope I maintain physical health as long as possible because there's so much to do."

Her aspiration for the organization in China is to expand in rural areas. Most branches are in such metropolises as Beijing and Shanghai.

"Roots & Shoots grew very fast in China," Goodall says.

"The young people are very anxious to improve the environment and treat animals better, to improve the lives and migrants - things like that."

Much has changed since her first China visit.