Jane Goodall

Ethologist and conservationist Jane Goodall redefined what it means to be human and set the standard for how behavioral studies are conducted through her work with wild chimpanzees in Gombe Stream National Park, Tanzania.

Biology, English Language Arts, Geography, Physical Geography

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Dr. Valerie Jane Morris-Goodall, best known simply as Jane Goodall, was born in Bournemouth, England, on April 3, 1934, to Margaret (Vanne) Myfanwe Joseph and Mortimer (Mort) Herbert Morris-Goodall. As a child, she had a natural love for the outdoors and animals. She had a much-loved dog, Rusty, a pony, and a tortoise , to name a few of their family pets. When Jane was about eight she read the Tarzan and Dr. Dolittle series and, in love with Africa, dreamed of traveling to work with the animals featured in her favorite books.

Jane was unable to afford college after graduation and instead elected to attend secretarial school in South Kensington, where she perfected her typing, shorthand, and bookkeeping skills. She retained her dream of going to Africa to live among and learn from wild animals, and so she took on a few jobs including waitressing and working for a documentary film company, saving every penny she earned for her goal. At age 23, she left for Africa to visit a friend, whose family lived on a farm outside Nairobi, Kenya.

In March 1957 Jane boarded a ship called the Kenya Castle to visit her friend and her family. There, Jane met famed paleoanthropologist Dr. Louis Seymour Bazett Leakey, who offered her a job at the local natural history museum. She worked there for a time before Leakey decided to send her to the Gombe Stream Game Reserve (what is today Gombe Stream National Park ) in Tanzania to study wild chimpanzees . He felt her passion for and knowledge of animals and nature, high energy, and fortitude made her a great candidate to study the chimpanzees . Leakey felt that Jane’s lack of formal academic training was advantageous because she would not be biased by traditional thought and could study chimpanzees with an open mind. His hope was that by studying our closest living relatives ( chimpanzees who share a common ancestor with humans) he could discover more about what early humans were like−things he could not learn from fossils alone. They just needed to secure funding for the project.

In December 1958, Jane returned home to England and Leakey began to make arrangements for the expedition , securing the appropriate permissions from the government and raising funds. To prepare for her upcoming expedition Jane moved to London to work in the film library of Granada Television’s film library at the London Zoo where she spent her spare time studying the behavior of primates. In May 1960, Jane learned that Leakey had obtained funding from the Wilkie Brothers Foundation. Permits in hand, she boarded a plane to Nairobi.

Gombe Stream National Park

On July 14, 1960, Jane arrived by boat at the Gombe Stream Game Reserve on the eastern shore of Lake Tanganyika with her mother−local officials would not allow Jane to stay at Gombe without an escort−and a cook, Dominic.

The early weeks at Gombe were challenging. Jane developed a fever−likely malaria −that delayed the start of her work. Once recovered, the rugged terrain and thick vegetation made traversing the reserve a challenge and often she hiked miles without seeing a chimpanzee .

Finally, an older chimpanzee −whom Jane named David Greybeard, although the practice of naming one’s study subjects was taboo in ethology −began to allow Jane to watch him. As a high ranking male of the chimpanzee community, his acceptance meant other group members also allowed Jane to observe. It was David Greybeard whom Jane first witnessed using tools . She spotted the chimpanzee sticking blades of stiff grass into termite holes to extract termites . Excited, she telegraphed Dr. Leakey about her groundbreaking observation . He wrote back, “Now we must redefine ‘ tool ,’ redefine ‘man,’ or accept chimpanzees as humans.”

During the years she studied at Gombe Stream National Park , she made three observations that challenged conventional scientific ideas: (1) chimps are omnivores , not herbivores and even hunt for meat; (2) chimps use tools ; and (3) chimps make their tools (a trait previously used to define humans). Beyond the significance of her discoveries, it was Jane’s high standard for methods and ethics in behavioral studies may have had the greatest impact in the scientific community.

Jane continued to work in the field and, with Leakey’s help, began her doctoral program without an undergraduate degree in 1962. At Cambridge University , she found herself at odds with senior scientists over the methods she used−how she had named the chimpanzees rather than using the more common numbering system, and for suggesting that the chimps have emotions and personalities. She further upset those in power at the university when she wrote her first book, ‘My Friends, the Wild Chimpanzees ,’ published by National Geographic, aimed at the general public rather than an academic audience. The book was wildly popular, and her academic peers were outraged. Dr. Jane Goodall earned her Ph.D. on February 9, 1966, and continued to work at Gombe for the next twenty years.

Conservation

Jane shifted from scientist to conservationist and activist after attending a primatology conference in 1986, where she noticed all the presenters mentioned deforestation at their study sites worldwide. Jane herself had noticed some signs of deforestation along Lake Tanganyika at Gombe Stream National Park , but nothing significant . Then, in the early 1990s, she flew in a small plane over the park and was shocked to see large-scale deforestation on the other side of the park where local villages were rapidly expanding. Miles of bare hills stretched where once untouched forests had stood. Jane knew that she had to take action to protect the forest and preserve the critical habitat of the chimpanzees .

Her first mission was to improve the conditions for chimpanzees held at medical research facilities. Jane helped set up several refuges for chimps freed from these facilities or those orphaned by the bushmeat trade. She established the Jane Goodall Institute (JGI) in 1977, a global community-centered conservation organization, and JGI’s program Roots & Shoots in 1991, which encourages young people around the world to be agents of change by participating in projects that protect the environment, wildlife, or their communities. She met with anyone she felt could be key to protecting places like Gombe Stream National Park and species such as her beloved chimpanzees and has been an advocate for protecting animals, spreading peace, and living in harmony with the environment.

Jane is still hard at work today raising awareness and money to protect the chimpanzees, their habitats, and the planet we all share. She travels about 300 days a year giving speeches, talking to government officials and business people around the world encouraging them to support wildlife conservation and protect critical habitats.

“The least I can do is speak out for those who cannot speak for themselves.” - Jane Goodall

“Change happens by listening and then starting a dialogue with the people who are doing something you don’t believe is right.” - Jane Goodall

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Jane Goodall's Good for All News

How Jane Changed Science Forever

In 1960, Jane Goodall transformed our understanding of what differentiates humans from the rest of the animal kingdom through the observation that chimpanzees make and use tools. This groundbreaking moment has been referenced time and time again, but what can we learn from Jane’s earliest findings and writings on the subject, and what we continue to discover today?

To set the stage, previous to Jane’s research, non-human animals were presumed to be functioning on an almost mechanical basis and their behavior was thought to be based on ‘preprogrammed’ instinct. In 1875 in his speech to the Royal Institution of Great Britain,  Colonel A Lane Fox, President of the Anthropological Institute decreed: 

“ But who has ever seen any of the lower animals construct a tool and use it?  The conception of man not as a tool using but as a tool-making animal is clear, defined, and unassailable . . .   The ape employs both sticks and stones as missiles and as hammers to crack the shells of nuts.  But we have no evidence that he ever selects special forms for special uses.   It is this which so essentially distinguishes man from the lower creation. Man is the tool using animal. “

Who indeed! This was the prevailing belief – until Jane. In the Fall of 1960, everything changed.

November 6, 1960 –  from Dr. Jane’s field notebook: 

By the termite hill were two chimps, both  male  .   .  .  I could see a little better the use of the piece of straw.  It was held in the left hand, poked  o nto the  g r ound, and then removed coated with termites.  The straw was  then  raised to the mouth and the insects picked off with the lips ,  along the length of the straw, starting in the middle.  

How exciting it is to read in Jane’s own words, her first clear observation of a chimpanzee using a tool to fish for termites.  In 1964, Jane wrote a paper for  Nature , detailing her observation over her first years in Gombe. 

jane goodall research paper

Can you imagine the thrill and excitement she felt as she saw these behaviors for the first time?  This is one of the most significant moments in modern scientific history.  Our belief that humans were the only species capable of manipulating objects and constructing tools came crumbling down and our eyes and minds were opened to the idea that we are not separate from, but connected to, the rest of the animal kingdom.

To me, maybe even more significant were the words she wrote a year earlier in a report for the Zoological Society of London.  Believe it or not, in this earliest of papers, Jane was already developing a theory of non-human culture and the social transmission of behavior.   

jane goodall research paper

The above description is likely one of the first known instances in which the word  culture  was attributed to a non-human species.  This was a completely new concept and these words were met with great criticism within the scientific community.  

Jane continues to expand on these insights: 

“There was thus opportunity for the attention of the infants to be directed to the tools and the way in which they were manipulated, and for them to learn their use by watching and imitation .  It therefore seems probable that the use of sticks, stems and leaves for the specific purposes described here represents a series of primitive cultural traditions passed on from one generation to the next in the Gombe Stream area.  

Through that visionary idea over 56 years ago, a new field of study was born.  Today, generations of scientists are observing tool use and cultural variation in dozens of species all over the planet following in Jane’s footsteps.  How fantastic it is that Jane started it all; and that we now see these beings, previously regarded as ‘lower creatures,’ as spectacular, feeling, thinking, conscious beings who have extraordinary mental and emotional capacity.  How important it is to treat them with the respect and dignity which we ourselves expect.

Want to learn more about groundbreaking science and chimpanzees? Become a Gombe Science Hero today and support the longest running wild chimpanzee study in the world, started by Dr. Goodall continued by the Jane Goodall Institute!

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The Jane Goodall Institute is a global community conservation organization that advances the vision and work of Dr. Jane Goodall. By protecting chimpanzees and inspiring people to conserve the natural world we all share, we improve the lives of people, animals and the environment. Everything is connected—everyone can make a difference.

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Bill Wallauer is a public speaker, scientific advisor and filmmaker for the Jane Goodall Institute. Bill became part of the life at the Jane Goodall Institute's Gombe Stream Research Center in 1989 while on assignment for the U.S. Peace Corps in southern Tanzania. After he captured a wild chimpanzee birth on videotape, Dr. Goodall asked Bill to follow chimps and record their daily activities and behaviors, which he did for the next 15 years. Bill has served as camera operator and scientific advisor for more than 30 productions, including BBC/Animal Planet’s “Chimp Week,” BBC/Discovery’s 10-part series, “Planet Earth," and Disney Nature’s “Chimpanzee.” He also worked on three National Geographic films in 2014 and 15. He shot the closing sequence for the BBC/Discovery's 10-part series, "Planet Earth," and appeared in the Animal Planet special, "Almost Human," with Jane Goodall.

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Women of Genius in Science pp 165–176 Cite as

Jane Goodall (*1934): The Great Lady of Primate Research

  • Lars Jaeger 2  
  • First Online: 14 January 2023

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Jane Goodall is the first of the great female scientists featured in this book whom the reader can still see in action in the early 2020s. She was born on 3 April 1934, the same year that Marie Curie died, and at over 80 she is still going on lecture tours. For thirty years, the primatologist and anthropologist researched the behaviour of wild chimpanzees in Africa, and her findings have forced humanity to rethink its relationship to the animal world. Over forty films and numerous reports have made the name of Jane Goodall world famous.

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Read more at www.britannica.com/explore/savingearth/the-right-jane .

Neale McDevitt, “ It’s Been a Long Journey”, McGill Reporter, 1 October 2019, read at: https://reporter.mcgill.ca/its-been-a-long-journey-jane-goodall-tells-beatty-lecture-audience/ .

Biography , Jane Goodall Institute UK: https://www.janegoodall.org.uk/jane-goodall/biography .

Jane Goodall, Learning from the Chimpanzees: A Message Humans Can Understand , Science, 282 (1998), pp. 2184–2185.

Interview with Liesa Bauer, published in: Spektrum Kompakt, issue 50/2019: Be-/Verkannt - Frauen in der Wissenschaft , available at www.spektrum.de/news/jane-goodall-ein-leben-fuer-die-schimpansen/1545469 .

Jane Goodall, Through a Window: My Thirty Years with the Chimpanzees of Gombe, 1986, now available from: Mariner Books (2010).

Available at: www.radiotimes.com/tv/documentaries/jane-goodall-if-my-legs-helped-me-get-publicity-for-the-chimps-well-that-was-useful/ .

Oral statement by Jane Goodall at the Understanding Chimpanzees conference hosted by the Chicago Academy of Sciences , held in Chicago in 1986. Quoted here from: https://edition.cnn.com/2017/01/17/africa/jane-goodall-conservation/index.html .

Jane Goodall, Through a Window , Mariner Books (1990).

