Jane Goodall

Dame Valerie Jane Morris Goodall (Template:IPAc-en;<ref>Template:Cite Dictionary.com</ref> Template:Née; 3Template:NbspApril 1934Template:Snd1Template:NbspOctober 2025) was an English primatologist and anthropologist.<ref>Holloway, M. (1997) Profile: Jane Goodall – Gombe's Famous Primate, Scientific American 277(4), 42–44.</ref> Regarded as a pioneer in primate ethology, and described by many publications as "the world's preeminent chimpanzee expert", she was best known for more than six decades of field research on the social and family life of wild chimpanzees in the Kasakela chimpanzee community at Gombe Stream National Park in Tanzania.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Beginning in 1960, under the mentorship of the palaeontologist Louis Leakey, Goodall's research demonstrated that chimpanzees share many key traits with humans, such as using tools, having complex emotions, forming lasting social bonds, engaging in organised warfare, and passing on knowledge across generations, which redefined the traditional view that humans are uniquely different from other animals.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

In 1965 Goodall was awarded a PhD in ethology from the University of Cambridge. In the 1960s Goodall published several accounts of her research in Tanzania, including a series of articles in National Geographic. Her first book-length study, In the Shadow of Man (1971), was later translated into 48 languages. She founded the Jane Goodall Institute in 1977 to promote wildlife conservation, followed by the Roots & Shoots youth programme in 1991, which grew into a global network. Goodall also established wildlife sanctuaries and reforestation projects in Africa and campaigned for the ethical treatment of animals in animal testing, animal husbandry and captivity. Goodall was appointed a United Nations Messenger of Peace in 2002, and advised organisations such as Save the Chimps and the Society for the Protection of Underground Networks.

Throughout her career Goodall wrote 32 books, 15 of them for children, and was the subject of over 40 films. She remained an active lecturer, travelling extensively to promote conservation and climate action. Goodall was an honorary member of the World Future Council. Among other honours, she was a recipient of the National Geographic Society's Hubbard Medal, the Kyoto Prize, the Templeton Prize and the United States Presidential Medal of Freedom. In 2003 she was named a dame commander of the Order of the British Empire by Queen Elizabeth II. Goodall served on the board of the Nonhuman Rights Project from 2022 until her death.<ref name="NBCobit">Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Early life

Valerie Jane Morris-Goodall was born in April 1934 in Hampstead, London,<ref name="JGBio">Template:Cite web</ref><ref>"Morris-Goodall, Valerie J" in Register of Births for Hampstead Registration District, volume 1a (1934), p. 748.</ref> to Mortimer Herbert Morris-Goodall (1907–2001), a businessman, and Margaret Myfanwe Joseph (1906–2000),<ref>England & Wales, Civil Registration Death Index, 1916–2007.</ref> a novelist from Milford Haven, Pembrokeshire,<ref>1911 England Census</ref> who wrote under the pen name Vanne Morris-Goodall.<ref name="JGBio"/>

After the family moved to Bournemouth, Goodall attended Uplands School, an independent school in nearby Poole.<ref name="JGBio"/>

When she was a child, Goodall's father gave her a stuffed toy chimpanzee named Jubilee as an alternative to a teddy bear. Goodall had said her fondness for it sparked her early love of animals, commenting, "My mother's friends were horrified by this toy, thinking it would frighten me and give me nightmares." Jubilee was still on Goodall's dresser in London as of the year 2000.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

Africa

Goodall had always been drawn to animals and Africa, which brought her to the farm of a friend in the White Highlands in the Colony and Protectorate of Kenya in 1957.<ref name="JanesStory" /> From there, she obtained work as a secretary, and acting on her friend's advice, she telephoned Louis Leakey,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> the Kenyan archaeologist and palaeontologist, with no other thought than to make an appointment to discuss animals. Leakey, believing that the study of existing great apes could provide indications of the behaviour of early hominids,<ref>Template:Cite AV media</ref> was looking for a chimpanzee researcher, though he kept the idea to himself. Instead, he proposed that Goodall work for him as a secretary. After obtaining approval from his co-researcher and wife, the palaeoanthropologist Mary Leakey, Louis sent Goodall to Olduvai Gorge in Tanganyika (later part of Tanzania), where he laid out his plans.<ref name="Richards 2000"/>

