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"They also point a finger at us and say: we're so like them but we're so different, we do have a highly developed intellect, so how come we're destroying our home?"

Dr Goodall will be in Adelaide this weekend to spread her conservation message.The London-born primatologist has earned worldwide acclaim after almost 50 years of research into chimpanzee society. In recent years, the plight of animals as a result of human activities has inspired her to travel the world, warning others of the impending disaster if nothing is done to save the world's wildlife.

"When I discovered chimpanzees were vanishing, their numbers reduced from way over a million to 300,000 and their forests were going, I realised I had to do something and discover more and more about what we're doing to this poor old planet.

"It's desperately serious. Climate change is just one big thing, a shortage of water, the sheer number of people, pollution - add it all up and it's a pretty grim world."

Dr Goodall said the core element of her message was the power of the individual to make a real difference.

"Although they feel helpless in the face of the big problems, individual action, individual change, is really what's needed to get the world back on the right track.

"If everybody would spend a little bit of time thinking about the consequences of what they do, what they eat, what they buy, what they wear, where was it made, did it involve suffering from people or animals, that makes a big change.

"It would be a deep shame on us for our great-grandchildren to only know some of these animals from picture books."

And children are a key target of Dr Goodall: "There's no point me killing myself trying to save forests, chimps or whatever if we're not educating new generations to do a better job than we've done."

Dr Goodall will officially dedicate the new chimpanzee habitat at Monarto Zoo, the largest in Australasia, on Sunday (October 5). She will present a public lecture at the Adelaide Town Hall on Monday (October 6) and appear at a luncheon of business leaders at the National Wine Centre on Tuesday (October 7).