Interview with Alice Winkler for the American Academy of Achievement ’ s “ What it takes ” podcast, 18 May 2018, read at https://learningenglish.voanews.com/a/what-it-takes-jane-goodall/4364308.html .

Read more at www.spektrum.de/news/jane-goodall-ein-leben-fuer-die-schimpansen/1545469 .

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Jaeger, L. (2023). Jane Goodall (*1934): The Great Lady of Primate Research. In: Women of Genius in Science . Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-23926-7_15

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Jane Goodall and a chimpanzee

Image by Michael Neugebauer / JGI

The Life & Work of Dr. Jane Goodall

We are publishing this profile of Dr. Jane Goodall as we celebrate the run of the special exhibition, Becoming Jane: The Evolution of Dr. Jane Goodall , which is open at NHMU through May 27, 2024. 

By Matt Pacenza

The sweep of Dr. Jane Goodall’s life is not just one of extraordinary influence -- on science, habitat protection, environmental education, and activism -- but also one of remarkable transformation. 

Goodall, who will turn 90 in April, is featured in the new special exhibit at the Natural History Museum of Utah,  Becoming Jane: The Evolution of Dr. Jane Goodall, which showcases not just her groundbreaking work studying chimpanzees in Tanzania in the 1960s, but her decades-long commitment to education and activism. 

It is no exaggeration to say that Goodall has inspired millions around the globe, a number that will surely grow as Utahns young and old have the opportunity to learn more about her at NHMU’s exhibit. The youth action organization she founded in 1991, Roots & Shoots, has 12,000 active groups in more than 60 countries, and nearly 1.5 million young people took part in its programs  in 2022 alone .

One compelling way to learn more about Goodall’s life is at the new exhibition,  Becoming Jane , at NHMU. Additionally, two award-winning documentaries cover her remarkable journey.  Jane , from 2017, uses newly uncovered footage from the 1960s and 70s to show her early work with chimpanzees, while  Jane Goodall: The Hope , from 2020, portrays her life today.

Jane Goodall and Louis Leakey

Jane Goodall and Louis Leakey. Image by Joan Travis / JGI

Born in London in 1934, Goodall’s love of animals led her to take a position as a secretary to famed Kenyan paleoanthropologist Louis Leakey in 1957. By 1960, Leakey -- eager to learn more about primates to deepen his study of early humans -- had sent Goodall, then 26, to Gombe, in northwestern Tanzania. 

At first, Goodall struggled. The chimpanzees were wary, and she could only watch them from afar. As explained in the  Becoming Jane  exhibition, after weeks without luck Jane adopted a new tactic to view them from a nearby peak using a spotting scope. As quoted in the exhibit, Jane said “Everything I learned about the chimpanzees was new and surprising, especially how like us they were.” 

Chimpanzee mother with infant

Chimpanzee mother with infant. Image by Nick Riley / JGI

After months, the chimpanzees slowly began to tolerate Goodall’s presence and soon, she was able to observe closely enough to record the detailed impressions that would form the basis of her ground-breaking research. In one breakthrough, a mother chimpanzee, “Flo,” allowed her baby, “Flint,” to approach Jane, a moment that was captured in a now iconic photograph of the two reaching for one another, featured prominently in the exhibition. 

What Goodall learned, and what she taught the rest of the world, was that these chimpanzees were thinking, reasoning members of complex communities. Like humans, they were capable of “joy and sorrow; fear and jealousy,” she says in the documentary. 

She also discovered that chimpanzees could make, manipulate, and use tools. They would fashion twigs to carefully remove termites from their underground colonies. Until then, the scientific community believed only humans could perform such feats.  

Jane Goodall in the field with binoculars

Jane Goodall observes chimpanzees from afar using binoculars. Image by Hugo van Lawick / JGI

Goodall’s early research, showcased in the exhibition and films ,  is vastly different from contemporary studies of wild animals. Goodall and her fellow researchers (she was soon joined by several students and cameraman Hugo van Lawick) fed and interacted with the wild animals, practices that would be frowned upon today.  A letter from van Lawick featured in the exhibition speaks of regular visits made by the chimpanzees to Jane’s camp, sometimes taking food right from her hand. (Note: Dr. Goodall and the Jane Goodall Institute do not endorse handling or proximity to wildlife. This recollection reflects a historical context.) 

Nonetheless, the footage of young Goodall holding, playing with and grooming baby chimps is, to use a scientific term, very, very cute. Early media coverage of Goodall, demonstrating the sexism of the era, raved about her beauty as much as her scientific discoveries.

Goodall’s life took its first significant turn in 1964 when she married van Lawick. In 1967, she gave birth to her one child, Hugo, nicknamed “Grub” from an early age. Parenting made research more challenging, but Goodall credits her observations of chimpanzees with making her a better mother, and with being a mother for helping her better understand chimpanzees.

By the late 1960s, domestic demands had pulled Goodall away from Gombe, although research there continued (as it does to this day). The young family spent Grub’s early years in the Serengeti, where van Lawick, a celebrated photographer and videographer, recorded the region’s wildlife, footage captured in  Jane . 

The couple began to drift apart as Goodall remained connected to Gombe, while van Lawick was drawn to the Serengeti, and they divorced in 1974. And, for the next decade, Goodall balanced her family life with her work as a researcher. (A second marriage to Derek Bryceson, the director of Tanzania's national parks, ended sadly in 1980 when he died of cancer.)

Goodall’s research in Gombe progressed throughout the 1960s and ‘70s when she established the Gombe Stream Research Center and the Jane Goodall Institute, which with National Geographic produced the  Becoming Jane  exhibition. She published scholarly articles and books, many of which have been translated into dozens of languages to help spread her message of hope throughout the world. 

The next major transformation in Goodall's life came at a scientific conference in 1986 where Goodall learned of the increasing   threats faced by chimpanzees across Africa. At that time, the global chimpanzee population had plummeted from 2 million to approximately 200,000. Urbanization, deforestation and population growth that were sweeping the planet were drastically reducing the primates’ habitats. 

Until that meeting, Goodall says in  The Hope , she had chosen to “dodge” controversies. But, she left that conference as "an activist.” In that moment she resolved to commit her life to activism, and has done so up until now nearing her 90th birthday, never once spending more than three weeks in one location and traveling nearly 300 days a year!

Jane Goodall before an audience

Jane Goodall greets a large audience at a public speaking event. Image by Catalin Mitrache / JGI

“Trying to save the world, it’s a bit of a tough job,” Goodall observes in  The Hope . It shows her constant journey, at the time in her mid 80s, going from airport to hotel to lecture hall. We see Goodall preparing her own breakfast in hotel rooms, including making toast with a curling iron. Time with her precious grandchildren (Grub’s kids) is also limited, with opportunities to see them happening only once or twice per year. 

In activism, Goodall has expanded her scope to do everything she could to help the animals, at times making agreements with non-traditional allies. For example, in 1992, the Jane Goodall Institute established the 27-square-mile Tchimpounga Sanctuary for primates in the Republic of the Congo, which was funded by Conoco, the global energy giant. 

In another scene in  The Hope , we see Goodall engage with medical researchers in a lab where chimps are being clearly mistreated. Despite conditions that must have appalled her, she calmly addresses them. “If you don’t talk to people, how can you expect them to change?” she asks. 

That paid off. By 2015, the National Institutes of Health had ended research on the last federally-owned chimpanzees.

While advocating over the decades, the once-shy scientist blossomed into one of the most powerful voices in wildlife conservation. No longer shy to speak out, Goodall states, “The least I can do is speak out for those who cannot speak for themselves.” This is made clear in a collage of images in the  Becoming Jane  exhibit where Goodall confronts abuse of chimpanzees in person, from streets and zoos in the Congo to destinations far from the animals’ natural habitats, like the Canary Islands.

The work that Dr. Goodall has spawned is sprawling and immense today. In addition to the ongoing research in Tanzania, the sanctuary in the Congo, the global speaking tour, and the massive environmental educational efforts, the institute that bears her name also funds projects in rural African communities, seeking to not just preserve endangered lands, but to help local villagers. 

She has learned, she says in  The Hope , that the fates of humanity and nature are intertwined. “It’s useless trying to save chimps by carving out a piece of land and keeping the people off,” she says.

Jane with kids from Roots and Shoots

Jane with Roots and Shoots. Image by Mary Paris / JGI

It’s clear that, whatever her many successes, Goodall draws energy today from the many children she interacts with, at her public speaking events, at the Roots & Shoots programs she visits, and in the villages where her institute funds projects As explained in  Becoming Jane,  “Once [young people] understand the problems facing the plant and are empowered to discuss and act upon solutions, they can do incredible things. Across the world, young people are leading the fight for social change.” 

And they’re doing so thanks in part to the incredible inspiration of the likes of Dr. Jane Goodall.  

Learn more about Jane Goodall's life story and her ongoing work in Becoming Jane: The Evolution of Dr. Jane Goodall , a special exhibition open at NHMU through May 27, 2024. 

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Jane Goodall: 60 years of research, activism and inspiration

  • By Adam Wernick

A woman with a green shirt, silver hair and a wrinkled face smiles

Through her speaking engagements and her Roots & Shoots program, Jane Goodall has inspired people around the globe. Goodall normally travels the world 300 days a year, sharing her story and inspiring future generations of environmentalists.

Simon Fraser University/Flickr

On July 14, 1960, at the age of 26, Jane Goodall arrived in what is now Gombe National Park, Tanzania, to begin her breakthrough study of wild chimpanzees. Soon after, she realized that if chimps were to survive into the future, she had best speak out on their behalf, as well as for the forests and their human stewards.

Now, 60 years on, the iconic scientist, naturalist and activist is still advocating passionately for the conservation of the natural world.

Goodall has described a pivotal moment in her life when she traveled from Gombe to a conference in Chicago. She says she arrived as a researcher and left as an activist.

“I helped to put that conference together,” Goodall says. “It was the first time chimp researchers from different field sites in Africa came together because by then, there were six other field sites. And it was mainly to see how chimp behavior differed from environment to environment or didn't differ, as the case may be.”

She attended a session on conservation and another on conditions in captive situations like medical research labs, and “it was a shock,” she says.

"I went as a scientist, I left as an activist." Jane Goodall 

“I knew there was deforestation. I had no idea the extent of it,” she explains. “I had no idea the speed with which chimp numbers were decreasing. And I certainly had no idea about what went on in the medical research labs. So I left as an activist. I didn't make a decision. I went as a scientist, I left as an activist. The first thing I had to do was make myself go into those labs because you've got to see it firsthand. And it's been a long battle, but, finally, with others helping, we have got chimps out of medical research.”

Related :  Dr. Jane Goodall on her work with chimpanzees, and the new documentary ‘JANE’

In Africa, she learned about the plight facing so many of the people living in and around the chimpanzee habitat she studied. In the 1960s and 70s, Gombe was part of a great equatorial forest belt that stretched from western East Africa to the west coast of the continent.

“When I flew over in 1990, it was just this little island of trees surrounded by completely bare hills,” Goodall says. “People struggling to survive — more than the land could support; too poor to buy food from elsewhere. This is when it hit me: If we don't help them find ways of making a living without destroying the environment, then we can't even try to save the chimpanzees. That's where we began our Tacare program , which is our method of community-based conservation.”

The Tacare program helps both local communities and conservation in several ways, such as using microcredit, based on Muhammad Yunus' Grameen Bank model.

“The women — particularly the women — take out tiny loans for their own environmentally sustainable projects, like getting a few chickens, selling the eggs, having tree nurseries, sometimes a slightly bigger project like shade-grown coffee plantation or pineapples, or something like that,” Goodall explains. “And because it's not just a grant given to them, but it's a loan, when they pay it back — and they do — now it's theirs. They've done it by their own hard work. It started with 12 villages around Gombe. It's now in 104 throughout the whole of chimp range.”

Related :  Conservationists' noble goals often conflict with local cultures, according to a new book

Goodall’s youth program, Roots & Shoots , has also grown dramatically since she launched it in 1991. The program grew out of conversations she was having with young people.

“I was meeting young people who seemed to have lost hope,” Goodall says. “They told me they felt depressed or apathetic or angry because we've compromised their future and there's nothing they can do about it. Well, we have compromised their future. In fact, we've been stealing it. But I didn't think it was true [that] there was nothing they could do.”

She began the program with 12 high school students who visited her at her home in Dar es Salaam, the capital of Tanzania.