In 1958 Leakey sent Goodall to London to study primate behaviour with Osman Hill and primate anatomy with John Napier.<ref name=Morell1995>Template:Cite book</ref> Leakey raised funds, and on 14 July 1960 Goodall went to Gombe Stream National Park, becoming the first of what would come to be called the Trimates.<ref name="GoodallPeterson2002">Template:Cite book</ref> She was accompanied by her mother, whose presence was necessary to satisfy the requirements of David Anstey, chief warden, who was concerned for their safety.<ref name="JanesStory">Template:Cite web</ref> Goodall credits her mother with encouraging her to pursue a career in primatology, a male-dominated field at the time. Goodall has said that women were not accepted in the field when she started her research in the late 1950s.<ref>Morgen, B. (Director). (2017). Jane [Motion Picture]. United States: National Geographic Studios</ref> Template:As of the field of primatology is made up almost evenly of men and women, in part thanks to the trailblazing work of Goodall and her encouragement of young women to join the field.<ref>CBC/Radio Canada, She Walks with Apes, accessed 16 January 2022</ref>

Louis Leakey arranged funding, and in 1962 he sent Goodall, who had no degree, to the University of Cambridge.<ref name="Richards 2000">Template:Cite journal</ref> She was the eighth person to be allowed to study for a PhD at Cambridge without first having obtained a bachelor's degree.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> She attended Newnham College, Cambridge, to pursue a Doctor of Philosophy degree in ethology.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref name=goodphd/><ref name="JanesStory" /><ref name="CV"/><ref>Template:Cite book</ref> Her thesis was completed in 1966 under the supervision of Robert Hinde on the Behaviour of free-living chimpanzees,<ref name=goodphd>Template:Cite thesis</ref> detailing her first five years of study at the Gombe Reserve.<ref name="JGBio" /><ref name="CV">Template:Cite web</ref>

On 19 June 2006 the Open University of Tanzania awarded her an honorary Doctor of Science degree.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> She became an honorary fellow of both Newnham College (her alma mater) and Darwin College, Cambridge, in 2019, when she was also awarded an honorary doctorate.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Work

Research at Gombe Stream National Park

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Goodall in conversation with Silver Donald Cameron, discussing her work

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A sculpture of Jane Goodall and David Greybeard outside the Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago

Goodall studied chimpanzee social and family life beginning with the Kasakela chimpanzee community in Gombe Stream National Park, Tanzania, in 1960.<ref name="timeline">Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="PBS" /> She found that "it isn't only human beings who have personality, who are capable of rational thought [and] emotions like joy and sorrow."<ref name="PBS">Template:Cite web</ref> She also observed behaviours often considered human, such as hugs, kisses, pats on the back, and even tickling.<ref name="PBS" /> Goodall insisted that these gestures are evidence of "the close, supportive, affectionate bonds that develop between family members and other individuals within a community, which can persist throughout a life span of more than 50 years."<ref name="PBS" />

Goodall's research at Gombe Stream challenged two long-standing beliefs of the day: that only humans could construct and use tools, and that chimpanzees were vegetarians.<ref name="PBS" /> While observing one chimpanzee feeding at a termite mound, she watched him repeatedly place stalks of grass into termite holes, then remove them from the hole covered with clinging termites, effectively "fishing" for termites. The chimpanzees would also take twigs from trees and strip off the leaves to make the twig more effective, a form of object modification that is the rudimentary beginnings of toolmaking.<ref name="ReasonforHope">Template:Cite book</ref> Humans had long distinguished themselves from the rest of the animal kingdom as "Man the Toolmaker". In response to Goodall's revolutionary findings, Louis Leakey wrote, "[w]e must now redefine man, redefine tool, or accept chimpanzees as human!"<ref name=ReasonforHope/>

