Jane Goodall

chimpanzees

Her field research lasted over 60 years: one of the longest studies of wild animals ever.

💡 Did you know? Goodall lived for years among wild chimpanzees and fundamentally changed how we understand animal behaviour and ourselves.

Gombe (Tanzania)

Because a young woman was not allowed into the bush alone, her mother joined her for the first months.

💡 Did you know? At just 26 and without a university degree, Goodall began her research in Gombe National Park, Tanzania, in 1960.

tool use

She watched a chimpanzee strip leaves from blades of grass to fish termites out of a mound.

💡 Did you know? Until then, tool use was thought to be uniquely human.

David Greybeard

The chimpanzee „David Greybeard“ let Goodall be the first to watch him use a blade of grass as a tool to fish for termites.

💡 Did you know? He was the first chimpanzee to trust Goodall.

names instead of numbers

Giving animals individual names and emotions was considered unscientific at the time.

💡 Did you know? Her discovery that chimpanzees use tools forced science to rethink the very definition of „human.“

Louis Leakey

Leakey championed three women in great-ape research: Goodall, Dian Fossey and Birutė Galdikas.

💡 Did you know? The researcher Louis Leakey chose Goodall deliberately, convinced by her fresh eye free of academic preconceptions.

PhD without a prior degree

Because of her groundbreaking observations, Goodall was allowed to do a doctorate at Cambridge, with no prior degree, a rare exception.

💡 Did you know? She was one of very few admitted straight to a Cambridge PhD without a bachelor's degree.

Jane Goodall Institute

In 1991 she followed it with the global youth and environmental programme "Roots & Shoots".

💡 Did you know? Her Jane Goodall Institute still runs chimpanzee research, sanctuaries and conservation projects worldwide.

conservation and climate activist

Into old age Goodall travelled the world tirelessly, campaigning as an environmentalist for the protection of nature and climate.

💡 Did you know? Well into old age she spent around 300 days a year travelling to give talks.

Jane Goodall

Jane Goodall (1934-2025) was a British ethologist and conservationist, famous for her groundbreaking chimpanzee research.

💡 Did you know? Her discovery that chimpanzees make tools is regarded as one of the most important scientific observations of the 20th century.