"Every single one of us makes some impact on the planet every single day, and we get to choose what sort of impact we make." Jane Goodall

“We decided the main message would be: Every single one of us makes some impact on the planet every single day, and we get to choose what sort of impact we make,” Goodall explains. “And we decided that because in the rainforest you learn how everything is interconnected and every little species has a role to play — just as we all do — that every group would choose for themselves three projects: one to help people, one to help animals, one to help the environment. And because they get to choose it, they're passionate.”

The program is now active in more than 86 countries and has hundreds of thousands of groups, with members in kindergarten, at university and everything in between. Its success is grounded in the understanding that “much more important than our nationality, our language, our culture, our religion, the color of our skin, our food preferences — more important than all of that — is the fact that we're one human family,” Goodall says. “Our blood is the same if we hurt ourselves, our tears are the same, our laughter's the same and that is something which we need so desperately today.”

The COVID-19 pandemic has only highlighted the need for people to take collective action on everything from factory farming to wildlife trafficking, Goodall says.

“[W]e brought this entire pandemic on ourselves,” she says. “The scientists studying these zoonotic diseases — the ones that jump from an animal to a person — have been telling us for a long time that this pandemic was coming and it won't be the last, and it's entirely because of our disrespect for animals and the natural world.”

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“We cut down the forests, we're pushing animals into closer contact with people, animals are being trafficked, and many of them from different parts of Asia and even from Africa are ending up in the wildlife meat markets in Asia in horrible, unhygienic conditions. … So it's our fault. It's our disrespect,” she continues. “Here are we, the most intellectual creature that's ever walked the planet, so how come we're destroying our only home?”

Goodall believes we’ll come out of this pandemic, as we’ve come out of previous ones, like the Black Death, and then we will have to confront the “real existential crisis of our time,” which is climate change.

“It was Mahatma Gandhi who said, ‘The planet can provide for human need, but not human greed,’” Goodall says. “We've become very greedy as we’ve become more and more materialistic and less and less having any spiritual connection with the natural world. … If we all make ethical choices every day, if we ask about the consequences of the choices we make — Where did it come from? Did it harm the environment? Was it cruel to animals? — it will make a big difference.”

Goodall also has confidence in the resilience of nature. There are no bare hills around Gombe anymore, she notes. “The trees are back. Leave the land, give it a chance, nature reclaims. Animals on the brink of extinction can be given another chance.”

And then there's the indomitable human spirit, Goodall adds — the people who won't give up, those who tackle what seems impossible. She is clearly one of them.

She keeps going, she says, traveling as much as 300 days out of the year, because she cares passionately about the environment, about animals, about children — and because she’s obstinate.

“Do you think I'm going to let the Donald Trumps and Bolsonaros and people like that knock me down and keep me down,” she asks. “No. I'll go on fighting till the day I die. Because I'm passionate, and because I believe we have a window of time. … [I]t’s only if we all do our bit and get together that we can start slowing down climate change [and] heal some of the harm that we've inflicted.”

This article is based on an interview by Steve Curwood that aired on Living on Earth from PRX.

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Jane Goodall’s original tale of chimpanzees still astonishes today

To celebrate her 86th birthday, national geographic revisits jane goodall’s 1963 article about the chimpanzees of gombe stream game reserve..

The sun's fading glow on Lake Tanganyika silhouettes the author, who is preparing for a lonely, ...

This story first appeared in the August 1963 issue of National Geographic magazine.

Up on the mountains the midday sun glared fiercely, but down in the valley near the swift-running stream it was cool and still. I stood listening until I heard a faint rustling of leaves—the only sound to betray the presence of the group of chimpanzees I was trying to approach.

Slowly and quietly, but making no attempt to hide, I moved toward the great apes until I was only 30 feet away. As I sat down, they watched me, staring rather hard, and a young female who had been lying on the ground climbed a little way up a tall fig tree.

David Greybeard, a wild chimpanzee, gets a handout of bananas from author Goodall, who studies the ...

One of the males stood upright to watch more closely. He was a superb specimen, standing about four and a half feet in height, his massive shoulders and bull neck suggesting the tremendous strength in his arms. He must have weighed a good 130 pounds, and he was strong enough to snap with one hand a branch so tough that a man would be hard put to break it with two.

Later I was to learn how it feels to be slammed on the head from behind by a large male chimpanzee, but fortunately for me he did not continue his attack.

After a moment or two, the group stopped looking my way, recognizing me for the strange hairless primate they had grown accustomed to seeing amid the other mountain fauna. The six adults rested on the ground or stretched out along the branches of a wild fig. Nearby, four youngsters played quietly.

A bellicose youngster glares down from a fig-tree larder. Toes gripping a slender branch, Spray stretches ...

I thought then, as I always think when I am face to face with mature chimpanzees in their native forests, of the striking difference between the wild apes and those in captivity. The chimpanzee imprisoned behind bars is bad tempered in maturity, morose, moody, and frequently rather obscene; in his freedom he is majestic even when excited and, for the most part, dignified and good natured. ( Discover how a captive orangutan learned a "human way of life." )

For about an hour I sat with the group. Then one of the males stood up, scratched thoughtfully, and moved off down the valley. One by one the others followed, the infants riding astride their mothers’ backs like diminutive jockeys. The females and youngsters stared at me as they passed. The males scarcely glanced in my direction.

Africa fulfills a life’s ambition

To be accepted thus by a group of wild chimpanzees is the result of months of patience. In England, before I commenced my field study, I met one or two people who had seen chimpanzees in the wild.

“You’ll never get close to chimps—not unless you’re very well hidden,” they told me.

Gombe Stream Game Reserve spreads across 60 square miles of forested valleys and treeless ridges north ...

At first it seemed they were right, but gradually I was able to move nearer the chimpanzees, until at last I sat among them, enjoying a degree of acceptance that I had hardly dreamed possible.

At this intimate range, I observed details of their lives never recorded before. I saw chimpanzees in the wild hunt and kill for meat. Though this had been suspected, nobody dreamed that a chimpanzee would attack an animal as large as a bushbuck, until I saw an ape with his kill.

Most astonishing of all, I saw chimpanzees fashion and use crude implements—the beginnings of tool use. This discovery could prove helpful to those studying man’s rise to dominance over other primates.

Chimps threatened by civilization

I cannot remember a time when I did not want to go to Africa to study animals. Therefore, after leaving school, I saved up the fare and went to Nairobi, Kenya. There I was fortunate in meeting and working for Dr. Louis S. B. Leaky, then curator of the Coryndon Museum. After a year, Dr. Leakey asked me if I would undertake a field study of chimpanzees.

Although the chimpanzee has been known to science for nearly three centuries, and although, because of its striking resemblance to man, it has been used extensively as an experimental animal in medical and other fields, no attempts had been made to study this ape in its natural habitat until Dr. Henry W. Nissen made his pioneer study in French Guinea. I found his 1931 report invaluable as I prepared my own program.

The primary aim of my field study was to discover as much as possible about the way of life of the chimpanzee before it is too late—before encroachments of civilization crowd out, forever, all nonhuman competitors. Second, there is the hope that results of this research may help man in his search toward understanding himself. Laboratory tests have revealed a surprising amount of “insight” in the chimpanzee—the rudiments of reasoned thinking. Knowledge of social traditions and culture of such an animal, studied under natural conditions, could throw new light on the growth and spread of early human cultures.

Nineteen months after Dr. Leakey suggested the field study, I had received funds for a preliminary investigation from the Wilkie Foundation, Des Plaines, Illinois, which supports studies of man and other primates. I was ready to set out for a three-month visit to Lake Tanganyika region. The authorities were unwilling to allow a single European girl to go off into the bush by herself, and so my mother accompanied me. ( Read how Jane Goodall overcame gender barriers in her field. )

Bumps and dust for 840 miles

From Nairobi it took us more than five days to reach the Gombe Stream Game Reserve in Tanganyika, a 60-square-mile protected area set aside by the British where I would do my research. The Land-Rover was heavily overloaded, and most of the 840 miles of earth roads were in terrible condition.

jane goodall research paper

Eventually, after innumerable delays, we reached Kigoma, a small European settlement overlooking Lake Tanganyika. There I hired the government launch to take us on the last stage of the journey—the 16 miles up the lake to the Gombe chimpanzee reserve.

Game Ranger David Anstey had arranged one of his semi-annual visits to the reserve to coincide with our arrival. As we traveled up the crystal-clear lake, I studied the terrain where I was to work. The mountains rise steeply from the narrow beach and are broken by innumerable valleys and gorges. The valleys are thickly forested, but the upper slopes become open woodland and many of the peaks and ridges are treeless. Most of the wild chimpanzees in Africa inhabit the dense rain forests of the Congo and west coast. The more open country of the Gombe Stream reserve is ideal for field study, though behavior of apes living there might not be the same as that of apes in the dense forests.

William munches termites on a bit of vine.

Our talk as we sailed the lake was about chimpanzees, and one of Ranger Anstey’s stories persuaded me that they can be dangerous when cornered.

He told me of an African who decided to climb an oil-palm tree to cut down some nuts for cooking oil. A chimpanzee was high in the tree, feeding on the nuts, but the African failed to notice the animal until he had climbed well up the trunk. The ape, intent on feeding, only then saw the African, started rapidly down, and as he passed the man, hit out at him, slashing away half his cheek and one eye as he did so.

At about 2 o’clock on the afternoon of July 14, 1960, we arrived at Kasekela, a campsite midway along the 10-mile coastline of the reserve. The motor launch went back to Kigoma, with orders to return for David a few days later. We found ourselves on the beach, surrounded by untidy-looking crates and bundles, together with the small boat and its outboard motor which would be our only link with civilization. Our permanent party numbered four: myself; my mother; Dominic, our African cook; and Dominic’s wife. ( Watch Jane Goodall reflect on her legacy and imagine what lies ahead. )

Despair marks first field studies

As we set up camp that first day, we found the heat almost intolerable, but the big tent was soon pitched and everything bundled inside. I shall always remember David’s expression when he found that our only tableware consisted of a couple tin plates, a cup without a handle, and a thermos top! Indeed we were equipped with only the barest essentials, and I think even Dominic was secretly shocked.

During the first two months of my field studies, I often despaired. Each dawn I set out alone, following the little streams as I explored the valleys one by one, forcing my way through the dense undergrowth or scrambling up the steep slopes. Sometimes I saw a group of chimpanzees feeding in a tree, but seldom managed to get close before the shy apes moved away. Frequently I heard their noisy calling, but usually they had moved off before I could catch up with them. Disheartened, I trudged wearily back to camp each dusk.

Perched 1,500 feet above a precipitous valley, 29-year-old Jane Goodall sights chimpanzees afar, then moves in ...

Perched 1,500 feet above a precipitous valley, 29-year-old Jane Goodall sights chimpanzees afar, then moves in among them. Equipped with blanket, flashlight, tinned beans, and coffee, she often stays out alone all night to observe primate sleeping habits. She took her own picture by using a delayed exposure.

But those early days, however frustrating, initiated me into the ways of mountain life. The forests no longer seemed hostile after I learned to creep along pig trails instead of forcing my way through the undergrowth. The slopes were no longer a nightmare when I had discovered the baboon trails where I could pull myself up the steepest parts by roots worn smooth by constant use. I became acquainted with other animals: troops of vervet and redtail monkeys; the beautiful red colobus monkey; the shy bushbuck; the fat ginger bush pig.

One morning, while walking along the lake shore, I was approached by an excited fisherman who showed me a tree into which a bull buffalo had chased him the night before. “Huyu kali sana,” the man said. “He’s a bad one, this fellow.”

Indeed, the tree was scored by innumerable gashes from the buffalo’s horns. Mostly, however, the small herds are wary and hard to approach.

Once I did have to climb a tree, when I met two crotchety old bulls along a narrow track. My climb to safety was speeded by memory of Dr. Leakey’s opinion of them.

“I’d rather meet a rhinoceros or a lion any day. I am more frightened of the buffalo than of any other creature in Africa.”

Often I saw tracks of leopard, or recognized its powerful feline smell, and sometimes I heard the soft rasping of its hunting call. Many months later I saw one. He passed only a few yards away in the long grass, and I felt slightly apprehensive. But when he winded me he turned silently away.

One-girl camp set up near chimps

I never attempted to hide, and gradually the animals became used to the strange pale-skinned primate that had invaded their territory. After about six months, most of the chimpanzees would sit and look at me calmly at distances of 100 yards. At first they fled if they saw me within 500 yards.

Three-quarters of an hour’s climb from camp, I discovered a peak overlooking two valleys and many open grassy ridges and slopes—an ideal place for long-distance observation. From the peak I could locate a group and then try to get closer. I had a tin trunk carried up there, with blanket, electric torch, a couple of tins of baked beans, coffee, and a kettle. When the chimps slept close by, I stayed up in the mountains near them.

