Pioneering primatologist Jane Goodall, whose decades of work with chimpanzees transformed anthropology and conservation, passed away at 91. Goodall died of natural causes on Wednesday in Los Angeles, according to a statement from the Jane Goodall Institute.
“Dr. Goodall’s discoveries as an ethologist revolutionized science,” the statement said. “She was a tireless advocate for the protection and restoration of our natural world.”
Goodall began her field research at the Gombe Stream Chimpanzee Reserve in Tanzania in July 1960, at the age of 26, with no formal scientific training. Her unconventional approach—immersing herself in the chimps' habitat and giving them names instead of numbers—led to immediate, revolutionary discoveries.
She observed a chimpanzee named David Greybeard strip leaves from a twig to “fish” for termites, proving that animals other than humans could not only use but also modify objects to create tools. This discovery led famed anthropologist Louis Leakey to state, “Now we must redefine tool, redefine Man, or accept chimpanzees as human.”
She documented that chimpanzees were not strict vegetarians, but were omnivorous, observing them hunt and eat small animals like colobus monkeys. She challenged the scientific orthodoxy of the time by arguing that chimpanzees have distinct personalities, minds, and emotions (like joy, sorrow, and compassion), and form strong family bonds.
In 1962, without a bachelor’s degree, Goodall was admitted to Cambridge University to pursue a Ph.D. in ethology (animal behavior). She successfully earned her Ph.D. in 1966. Her work gained global attention through publications in National Geographic (starting in 1963) and the famous documentary Miss Goodall and the Wild Chimpanzees (1965).
In the 1970s, the Gombe research continued, revealing even more complex and sometimes darker aspects of chimpanzee behavior, while Goodall began her transition into a global advocate.
From 1974-78, she documented what is known as the “Gombe Chimpanzee War,” a four-year conflict where one group of chimpanzees systematically hunted and killed members of a splinter group. This revealed a ruthlessly violent side of chimpanzee nature, further showing their similarity to humans.
In 1975, she made the first observation of cannibalism among the Gombe chimps.
Her popular book, In the Shadow of Man, an account of her early years at Gombe, was published in 1971 and became an international bestseller.
Realizing that the survival of the chimpanzees was threatened by habitat loss and poaching, she made the critical decision to leave her life as a full-time field researcher. She founded the Jane Goodall Institute (JGI) to support the ongoing research at Gombe and to expand efforts for chimpanzee protection and conservation across Africa. This marked the beginning of her career as a global advocate and environmentalist.
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