Jane Goodall: the scientist who gave chimps names, not numbers
S&T –
3 OCTOBER 2025
- Jane Goodall, a primatologist and ethologist known worldwide for chronicling the life of chimpanzees in East Africa, died on October 1 at the age of 91.
- Goodall’s films and books reshaped primatology and public understanding alike.
- In her later years, she became a champion of conservation and climate action.
- She was honoured as a Dame in 2003 and with the U.S. Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2025.
- In 1960, despite having no formal training, she began documenting tool use, social bonds, and conflict among chimpanzees in the Gombe Stream Chimpanzee Reserve (now Gombe Stream National Park).
- In the 1970s, she documented the so-called ‘Gombe Chimpanzee War’: one community split into factions and engaged in years of violent conflict.
- The most enduring criticism concerns Goodall’s use of names, personalities, and even ‘moods’ to describe the chimpanzees she observed.
- Goodall was also an advocate for conservation and animal rights.
- It still took Goodall’s courage to inspire Galdikas, Fossey, and others, to open doors to discoveries that reshaped how humans understand animals.