So, gradually, I began to learn the basic behavior patterns of the chimpanzees, and after six months I was able to pick out and name some individuals. When I saw Mike lazing in the sun, for example, or Count Dracula ambling past, it was like meeting a friend.

People often ask me how I choose such names for individual chimpanzees. My answer is that some names—such as Mrs. Maggs, Spray, and Mr. McGregor—simply come to mind. Strange as it may sound, some chimpanzees remind me of friends or acquaintances in some gesture or manner and are named accordingly. ( See the Gombe chimpanzee family album. )

One chimpanzee had a pale, flesh-colored face instead of the dark color common in adults. It gave me a slightly eerie feeling when I first saw him close to, and ever after that he was “Count Dracula.”

Study extended by society grant

When the three preliminary months came to an end, the National Geographic Society took over sponsorship of my research and financed a further 20 months. My mother had to return to England, but by then I was accepted by the authorities and so was allowed to stay on at the reserve. ( Hear our editor's first impressions of Jane Goodall. )

At this time I was joined by Hassan, of the Kakamega tribe, an African who had worked for Dr. Leakey for 15 years—a most responsible and reliable helper. He took over the little boat and the monthly trip to Kigoma for stores and mail. The trial period was over, and I could settle down to building a closer contact with the apes.

Chimpanzees are nomadic within their territory, and they follow no fixed circuit. They have no regular sleeping trees. Most chimpanzees in the reserve—probably between 60 and 80 individuals—range, at various times of the year, over the whole 60 square miles, and sometimes beyond the boundaries. The distance and direction of their wanderings—they may travel as much as eight or ten miles in a day—depend on the seasonal availability of the fruits, leaves, and blossoms that form the bulk of their diet.

Rainy weather routine: To escape the cold, damp ground, two mature males rest among branches in ...

The chimpanzees during much of the year move about in small groups of three to six animals. Such a group, I discovered from observation, may consist of adult males and females, of females and juveniles, of males only, or a mixture of sexes and ages.

During the day two or three small groups may join and move about together for a few hours or a few days. In certain seasons, mainly when some kind of favorite fruit is plentiful, I have often seen as many as 25 chimpanzees together.

What makes the social pattern so complicated is that the small groups are not stable. When two groups which have joined temporarily separate again, there has frequently been an exchange of individuals. Males often leave the group they are with to move about alone, subsequently joining another group or another lone male.

This casual, free-and-easy grouping makes it harder to recognize individuals, yet it is essential to do so before one can even begin to understand the social pattern.

Suffering with a cold, William turns in early. Apes often snack at bedtime.

From my mountaintop perch, I observed how chimpanzees go to bed. Every night each one makes its own sleeping platform, or nest—except for the small infants, which sleep with their mothers until they are about three years old. ( See how scientists are still using Jane Goodall's original research. )

Treetops provide springy mattresses

The construction of a nest, I found, is simple and takes only a couple of minutes. After choosing a suitable foundation, such as a horizontal fork with several branches growing out, the chimpanzee stands on this and bends down a number of branches from each side so that the leafy ends rest across the foundation. He holds them in place with his feet.

Finally he bends in all the little leafy twigs that project around the nest, and the bed is ready. But the chimpanzee likes his comfort, and often, after lying down for a moment, he sits up and reaches out for a handful of leafy twigs which he pops under his head or some other part of his body. Then he settles down again with obvious satisfaction.

Curled like a dog, an ape dozes. He will vary sleeping positions, but prefers the side.

One evening I sat quietly below a group of five chimpanzees that were feeding in a tree. There was Mrs. Maggs with her two offspring: little Jo, about two years old; and Spray, then about five. There was another mature female, Matilda, and a young male, Hugh.

Just before sunset there was excited calling as another male joined the group. Spray climbed down from the tree and ran up the slope to greet him. As they climbed the tree together, I saw that the newcomer was Mr. McGregor, an old male who had lost the hair from his sholders and was almost completely bald-headed—a rarity in chimpanzees.

The group fed quietly until the sun had almost vanished behind the mountains across the lake, and then Mrs. Maggs began looking for a place to make her nest. She tested the branches exactly the way a person tests the springs of a hotel bed. One by one, the other apes began to make their nests.

Drowsy mother cuddles little one

When the sun finally sank out of sight, Mrs. Maggs was lying on her back in her completed nest. As the chill of night crept into the air, little Jo ran to her mother, who put out her arm and drew the young one close to the warmth of her body.

In a wilderness boudoir Miss Goodall lathers her blond hair with water pure enough to drink. ...

Darkness fell swiftly and I climbed to my mountaintop lookout post, opened a tin of beans, and boiled my kettle over a little fire. The moon was nearly full, and the mountains were beautiful and rather ghostly when I returned to the chimpanzees. I disturbed them as I settled down with my blanket about 50 yards away, and they began to call out loudly, alerting a troop of baboons sleeping in the valley below. The chimpanzees soon quieted down, but the baboons went on barking for a long time.

The chimpanzees slept soundly for the rest of the night, but I was perched halfway down a steep slope with only a small tree to keep me from slithering into the ravine below. I was glad for the first glimmering of dawn.

As it grew lighter I gradually made out the dark shape of Mrs. Maggs, with Jo curled up beside her. Soon Jo sat up, yawned, and gazed about. Mrs. Maggs rolled over onto her back, flung out an arm, and also yawned. Jo jumped onto her chest, leaned forward, and pressed her face against her mother’s, flinging her arms around her neck.

Chimps awake in mood for fun

The other apes began to move. I could see Matilda sitting up in her nest and Spray feeding in a tree close by.

Balky outboard plagues the author on 420-mile-long Lake Tanganyika, her only route back to civilization. Storms ...

Jo became restless. She climbed to a branch above the nest and hung down, kicking and twisting from side to side. Her mother reached up and patted her, pushing her to and fro, until Jo, delighted, tumbled down on top of her. Mrs. Maggs, her legs in the air, bounced Jo up and down with her feet and then suddenly bent her knees so that Jo collapsed in a heap of waving arms and legs.

The game went on for about ten minutes; then Mrs. Maggs suddenly sat up and peered through the branches. Matilda had left her nest, and sounds below indicated that the others were moving away. Mrs. Maggs touched Jo, who jumped to her at once, clinging under her belly as the mother swung down from the tree.

When a chimpanzee is born, it is almost as helpless as a human baby, save that it rapidly develops great strength in hands and feed, enabling it to cling to its mother’s long hair as she travels from place to place.

For the first four months the infant never leaves its mother, but after this it begins to venture first a few feet and then a few yards away. It is still very unsure of itself, and the mother is always ready to reach out should it lose its balance.

Babies play like human children

By the time the infant is about a year old, it has more confidence and spends hours playing gently, hanging from a branch and patting at its toes, or doing careful gymnastics on a branch. If two infants play together, they pat out at each other or have a tug-of-war with a twig. Always the games are slow and gentle.

By the time they are about two years old, the little apes are very active and their playing far more adventurous. Whether they are swinging and leaping around in a tree or rolling over and over on the ground, they never seem to be still for a minute.

Their elders, particularly the adolescents and the younger males, are amazingly good-natured with them. I once watched little Fifi tormenting an adolescent male, Figan. He was resting peacefully when Fifi hurled herself onto him, pulling his hair, pushing her fingers into his face, biting his ears. She swung above him, kicking out, while he indulgently pushed her to and fro with one hand. Finally, exhausted for the moment, she flung herself down beside him.

With bored tolerance, David endures grooming by the author. Discarded banana peels evidence his growing sophistication. ...

From the ages of about three years the young chimpanzee becomes more and more independent. Often it still moves around with its mother until it is five or six, but it no longer rides on her back or sleeps in the nest with her at night. Games become rougher and wilder, wrestling and chasing being the favorite sports.

Occasionally a small infant tries to join in, and then the older ones treat it with great consideration. I saw one youngster swinging an infant gently by one arm and then, after peering down, she dropped the little one to a leafy platform a few feet below. When the infant had difficulty in climbing up again, she gave a helping hand.

At about eight years, the chimpanzee child attains puberty, and during the next three or four years of adolescence it gradually takes its place in society. How long it might live, no one can say pending further study, but a good guess for average life span in the wild would be 40 to 50 years.

Chimps express feelings in action

In this society, relationships among the adult apes are more harmonious than had been assumed from observations of chimpanzees in captivity. Of course, if you judged from sound alone, you would imagine that wild chimpanzees were always fighting and quarreling. When two groups meet there is sometimes a fantastic cacophony as the males call loudly, drum on tree trunks, and shake branches, while the females and youngsters scream and rush out of the way. But this is merely excitement and pleasure; with his highly emotional extrovert temperament, the chimpanzee likes to express his feelings in action.

When squabbles do arise, often over the merest triviality, they are usually settled by gestures and loud protest. Once I was watching a youngster feeding peacefully beside an adult male. By chance, they both reached for the same fruit. The youngster immediately withdrew its hand, but screamed loudly and “flapped out” at the male. The male screamed and flapped at the youngster. This went on for a few moments and then the quarrel ended, neither ape having touched the other.

Cooperative endeavor to chew up a cardboard box belies a common notion that a dominant male ...

Relationships between mature and adolescent males are particularly harmonious—they do not even fight over females! I once saw seven males in succession mate with a single female, with no sign of jealousy or antagonism.

As to mating in general, chimpanzees in captivity breed all year round, and it seems likely that this is the case in the wild, because females appear receptive toward males during all months of the year. In addition, I saw small infants in April, June, September, and October.

During September and October, however, when the chimpanzees are frequently seen moving about in large aggregations, excitement, caused by this social stimulation, does appear to have a very marked effect upon reproductive behavior. I saw the animals mating almost daily during these two months—spring in Tanganyika. Thus, although it would appear that a certain amount of mating must take place throughout the year, there is, apparently, a very definite mating season.

Mutual grooming plays an important role in the social life of chimpanzees, and two friends, or even a small group, will sit quietly for hours searching through each other’s long black hair for specks of dirt, grass seeds, or ticks.

Some students of animal behavior see in this grooming activity the first beginnings of true social and altruistic behavior in the whole animal kingdom.

Calls and gestures serve as language

I am often asked, “Do chimpanzees have a language?” They do not, of course, have a language that can be compared with our own, but they do have a tremendous variety of calls, each one induced by a different emotion.

The calls range from the rather low-pitched “hoo” of greeting, and the series of low grunts that is heard when a chimpanzee begins to feed on some desirable food, to the loud, excited calls and screams which occur when two groups meet.

Balancing in a tree, apes groom each other. Remarkably free of fleas, these chimps pick out ...

One call, given in defiance of a possible predator, or when a chimpanzee, for some reason, is angry at the approach of another, can be described as a loud “wraaaah.” This is a single syllable, several times repeated, and is one of the most savage and spine-chilling sounds of the African forest.

Another characteristic call is a series of hoots, the breath drawn in audibly after each hoot, and ending with three or four roars. This is the cry of a male chimpanzee as he crosses a ridge. It seems to be an announcement to any other chimpanzees that may be in the valley below: “Here I come.”

These calls, while they are not a language in our sense of the word, are understood by other chimpanzees and certainly form a means of communication.

In addition, chimpanzees communicate by touch or gesture. A mother touches her young one when she is about to move away, or taps on the trunk when she wants it to come down from a tree. When a chimpanzee is anxious for a share of some delicacy, he begs, holding out his hand palm up, exactly as we do. He may pat the branch beside him if he wants a companion to join him there. When two animals are grooming each other and one feels that it is his turn to be groomed, he often reaches out and gives his companion a poke.

Once, when three males were all grooming one another, I saw a female going round poking at each of them in turn. But she was completely ignored—and so sat down sadly and groomed herself!

There are also many gestures of greeting and friendship. Sometimes when two friends meet after a separation, they fling their arms around each other in a delighted embrace.

Prey clamped in teeth, a meat-eating ape hurries to cross an exposed ridge. Chimpanzees in the ...

Despite this fairly well-developed system of communication, a chimpanzee suddenly confronted with danger gives no alarm call to warn his companions, but simply runs off silently.

Defiant glares greet visitor

This was the way the apes initially reacted to my presence, but after a few months fear replaced curiousity. Curiosity, in turn, changed to defiance. Then, instead of running away or peering suspiciously at me, some of the chimpanzees would climb into the trees and rock the branches, glaring at me in silence.

Those silent “displays,” as modern scientific zoologists call them, were still tinged by fear, and it was many months before the chimpanzees were sufficiently unafraid to react with real aggression. It happened for the first time when I was following a group in thick forest. The chimpanzees had stopped calling when they heard my approach, and I paused to listen, unsure of their whereabouts.

A branch snapped in the undergrowth right beside me, and then I saw a juvenile sitting siliently in a tree almost overhead, with two females nearby. I was right in among the apes. I sat down. Then I heard a low “huh” from a tangle of lianas to my right, but I could see nothing. Then came another “huh” behind me, and another in front.

Curiosity prompts an attack

For about 10 minutes these uneasy calls continued. Occasionally I made out a dark shape in the undergrowth, or saw a black hand clutching a liana, or a pair of eyes glaring from beneath black, beetling brows.

The calls grew louder, and all at once a tremendous bedlam broke out—loud, savage yells that raised the hair on the back of my neck. I saw six large males, and they became more and more excited, shaking branches and snapping off twigs. One climbed a small sapling right beside me and, all his hair standing on end, swayed the tree backward and forward until it seemed he must land on top of me. Then, quite suddenly, the display was over and the males began to feed quietly beside the females and youngsters.

On one occasion I was actually hit by a chimpanzee in the wild, but this was prompted by curiosity rather than aggression.

Disturbing sight—the crouching author—sends a big male scurrying. When startled, chimpanzees clamber from trees and race ...

I was waiting near a ripe fruit tree when I heard footsteps in the leaves behind me. Not wanting to startle the apes, I lay down, hoping that they would reach the fruit tree without seeing me. But the footsteps stopped, and I heard small, high-pitched sounds behind me: “Hoo! Hoo!” The inflection told me the chimpanzees were surprised or uneasy.

I did not move, and suddenly a mature male climbed into the tree above me and sat, scarcely 10 feet over my head, peering down at the strange object below. I think he was puzzled by my immobility and by the sheet of polyethylene protecting me from the rain.

He worked himself into a rage, hitting the trunk and shaking the branches. His small hoots became louder until, with mouth wide open to show yellow canines, he was uttering high-pitched, choking screams of anger.

Still I did not move. Through the corner of my eye I could see three others watching.

All at once the male disappeared, and I heard him moving in the leaves behind me. There was silence and then, with a loud scream, he rushed forward and I felt the slam of his hand on the back of my head.

The experiment had gone far enough—the fate of the African who had lost and eye and half his cheek in an encounter with an angry chimpanzee came to mind. Slowly I sat up, and at last the ape realized exactly what I was. He moved away with his companions, still brave from his passion, calling out and drumming on the trees.

Later I talked with Dr. Leakey about the incident—and was thankful I had made no sudden moves or cries that would have further enraged the chimpanzee.

“If you had waved your arms, shouted, or shown anger in any way,” he said, “you might have been killed. He was merely testing to find out if you were an enemy or not.”

Gradually, during the months of my study, the apes became less aggressive, until finally I was greeted almost as another chimpanzee—sometimes by a show of excitement with hooting and shaking of branches, and sometimes by a complete lack of interest.

On the whole the chimpanzees merely tolerated me, but one, a mature male in the prime of life, went a stage further, and tolerance became friendship. David Greybeard—he deserves an article to himself.

Confirmed banana raider makes a getaway, unmolested by lunching Africans. Enjoying the run of camp, chimpanzees ...

It was during the eighth month of my research, when the fruit was ripe on one of the oil palms outside my tent, that David paid his first visit to camp. Dominic told me about it when I got down from the mountains that April evening.

The following day I learned he had called again, and so I determined to wait in camp to try to see him. I recognized him at once from having seen him in the forest; he had always been particularly unafraid of me there.

He visited camp almost every day for about a week, and then the nuts were finished and he stopped coming.

David provides a wonderful moment

When more palm nuts ripened, however, David again visited us. Even in those early days he sat feeding calmly while I walked about under the trees. I discovered that he liked bananas too and left a few out for him.

Gradually he became tamer and tamer, but it was not until the last five months that David showed complete confidence in his human friend. Two of the palms in camp were ripe, so I got in a great supply of bananas and devoted myself to David for a whole week.

After three days he actually took a banana from my hand. It was a wonderful moment. He was apprehensive when I held it out. He stood up and hit the trunk of a tree, rocking slightly from foot to foot. But when he took the fruit there was no snatching—he was amazingly gentle from the first.

Friends in the forest, too

After that I began carrying a couple of bananas with me up in the mountains, and when I met David he would come up and take them, sitting close beside me, to the astonishment of his companions who gazed wide-eyed at the behavior of their fellow ape! Even when I had no bananas David would come to sit beside me for a moment, with a soft “hoo!” of greeting.

Lower lip stuffed, David Greybeard interrupts his dinner in camp to listen to the call of ...

Soon David began popping into camp any old day, whether there was palm with fruit or not. Dominic and Hassan were both delighted and would describe David’s visits in detail when I returned from the mountains in the evenings. ( Follow our photographer's journey with Goodall throughout Africa. )

Best of all, David began to bring two friends along, Goliath and William. At first they were shy and watched from the safety of the trees, but eventually the sight of David sitting and stuffing himself was too much for them, and they rushed out to grab a share of bananas. Ultimately they became as tame as David, and I was able to treat the three in a way few people would care to treat a mature chimpanzee in captivity.

Clothing and blankets disappear

In addition to their love for bananas, David and his friends had a passion for sucking material—old clothes and greasy cloths from the kitchen were the most sought after. David went off with a good many blankets, as well as shirts and other garments, and Goliath took many tea towels, but it was William who was the real thief.

William looked for things to steal, and Dominic, as soon as he saw him approach, would rush off to protect the washing and watch over the tents.

Indulging a passion for chewing on cloth, David absconds with the cook's blanket. To win the ...

But there were many days when William’s arrival went unnoticed, and finally my wardrobe was reduced to one pair of shorts and two shirts. All my blankets had, at some time or another, been rescued from the trees where William had abandoned them.

Chimpanzees show as much individuality as man himself, and David, Goliath, and William have very different characters. David has an exceptionally calm disposition and an air of natural dignity. He takes life as it comes, moving leisurely from place to place, and is always trying to calm the excitable Goliath.

Goliath, with his massive shoulders and bull neck, could easily be taken for a gorilla at first glance. He is wild, impetuous, and inclined to violence; all his movements are vigorous, whether his is swinging down from a tree or charging off to meet a friend.

His large size and uncertain temper make him well respected by other chimpanzees. When he leaps into a tree to join a group, there are wild screams as the hitherto peaceful chimpanzees scatter in all directions. He is the only male I have seen actually attacking a female, and on one occasion he even drove a young ape from its nest, which he then appropriated, bending in a few more branches and settling down with great satisfaction.

Angry goliath brandishes axe

When I refused to give Goliath more bananas, he became tremendously excited and rushed about slapping the ground or tearing off branches and waving them in the air. Once when I withheld the fruit, he charged after Dominic’s wife, seizing an axe that was lying nearby and brandishing it over his head. He probably had no intention of using it as a weapon. It was simply a means of expressing his frustration; he calmed down at once when I went up to him with a banana.

Shoulders hunched and lower lip drooping, timid William emerges from five-foot-high sword grass. Dense growth, soaked ...

William—well, William is just William. With his long, scarred upper lip and his long, drooping lower lip he is the clown of Chimpland. Yet he is a rather pathetic individual under his clownishness. In the early days when he sat watching David eat bananas and dared not approach, he would rock himself quietly from side to side, occasionally saying sadly, “Hoo! Hoo!” Once or twice he was a little more active, rocking branches and snapping twigs, but he never gave a display like Goliath’s.

Even in health William is a sad figure, with his bony hips, his broken finger, his curled-up, slightly deformed feet, and his scars. Such scars and deformities are rare to my knowledge, though I have seen other broken fingers.

Once when William had a dreadful cold, he slept in the same nest for three nights, a most unusual procedure. Each night it poured rain, and when he climbed down in the morning he was shivering violently, and coughing and wheezing so that I longed to give him a hot toddy instead of a cold banana.

Chimpanzees often call out if it rains during the night. They sit up in their nests, hunched forward over their knees with heads bent down, and wait until the rain stops. I never observed them attempting to make a shelter or take advantage of any natural one. ( Hear Jane Goodall's concerns about the future of the Serengeti. )

Nesting chimpanzee seeks solace by chewing on a towel he stole from the author.

Rains make grass 12 feet tall

Rainfall in the Kigoma area is heavy, and the rainy season, which starts with the “short rains” in October, carries on without a break into the “long rains,” which last until May.

At the start of the short rains, the mountains are at their most beautiful, with green grass pushing up through the black volcanic soil, and flowers, many of them exquisitely lovely, appearing overnight.

Gradually, however, it becomes hard to move through the mountains. The grass, razor sharp and always drenched by rain or dew, shoots up to 12 feet or more all over the reserve, and traveling along the overgrown tracks is no joke. Once I came within 10 yards of a bull buffalo who was lying down dozing. Luckily I was downwind and he never knew I was there.

Keeping equipment dry is a never-ending battle. Water condenses in binoculars, camera lenses mist over, and everything is permanently thick with mildew.

In addition, when I am moving about through grass taller than my head, it is difficult to see anything. In order to continue my observations, I have to climb trees. Thus, as the rainy season progresses, my own habits become increasingly arboreal!

December brings the departure of the last of the fishermen permitted in the reserve, and my evening clinics, which consist mainly of handing out aspirin, Epsom salts, antimalaria pills, or adhesive tape to the inevitable visitors to camp, are considerably reduced. These clinics, started by my mother when we first arrived at the reserve, were a tremendous help in establishing and maintaining friendly relations with the Africans.

Sick call at camp finds the author's mother, Mrs. Vanne Morris-Goodall, dispensing aspirin.

My most faithful patient was eight-year-old Jamanne. He always managed to think up some complaint, and was happiest when he could produce a minute scratch and demand a strip of adhesive tape. But his chief delight lay in helping me, handing out the medicine and explaining to the fishermen in the most superior manner how they should take it.

During the rains the chimpanzees tend to go to bed earlier and get up later, and when they rest during the day they often make themselves a day nest in a tree rather than lie on the cold, damp ground.

At these times infants still sleeping with their mothers at night make little nests as a sort of game, and very instructive play it is. An infant of eighteen months finds it difficult to bend in even a couple of twigs; each time it reaches out for a second one, the first springs up again. But by the time the young one is ready to sleep alone, it has mastered the nest-making technique.

Rain incited a violent ritual

Generally speaking, chimpanzees become more active during the rains and often, for no apparent reason, a male will break into a run, slapping the ground or hitting out at a low branch as he passes. This behavior, when large groups are present, may develop into a fascinating display which I have called the “rain dance.”

Leaping from trees and brandishing boughs, apes charge downhill in a wild rain dance.

I saw it on four occasions, always about midday and always in similar terrain. In every instance it followed the same pattern, but the duration varied from 15 to 30 minutes. It did not always take place in the rain, but rain was falling hard the first time I saw it.

I was watching a large group of chimpanzees, 16 in all, feeding and playing in a tree halfway up the opposite slope of a narrow ravine. Rain had been threatening all morning and finally it came down, gently at first, becoming gradually heavier.

When the rain started, the chimpanzees climbed down from the tree one by one and sat for a while on the ground before starting off up the grassy slope.

They had divided into two groups, with four large males in one group and three in the other. As they neared the ridge at the top, one of the males suddenly turned and charged diagonally downward, slapping the ground, calling loudly, and hitting at a tree as he passed. At once a male from the other group turned and began to run down the slope. Standing upright, he tore a low branch from a tree, waved it for a moment, and then dragged it behind him as he ran.

Meanwhile the females and juveniles were climbing trees near the skyline to watch.

At the top of the slope another male stood upright, rocking slightly from foot to foot, his arms swinging, working up momentum. Then he took away, charging downward, breaking off a great bough as he went. Two more set off, calling wildly. One after the other they sprang up into a tree and, without a pause, hurled themselves some 25 feet to the ground, tearing off branches as they fell and dragging them on their downward run.

At the bottom, each chimpanzee swung up into a tree to break his headlong rush. There he sat for a moment before climbing down to plod up to the top of the slope once more. Then, with loud cries, he was off again.

Thunder roars above apes’ wild calls

All the time the rain pelted down, harder and harder, while lightning streaked across the leaden sky and crashing thunder almost drowned the wild calling of the apes. Against the new green grass they looked very black and huge—primitive, hairy men displaying their strength.

For about half an hour I watched; and then, as suddenly as it had started, the display was over. The spectators climbed down from their trees, and one by one the chimpanzees wandered up to the ridge and disappeared over the top. The last male paused on the skyline, looking back toward me with one hand on a tree trunk—the actor taking his final curtain. Then he, too, was gone.

Rain seems to have more effect on some chimpanzees than others. Goliath in particular often gets very excited at the start of a rainstorm, and once he did a fantastic dance all by himself, swaying rhythmically from foot to foot, tearing down huge branches, and gradually becoming wilder and wilder. William, who was sitting close beside him at the start, paid absolutely no attention.

In friendly persuasion, David nudges a restraining arm, hoping to get at bananas in a hinged ...

David Greybeard is inclined to become truculent in the rain. Once during a thunderstorm, when I was sitting on the banana box trying to prevent his taking all the fruit, he came up and stood upright in front of me, hooting loudly, with one arm raised above his head. He then danced about, hitting a tree, the box, and finally me.

Chimps and baboons sometimes clash

Occasionally a group of baboons gathers round David while he is eating bananas. Sometimes he ignores them, but often, and particularly when it is raining, he chases them off, swinging his arms and hooting.

Foil-wrapped baubles adorn a tropical Christmas tree. Balloons festoon the tent; baboon skull, found and studied ...

The relationship between the chimpanzee and the baboon is complex and interesting. The ape is the larger and more powerful animal, but the baboon is far more numerous and represents the chimpanzee’s only serious competitor for food.

For the most part the two species tolerate each other, and it is common to see baboon and chimpanzee feeding in the same tree. On the other hand, I have seen a group of chimpanzees leap out of a tree at the approach of a baboon troop. On one occasion a fairly young male baboon climbed up into a palm where David and William were feeding and began to taunt William, going up to him, barking and hitting out at him. William hit back and the two fought for a moment. Then both chimpanzees climbed from the tree, leaving the baboon in possession.

Sometimes young male baboons chase after female and juvenile chimpanzees, which rush away screaming. Often one or two male chimpanzees then join in, chasing after the baboons, which flee in turn. These mock battles seem to be a strange mixture of play and aggression. ( See vintage photos of Jane's time in Gombe. )

I once watched a troop of baboons teasing four adult chimpanzees—two males and two females. The male baboons insolently moved closer and closer to the apes—until, all at once, the latter seemed to lose their tempers.

The males stood upright and charged at their tormentors, swinging their arms over their heads. The females leaped to the low branches of a tree and, leaning down, screamed piercingly at the baboons below. I thought a real fight would take place, but after a few moments the male chimpanzees returned from the chase, and both apes and baboons walked peacefully on.

It would seem that the chimpanzee and the baboon tolerate each other because each, to some extent, has respect for the other. But these happy relations do not exist between the chimpanzee and some of this smaller neighbors.

Gombe chimpanzees eat meat

It will be a surprise to many to learn that the chimpanzee in the wild has definite carnivorous tendencies. It has always been suspected by scientists that wild chimpanzees might eat an occasional lizard or small rodent, but no one thought these apes might kill fairly large animals.

Dining at a forest buffet, David peels away the outer layer of reed and munches its ...

As far as I can determine, the fact that they do so came to light for the first time during my research. This behavior may not be common to all races of chimpanzees in Africa, but it is certainly true of those of the Gombe Stream Reserve.

Monkeys seem to be a favorite item on the menu. I saw them eaten on four occasions, and twice I found bits of bone in the chimpanzee droppings. In addition, I once saw a young bushbuck eaten, and another time a young bush pig. Four times the prey was unidentifiable.

I saw chimpanzees eating meat several times before I actually saw them attack and kill. On that occasion the prey was a red colobus monkey. I was watching four of these monkeys resting in a tall, leafless tree when suddenly a young chimpanzee climbed into a neighboring tree. He sat close enough to one of the monkeys to attract its attention, yet not close enough to scare it away. Meanwhile another young chimpanzee bounded up the tree in which the monkey was sitting, ran with incredible speed along the branch, leaped at the colobus, caught it with its hands, and presumably broke its neck.

Five other chimpanzees then climbed up, including a mature male. But because an adolescent had made the kill, the carcass was torn up and shared among the whole group, with no fighting or quarreling.

At other times, however, when the prey is in the possession of a mature male, there is no such sharing. The others in the group show respect. They sit as close to the male as they can, watching the meat with longing eyes, holding out their hands palm uppermost in a begging gesture.

William pays price for grabbing

The reaction of the male to his suppliants varies. Let me describe the time when Huxley was eating a young bushbuck. He was clasping the carcass with one arm, and it was, incidentally, almost as big as himself! Presumably he had broken its neck, just as other chimps had killed monkeys. In his free hand Huxley held a bunch of twigs and after each mouthful of meat he ate a few leaves—for all the world like a man with a lump of cheese and a stick of celery.

Gathered close round Huxley, and all begging, were three other large males—J. B., Hollis, and William. Several times Huxley tore off a piece of meat and put it into the outstretched hand of J. B. Once Hollis begged from J. B. and was rewarded with a small bloody splinter. When a youngster of about four years held out its hand, Huxley, after a moment, very gently cuffed it on the head, but a female with a tiny infant was allowed to feed from the carcass unmolested.

Camp raider proves a scientific point. Walking erect, banana-loaded David dispels the belief that chimpanzees travel ...

The sight of this female tucking it in proved too much for poor old William, who had been begging and begging in vain. He ventured to help himself to a bite. Evidently it was one thing for the mother to share in the spoil, but quite another when William tried to join in. Huxley at once grabbed William and bit him, at which J. B. came racing down and chased the screaming William from the tree.

There was a good deal of yelling and crashing around in the undergrowth, and then the two climbed back into the tree. They sat near Huxley, who at once hit William four or five times, after which J. B. did the same.

Poor William tried neither to escape nor to retaliate. He simply sat there screaming and took his medicine. And then he reached out to touch the lips of his punishers in the gesture of appeasement, and all was peaceful again. William was not forgiven, however, to the extent of a handout.

Raw meat, though obviously a great delicacy, is only an occasional supplement to the chimpanzee’s diet. Whether the apes deliberately set out to hunt for meat, or merely make kills because of opportunity, remains undetermined. I suspect the latter.

The bulk of the diet is, of course, vegetarian. I have collected 81 different types of vegetable foods eaten by chimpanzees, of which half consist of fruits, a quarter of leaves, and the remainder of seeds, blossoms, stems, and bark. ( Follow one chimpanzee as he leaves a medical testing system. )

Epic discovery reveals a tool-maker

In addition, however, the chimpanzees sometimes feed on insects—at certain times of the year fairly extensively. I have seen them eating termites, two species of ant, and two types of gall, a tumorlike growth on a leaf in which the young gallfly lives. And it is this method adopted by the chimpanzees for feeding on ants and termites that probably represents the most important discovery in my two years of research.

Delicatessen item for the apes bulges from the underside of leaves. Larvae of the gallfly cause ...

For a long time there has been heated discussion in scientific circles as to whether any primates in the wild ever modify natural objects to make tools. My chimpanzees have settled the argument for once and for all: The answer is that at least some chimpanzees do.

Termites form a major part of the chimpanzee diet for a two-month period. The termite season starts at the beginning of the rains, when the fertile insects grow wings and are ready to leave the nest. At this time the passages are extended to the surface of the termite heap and then sealed lightly over while the insect awaits good flying weather. The chimpanzee is not alone in his state for termites—the baboon in particular has a fondness for the juicy insects, but he must wait until they fly and then take his turn, together with the birds, at grabbing the termites as they leave the nest.

The chimpanzee forestalls them all. He comes along, peers at the surface of the termite heap and, where he spies one of the sealed-entrances, scrapes away the thin layer of soil. Then he picks a straw or dried stem of grass and pokes this carefully down the hole. The termites, like miniature bulldogs, bite the straw and hang on grimly as it is gently withdrawn.

I have watched chimpanzees fish this way for two hours at a time, picking dainty morsels from the straw and munching them with delight. When they don’t have much luck with one hole, they open another and try again.

As the straw becomes bent at the end, the chimpanzee breaks off the bent pieces until the tool is too short for further use. Then it is discarded and a new one picked. Sometimes a leafy twig is selected, and before this can be used the chimpanzee has to strop off the leaves.

In doing so—in modifying a natural object to make it suitable for a specific purpose—the chimpanzee has reached the first crude beginnings of tool making.

Chimps carry tools on termite search

In this respect, the chimpanzees do not always await the discovery of a termite nest before seeking a tool. I have seen them break off a twig and carry it for as far as half a mile, going from one termite hill to another, though none at the time was suitable for feeding.

With humanlike concentration, a chimpanzee carefully feeds a length of vine into an opening it has ...

It is unlikely that this practice of fishing for termites is an inborn behavior pattern. Among higher primates, behavior is found to depend more and more on learned techniques and les and less on “instincts.” It seems almost certain that this method of eating termites is a social tradition, passed from ape to ape by watching and imitation. As such, it must be regarded as a crude and primitive culture.

We do not know yet if similar traditions have developed among other chimpanzee populations in Africa. The answer may throw interesting light on the spread and development of culture in early man.

Meat in diet poses questions

It is equally important to find out whether capture and eating of prey is common to all chimpanzees or peculiar to those of the Gombe Stream Reserve. Perhaps this is simply a local tradition, in which case there is always the possibility that it might develop and eventually involve more elaborate hunting techniques.

Apes fishing for termites use stems as tools, modifying them on the spot. The author established ...

AT present these chimpanzees appear merely to take advantage of any good opportunity that presents itself for the killing of prey —as was perhaps the case with early man. It seems important that in the future recurring observations should be made of the meat-eating and hunting behavior of this chimpanzee population.

In the chimpanzee, there is reason to speculate that over-specialization has not led to an evolutionary dead end, as may be the case with the other great apes. Of course, if the forests of Africa were cleared for agriculture, the chimpanzee would not survive in competition with man. But if the forests gradually disappeared due to changing climate or similar causes, I think it is interesting to conjecture that the chimpanzee, with his primitive hunting and tool-using, might have a chance of survival, a chance of adapting himself to the new conditions. ( Discover what happened to Jane Goodall after leaving Gombe. )

There is still much to learn about the behavior of the free-ranging chimpanzee. I am returning to the Gombe Stream Reserve for a further six months, and again with the generous support of the National Geographic Society. After that I hope to make behavior studies in other parts of Africa, because, until we have sufficient comparative data, we cannot tell if the behavior of the Gombe Stream chimpanzees differs from those in other regions. Only after we have such data can we draw far-reaching conclusions about the way of life of the chimpanzee, which with the other great apes is the most nearly human of all the animals inhabiting the earth today.

Some of the research techniques used by Jane Goodall are no longer deemed appropriate, including physical contact between researchers and chimpanzees.
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Anthropology Review

Jane Goodall – A Pioneering Primatologist

Jane Goodall is one of the most well-known and respected figures in the field of primatology. Her groundbreaking research on chimpanzees has not only revolutionized our understanding of these animals, but also challenged our perceptions of what it means to be human.

Table of Contents

With her tireless activism and advocacy work, she has become a leading voice in the fight to protect endangered species and their habitats around the world. In this article, we will explore Jane Goodall’s life, career, discoveries, and legacy as a pioneering primatologist and environmentalist.

Jane Goodall was born in London, England in 1934. From a young age, she exhibited a strong interest in animals and nature, spending much of her childhood exploring the countryside near her home. After completing her education, she worked as a secretary before deciding to pursue a career in primatology.

In 1957, at the age of 23, Goodall traveled to what is now Tanzania to work as an assistant to anthropologist Louis Leakey. It was there that she began her groundbreaking research on chimpanzees in Gombe Stream National Park. At the time, very little was known about these animals, and Goodall’s observations challenged many long-held beliefs about their behavior and intelligence.

Working with no formal training or equipment beyond a pair of binoculars and a notebook, Goodall spent months studying the chimpanzees’ daily routines and social interactions. She quickly discovered that they were far more complex creatures than previously thought – using tools to forage for food, exhibiting empathy towards one another, and even engaging in warfare between different groups.

Goodall’s early research laid the foundation for decades of study into primate behavior and cognition. Her work has not only expanded our understanding of these animals but also highlighted the importance of conservation efforts to protect them from extinction.

Discoveries and Contributions

Jane Goodall’s research on chimpanzees has led to many significant discoveries about these animals that have revolutionized our understanding of primates and their place within the animal kingdom. Some of her most notable contributions include:

Tool use: Goodall was the first person to observe chimpanzees using tools, such as sticks to extract termites from mounds or rocks to crack open nuts.

Social behavior: Through her observations, Goodall discovered that chimpanzees have complex social behaviors, including forming alliances, grooming each other for social bonding and hygiene purposes, and even waging war against neighboring groups.

Intelligence: Goodall’s research demonstrated that chimpanzees are highly intelligent creatures capable of problem-solving and learning new skills through observation and trial-and-error.

Conservation: In addition to her scientific contributions, Goodall has also been a vocal advocate for conservation efforts to protect endangered species and their habitats around the world.

Through her work, Jane Goodall has fundamentally changed our understanding of primates and their place within the natural world. Her ground breaking discoveries have inspired generations of scientists and conservationists to continue studying these remarkable animals and working towards their protection.

Activism and Advocacy

In addition to her scientific work, Jane Goodall is also a passionate advocate for conservation efforts to protect endangered species and their habitats around the world. She has been involved in many different campaigns and initiatives over the years, including:

The Jane Goodall Institute: Founded in 1977, the Jane Goodall Institute is a global nonprofit organization that works to protect wildlife and wild places, promote sustainable livelihoods, and inspire people to take action for the planet.

Roots & Shoots: This educational program empowers young people of all ages to make a difference in their communities through service projects that benefit people, animals, and the environment.

Chimpanzee Sanctuary and Wildlife Conservation Trust: Goodall is a co-founder of this organization, which works to protect chimpanzees and other endangered species in Africa through conservation initiatives, education programs, and community outreach.

Global March for Elephants and Rhinos: This annual event raises awareness about the illegal trade in ivory and rhino horn, which threatens these animals with extinction.

Jane Goodall’s activism and advocacy work has helped raise awareness about the importance of conservation efforts to protect our planet’s wildlife. Through her efforts, she has inspired others to take action to safeguard the future of our planet and its inhabitants.

Jane Goodall’s Legacy

Jane Goodall’s legacy is one of the most significant in the field of primatology and environmentalism. Her research on chimpanzees has revolutionized our understanding of these animals and their place in the natural world. She has also been a tireless advocate for conservation efforts to protect endangered species and their habitats, inspiring countless people around the world to take action to protect our planet.

Goodall’s impact on primatology cannot be overstated. Her work challenged many long-held assumptions about chimpanzee behavior, intelligence, and social structures, paving the way for new discoveries and insights into these remarkable creatures. She also pioneered new methods of studying primates in the wild, using an immersive approach that emphasized observation and empathy.

Beyond her scientific contributions, Goodall has also had a profound influence on environmentalism more broadly. Through her activism and advocacy work, she has raised awareness about the urgent need to protect our planet’s biodiversity and ecosystems from destruction. Her message of hope and empowerment has inspired countless individuals around the world to take action to create a more sustainable future.

As we reflect on Jane Goodall’s example as a pioneering scientist, activist, and humanitarian, there are many lessons we can learn from her life and work. She teaches us that even one person can make a difference in the world if they are passionate about their cause and willing to take action. She also reminds us of the importance of empathy, both towards other people and towards animals and nature.

Above all, Jane Goodall shows us what it means to live a life of purpose and meaning – one that is dedicated not just to personal achievement but also to making a positive impact on the world around us.

Over the course of her five-decade career, Goodall has authored several books. These include:

“ In the Shadow of Man ” – This classic memoir recounts Goodall’s early years studying chimpanzees in Tanzania’s Gombe Stream National Park. It offers a fascinating glimpse into the daily lives of these remarkable animals and the challenges Goodall faced as a young, female scientist.

“ Reason for Hope: A Spiritual Journey ” – In this deeply personal book, Goodall reflects on her life’s work and shares her thoughts on spirituality, hope, and the interconnectedness of all living things. Drawing on her own experiences with nature and wildlife, she offers a powerful message of inspiration and optimism.

“ Harvest for Hope: A Guide to Mindful Eating ” – This book explores the environmental impact of modern agriculture and offers practical advice for consumers who want to make more sustainable food choices. Goodall argues that our food choices have a profound effect not just on our own health but also on the health of the planet.

“ Seeds of Hope: Wisdom and Wonder from the World of Plants ” – In this beautifully illustrated book, Goodall celebrates the diversity and resilience of plant life around the world. She explores how plants have sustained human societies throughout history, and how they continue to play a vital role in our lives today.

“ The Ten Trusts: What We Must Do To Care For The Animals We Love ” – Co-authored with Marc Bekoff, this book lays out ten principles for ethical treatment of animals that can help guide individuals, organizations, and governments in their efforts to protect wildlife habitats around the world. Drawing on her own experiences working with chimpanzees and other animals, Goodall argues that we must learn to live in harmony with nature if we hope to preserve it for future generations.

Final Thoughts on Jane Goodall

Jane Goodall’s contributions to the fields of primatology and environmentalism have been nothing short of remarkable. She has revolutionized our understanding of chimpanzees and their place in the natural world.

Her tireless advocacy work has inspired countless individuals around the world to take action to protect endangered species and their habitats.

Goodall’s message of hope and empowerment continues to resonate with people from all walks of life, reminding us that we each have a role to play in creating a more sustainable future for our planet. Her legacy serves as an inspiration for future generations of scientists, activists, and humanitarians who seek to make a positive impact on the world around them.

For Further Reading

Jane Goodall – a pioneering primatologist

Marshall Sahlins (1930 – 2021) – Race is a Social Construct

Saba Mahmood – a strong voice in the anthropology of religion and post-colonialism

Claude Lévi-Strauss’s Structuralism and its Influence on Anthropological Thought

Clifford Geertz – the man who pioneered “thick description” in anthropology

Ruth Benedict: The anthropologist who believed that cultures have personalities

Michael Taussig – Doctor and Anthropologist

Bronislaw Malinowski: The Father of Field Research

Margaret Mead: A Pioneering Anthropologist

Empowering Voices: The Best Quotes from Margaret Mead

Franz Boas: The Father of American Anthropology

Émile Durkheim: The Father of Sociology and His Contributions to Anthropology

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Op-Ed: Why I Got Off the Jane Goodall Bandwagon

I met Jane Goodall in 2008 at the Governors’ Global Climate Summit in California. She was giving a speech on the importance of personalizing wildlife to bolster conservation efforts. Though she didn’t have much novel to say, Goodall was charming and inspiring, and I left the auditorium with a toothy grin plastered on my face.

After her talk, I was honored with the opportunity to speak with Dr. Goodall in a group with five other high schoolers. Her unimposing stature and genuine enthusiasm for us “young conservationists” quickly stole my heart.

It’s easy to love Jane Goodall. The classic photo of the young Jane reaching an outstretched hand to a tentative baby chimpanzee lends a tenderness to the researcher that seems to permeate the American conscience. She has done a lot of good for humanizing conservation efforts (and I say humanizing, rather than “increasing accessibility to,” consciously). Aside from the obvious bias it gave to her research, naming individual chimpanzees and tracing their relationships made many people care about environmental preservation.

But there is, I think, a point at which Goodall adoration goes too far. Jane Goodall came to Stanford in the early 1970s as a visiting professor for the Department of Psychiatry. Her primary research site in the ‘70s was Gombe Stream National Park in Tanzania, where she and her researchers studied the social and courtship behaviors of chimpanzees.

In 1975, Goodall took four students – including two Stanford undergrads and a Stanford Ph.D. candidate – to Tanzania to make field observations. Just over 30 miles from their field site, Laurent Kabila, a rebel leader actively working to overthrow the Tanzanian government, had established a heavily armed camp.

In the middle of the night, the four research assistants were beaten and taken at gunpoint as prisoners of Kabila. Goodall, meanwhile, was tipped off by a Tanzanian guard and scooted off into the thick jungle.

The prisoners were kept in squalid conditions and put up for ransom. Not Dr. Goodall, nor the U.S. government, nor the University would pay the ransom, claiming it would be ceding a small victory to a war criminal. Eventually, the families of the kidnapped victims raised over $460,000 to pay Kabila’s ransom and have the prisoners released.

I don’t mean to place the blame on Goodall here. By no means should she have been expected to pay the ransom, nor to exchange herself for the research assistants, as some claim. But she should have spoken out, demanded action. Ask yourself: how would she have responded if Kabila had captured four chimpanzees and imprisoned them in mud huts for weeks?

Instead, Goodall took her research out of Tanzania and back to Stanford campus. Her research station is still standing – abandoned just between SLAC and Jasper Ridge Biological Preserve. The concrete building is lined with iron bars, behind which Goodall’s “wild” chimpanzees were caged. The chimps were observed, for months at a time, to establish psychosocial patterns in their behavior – their “normal” behavior when kept in cement boxes.

This isn’t an argument against animal experimentation, which I believe does have a place in behavioral science. And Dr. Jane Goodall has done incredible work on publicizing conservation efforts by humanizing her chimpanzee specimens. But as many of you watched the petite, dynamic woman speak in Cemex on Sunday, I hope you know her as more than just the “chimp lady” before falling in love with Jane Goodall’s celebrity.

Mark Bessen ‘15

The Daily is committed to publishing a diversity of op-eds and letters to the editor. We’d love to hear your thoughts. Email letters to the editor to eic ‘at’ stanforddaily.com and op-ed submissions to opinions ‘at’ stanforddaily.com.

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Steven Wise, Champion of Animal Rights, Is Dead at 73

He filed lawsuits to define chimpanzees as persons and to establish their right to what he called “bodily liberty” over confinement.

Steven Wise, a man wearing a suit and tie, sits in an animal shelter hugging a dog, who licks another dog. A third dog is behind them, and a fourth dog can be seen inside a cage.

By Sam Roberts

Steven M. Wise, a pioneering animal rights lawyer who gave voice to clients unable to testify on their own behalf, demanding the same moral and legal entitlements as their owners, keepers and custodians, died on Feb. 15 at his home in Coral Springs, Fla. He was 73.

The cause was complications of glioblastoma, an aggressive form of brain cancer, his child Siena Wise said.

Like John Scopes, the Tennessee teacher of evolution at the center of the so-called monkey trial nine decades earlier, Mr. Wise lost his legal battles — trying in his case, not to upgrade animals as our immediate antecedents on the human family tree but to recognize their personhood as cognitive, emotional and social beings who have the same moral and statutory entitlement to freedom that people do. (Unlike Mr. Wise, John Scopes won on appeal.)

Mr. Wise was the first president of the Animal Legal Defense Fund and the founder and president of the Nonhuman Rights Project . He also taught courses on animal rights at Harvard and other law schools.

He wrote several books, including “ Rattling the Cage: Toward Legal Rights for Animals” (2000), which the legal scholar Cass R, Sunstein, in a New York Times review, called “an impassioned, fascinating and in many ways startling book”; “Drawing the Line: Science and the Case for Animal Rights” (2002); “ Though the Heavens May Fall : The Landmark Trial That Led to the End of Human Slavery” (2005), a best seller about an English case that determined that a slave was a person with legal rights; and “An American Trilogy: Death, Slavery, and Dominion on the Banks of the Cape Fear River” (2009).

In 2013, after decades of legal and scientific research, the Nonhuman Rights Project filed what it characterized as a groundbreaking writ of habeas corpus — requiring the authorities to produce an incarcerated person before a judge. However, the petition was not for a human being but for Tommy, a chimpanzee being held in a shed at a used-trailer lot in Gloversville, N.Y., by a man who said he had rescued him from someplace even worse.

Previously, lawyers had expanded the definition of animal welfare (as opposed to animal rights) by encompassing the treatment of animals in scientific research and in animal husbandry. Comparing legal attitudes toward animals with human enslavement before the Civil War, Mr. Wise said animal rights laws would offer more protection than anti-cruelty statues against, for example, state-sponsored deer hunts and the Navy’s deployment of dolphins on life-threatening duties.

“Certain species are capable of complex emotions, can communicate using language and have a sense of self,” Mr. Wise said in a 2005 lecture, “all characteristics that once defined humanity.”

“I don’t see a difference,” he added, “between a chimpanzee and my 4-year-old son.”

After losing in a lower court, Mr. Wise argued before an Appellate Division panel in Albany, N.Y., that Tommy “can understand the past, he can anticipate the future , and he suffers as much in solitary confinement as a human being.”

Mr. Wise was not proposing a “Planet of the Apes” scenario or suggesting that animals be given the right to vote; rather, he was proposing what he called “bodily liberty” in one of the eight preserves in the North American Primate Sanctuary Alliance.

In an interview with the nonprofit organization My Dreams for Animals , he defined bodily liberty: “Our cases are not about whether they are being treated well or ill in captivity — they’re about whether they should be held in captivity at all.”

But the appellate court ruled unanimously against the notion that Tommy the chimp be given legal status as a person, similar to the protections granted corporations, holding that, “unlike human beings, chimpanzees cannot bear any legal duties, submit to societal responsibilities or be held legally accountable for their actions.”

“In our view,” the court said, “it is this incapability to bear any legal responsibilities and societal duties that renders it inappropriate to confer upon chimpanzees the legal rights.”

Around the same time, habeas corpus writs filed by the Nonhuman Rights Project on behalf of three other chimpanzees in New York State also lost in the courts, although Stony Brook University returned the animal it was studying to the New Iberia Research Center in Louisiana.

Tommy was featured in “Unlocking the Cage” a 2016 documentary about the Nonhuman Rights Project directed by Chris Hegedus and D.A. Pennebaker . According to some sources, he also appeared with Matthew Broderick in the 1987 film “Project X.”

Mr. Wise suggested that eight other species might deserve the same rights as chimps:gorillas, orangutans, bonobos, Atlantic bottlenose dolphins, African gray parrots, dogs, honeybees and African elephants (including one at the Bronx Zoo, whose legal status his organization unsuccessfully challenged).

He cited a test conducted on great apes whose faces were dabbed with a red dot. When they looked in the mirror, they reached for the dot on their faces, not in the reflection, indicating a sense of self.

The notion of nonhuman animal rights has perturbed numerous legal scholars, prominent among them Richard A. Posner, a former federal judge who taught at the University of Chicago.

“If we fail to maintain a bright line between animals and human beings,” Mr. Posner once said, “we may end up by treating human beings as badly as we treat animals.”

Other scholars disagree. Laurence H. Tribe, a professor emeritus at Harvard Law School, said in an email that Mr. Wise “will be remembered well beyond our time as one of the most farsighted and influential pioneers in the history of animal rights and animal welfare.”

“Steve’s writing, litigation strategy and organizational energy have taken our efforts to protect nonhuman animals from unspeakable wrongs to a new and promising level,” Professor Tribe added.

Martha C. Nussbaum, a philosopher and professor of law and ethics at the University of Chicago, said of Mr. Wise that she “disagreed with his theoretical approach but respected him greatly and supported his practical efforts.” So far, Professor Nussbaum said by email, those efforts on behalf of chimps and elephants “have persuaded only dissenting judges, but that is the first step toward persuading a majority.”

Steven Mark Wise was born on Dec. 19, 1950, in Baltimore to Selma (Rosen) Wise, who managed the household, and Sidney Wise, a consultant to NATO.

He earned a Bachelor of Science degree in chemistry at the College of William & Mary in Williamsburg, Va., in 1972. His involvement in the campus antiwar movement sparked a concern for social justice and led him to study law at Boston University, where he earned a degree in 1976.

In 1980, after a friend gave him a copy of “Animal Liberation: A New Ethics for Our Treatment of Animals” (1975), by the Australian philosopher Peter Singer, Mr. Wise was transformed from an unfulfilled personal injury and criminal defense lawyer into a fervid animal rights crusader.

He initially defended individual animals, including dogs condemned to death for attacking humans, and was the president of the Animal Legal Defense Fund from 1985 to 1995. He then founded the Center for the Expansion of Fundamental Rights, which became known as the Nonhuman Rights Project.

In addition to Siena Wise, his child from his marriage to Debra Slater, which ended in divorce, Mr. Wise is survived by his wife, Gail Price-Wise; a daughter, Roma Augusta, from his first marriage, to Marylou Masterpole, which also ended in divorce; a son, Christopher, from his marriage to Ms. Slater; and a brother, Robert. He is also survived by Yogi, a Yorkshire terrier-Maltese mix, whom he described as his canine companion.

(Tommy, the chimp, is believed to have died in 2022 in a zoo in Michigan.)

Considering his upbringing, Mr. Wise was an improbable champion of animal rights. He recalled that his mother “was always serving meat for meals” and wore a mink coat. He had dogs and goldfish as pets, he said, but as for his relationship with other animals, “I never really had any contact with them except with respect to eating them.”

By the time he was 11, though, he was so appalled at how chickens were crammed into cages at a farmers’ market that he wrote to a state legislator to complain. He later became a vegetarian and stopped wearing leather.

“I try to respect nonhuman animals,” he told The Times in 2002. “I don’t eat them. I don’t wear them. I try to avoid being involved in the abuse of them. But you do grow up with certain things. Sometimes, I’ll be walking on a street and I’ll smell roast beef; I’ll simultaneously feel attraction and repulsion.”

Sam Roberts is an obituaries reporter for The Times, writing mini-biographies about the lives of remarkable people. More about Sam Roberts

COMMENTS

  1. Our Research & Science

    The Science of Sanctuary Conservation Science Technology at Work "If each of us does our part, all the pieces of the puzzle come together and the world u0003is a better place because of you." Dr. Jane Goodall Our Legacy of Science

  2. Jane Goodall

    ARTICLE Jane Goodall Ethologist and conservationist Jane Goodall redefined what it means to be human and set the standard for how behavioral studies are conducted through her work with wild chimpanzees in Gombe Stream National Park, Tanzania. Grades 9 - 12 Subjects Biology, English Language Arts, Geography, Physical Geography Photograph

  3. Research

    Research - Jane Goodall Institute USA Strategy: Research Building on Dr. Jane Goodall's pioneering research at Gombe Stream Research Center, we continue learning about wild chimpanzee populations and leading groundbreaking research on mandrills and other primates. Discovery Unlocks New Worlds of Knowledge and Hope

  4. Jane Goodall

    Jane Goodall (born April 3, 1934, London, England) British ethologist, known for her exceptionally detailed and long-term research on the chimpanzees of Gombe Stream National Park in Tanzania. Hear Jane Goodall speak about her inspiration Jane Goodall discussing how Tarzan of the Apes (1914) inspired her. See all videos for this article

  5. Jane Goodall's Work for Animals, Nature, and the Human ...

    Founded in 1977, the Jane Goodall Institute carries out conservation-oriented research, the results of which can be used in practical conservation. The Institute's approach is community-centered: its projects always include local inhabitants so that protecting nature will also benefit people by improving their livelihoods.

  6. Jane Goodall's research works

    Jane Goodall's 77 research works with 7,389 citations and 34,567 reads, including: The Gombe Ecosystem Health Project: 16 years of program evolution and lessons learned

  7. Publications

    The Pant Hoot newsletters from JGI-USA are an 8-page publication that provides brief, concise updates, experiences and insights, and success stories from the work of Dr. Jane Goodall and the dedicated team at the Jane Goodall Institute. Choose a one-time amount $500 $100 $50 $25 USD $ Dedicate my donation in honor or in memory of someone

  8. How Jane Changed Science Forever

    In 1964, Jane wrote a paper for Nature , detailing her observation over her first years in Gombe. Can you imagine the thrill and excitement she felt as she saw these behaviors for the first time? This is one of the most significant moments in modern scientific history.

  9. Jane Goodall Archive at Duke University

    50 Years of Chimpanzee Data -- Jane Goodall's meticulous note-taking grew into a rigorous long-term study of our closest living relatives. All of that data is now being curated and digitized at Duke. The Jane Goodall Institute Research Center is an archive of dawn-to-dusk observations containing the complete life histories of more than 200 ...

  10. Jane Goodall (*1934): The Great Lady of Primate Research

    Abstract Jane Goodall is the first of the great female scientists featured in this book whom the reader can still see in action in the early 2020s. She was born on 3 April 1934, the same year that Marie Curie died, and at over 80 she is still going on lecture tours.

  11. The Life & Work of Dr. Jane Goodall

    Goodall's research in Gombe progressed throughout the 1960s and '70s when she established the Gombe Stream Research Center and the Jane Goodall Institute, which with National Geographic produced the Becoming Jane exhibition. She published scholarly articles and books, many of which have been translated into dozens of languages to help ...

  12. Jane Goodall: 60 years of research, activism and inspiration

    Living on Earth July 21, 2020 · 1:30 PM EDT By Adam Wernick Through her speaking engagements and her Roots & Shoots program, Jane Goodall has inspired people around the globe. Goodall normally travels the world 300 days a year, sharing her story and inspiring future generations of environmentalists. Simon Fraser University/Flickr

  13. Jane Goodall

    Early years Valerie Jane Morris-Goodall was born in April 1934 in Hampstead, London, [7] to businessman Mortimer Herbert Morris-Goodall (1907-2001) [ de] and Margaret Myfanwe Joseph (1906-2000), [8] a novelist from Milford Haven, Pembrokeshire, [9] who wrote under the name Vanne Morris-Goodall. [3]

  14. Jane Goodall's original tale of chimpanzees still astonishes today

    Published 3 Apr 2019, 13:54 BST The sun's fading glow on Lake Tanganyika silhouettes the author, who is preparing for a lonely, nightlong vigil among the cimpanzees. Photograph by Baron Hugo van Lawick This story first appeared in the August 1963 issue of National Geographic magazine.

  15. Jane Goodall

    Jane Goodall - A Pioneering Primatologist. March 8, 2023 by Claudine Cassar. Jane Goodall is one of the most well-known and respected figures in the field of primatology. Her groundbreaking research on chimpanzees has not only revolutionized our understanding of these animals, but also challenged our perceptions of what it means to be human.

  16. Jane Goodall Is Self-Isolating, Too

    Today, the Jane Goodall Institute supports the continuation of the research she started at the Gombe Stream Research Centre as well as programs in community involvement in conservation, and ...

  17. Jane Goodall Research Papers

    View Jane Goodall Research Papers on Academia.edu for free.

  18. About Jane

    Scientist Conservationist Peacemaker Mentor Where in the World Is Jane? See what she's doing today, and where she's headed next Request An Appearance from Dr. Jane Goodall » Request An Interview With Dr. Jane Goodall Or a Member of Her Team » Press and Media Materials Find photographs, bios, fact sheets and more. » FUN FAQS Choose a one-time amount

  19. Op-Ed: Why I Got Off the Jane Goodall Bandwagon

    I met Jane Goodall in 2008 at the Governors' Global Climate Summit in California. She was giving a speech on the importance of personalizing wildlife to bolster conservation efforts.

  20. Jane Goodall: 'I had to give up what I love best to try to save it'

    At almost 90 years old, Dr Jane Goodall, the world-renowned ethologist and conservationist, spends 300 days of her year travelling around the world, speaking to people about the urgency of animal ...

  21. Paper-Research: Bio of Jane Goodall

    In 1977, she established the Jane Goodall Institute for Wildlife Research, Education, and Conservation to provide funding for continued chimpanzee research at Gombe and to lend support to further research on apes and other animals around the world. ... Paper-Research offers pre-written essays, term papers, book reports, and research papers on a ...

  22. Jane Goodall Research Paper

    2510 Words11 Pages Jane Goodall is a primatologist, ethologist, and anthropologist. A primatologist is a scientist who studies primates. An ethologist studies animal behavior. An anthropologist studies humans. She made large contributions to science by studying chimpanzees. Jane studied chimpanzees for forty five years.

  23. the Jane Goodall Institute Homepage

    In 1900, an estimated 1 million chimpanzees lived in the wild. Today, there are as few as 340,000. We're on a mission to save chimpanzees from extinction. Together, we can turn these numbers around. Learn more about all the things we do.

  24. Jane Goodall Research Paper

    893 Words 4 Pages Open Document Analyze This Draft Jane Goodall Research Paper View Writing Issues File Edit Tools Settings Filter Results Jane Goodall Jane Goodall once said, "I wanted to talk to the animals like Dr. Doolittle." Obviously you can tell from this quote that Jane Goodall was very passionate about animals.

  25. Steven Wise, Champion of Animal Rights, Is Dead at 73

    Steven M. Wise, a pioneering animal rights lawyer who gave voice to clients unable to testify on their own behalf, demanding the same moral and legal entitlements as their owners, keepers and ...

  26. Our Impact

    3.4 million acres of habitat covered under Conservation Action Plans. 482 scientific papers and graduate theses published through research at Gombe Stream Research Center. 290 chimpanzees and gorillas receiving care in a sanctuary managed or supported by the Jane Goodall Institute. 130