Goodall observed the tendency for aggression and violence within chimpanzee troops. Goodall observed dominant females deliberately killing the young of other females in the troop to maintain their dominance,<ref name="PBS" /> sometimes going as far as cannibalism.<ref name=ReasonforHope/> She said of this revelation,

During the first ten years of the study I had believed [...] that the Gombe chimpanzees were, for the most part, rather nicer than human beings. [...] Then suddenly we found that chimpanzees could be brutal—that they, like us, had a darker side to their nature.<ref name=ReasonforHope/>

She described the 1974–1978 Gombe Chimpanzee War in her 1990 memoir, Through a Window: My Thirty Years with the Chimpanzees of Gombe. Her findings revolutionised contemporary knowledge of chimpanzee behaviour and were further evidence of the social similarities between humans and chimpanzees.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>

Goodall found an aggressive side of chimpanzee nature at Gombe Stream. She discovered that chimpanzees will systematically hunt and eat smaller primates such as colobus monkeys.<ref name="PBS" /> Goodall watched a hunting group isolate a colobus monkey high in a tree and block all possible exits; then one chimpanzee climbed up and captured and killed the colobus. The others then each took parts of the carcass, sharing with other members of the troop in response to begging behaviours.<ref name="Goodall">Template:Cite web</ref> The chimpanzees at Gombe kill and eat as much as one-third of the colobus population in the park each year.<ref name="PBS" /> This represented a major scientific discovery that challenged previous conceptions of chimpanzee diet and behaviour.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Goodall set herself apart from convention by naming the animals in her studies of primates instead of assigning each a number. Numbering was a nearly universal practice at the time and was thought to be important in avoiding emotional attachment to the subject being studied and thus losing objectivity.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref name=nge>Template:Cite web</ref> Goodall wrote in 1993,

When, in the early 1960s, I brazenly used such words as 'childhood', 'adolescence', 'motivation', 'excitement', and 'mood' I was much criticised. Even worse was my crime of suggesting that chimpanzees had 'personalities'. I was ascribing human characteristics to nonhuman animals and was thus guilty of that worst of ethological sins—anthropomorphism.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

Setting herself apart from other researchers also led her to develop a close bond with the chimpanzees and to become the only human ever accepted into chimpanzee society.<ref name=nge/>

Among those whom Goodall named during her years in Gombe were:<ref>See Kasakela chimpanzee community for a more complete list and details.</ref>

• David Greybeard, a grey-chinned male who first warmed up to Goodall;<ref name="Gombe">Template:Cite web</ref>
• Goliath, a friend of David Greybeard, originally the alpha male named for his bold nature;
• Mike, who through his cunning and improvisation displaced Goliath as the alpha male;
• Humphrey, a big, strong, bullysome male;
• Gigi, a large, sterile female who delighted in being the "aunt" of any young chimps or humans;
• Mr. McGregor, a belligerent older male;
• Flo, a motherly, high-ranking female with a bulbous nose and ragged ears, and her children; Figan, Faben, Freud, Fifi, and Flint;<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• Frodo, Fifi's second-oldest child, an aggressive male who also attacked humans, including Goodall.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Jane Goodall Institute

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Goodall in 2009 with Hungarian Roots & Shoots group members

In 1977 Goodall established the Jane Goodall Institute (JGI), which supports the Gombe research, and she was a global leader in the effort to protect chimpanzees and their habitats. With nineteen offices around the world, the JGI is widely recognised for community-centred conservation and development programmes in Africa. Its global youth programme, Roots & Shoots, began in 1991 when a group of 12 local teenagers met with Goodall on her back porch in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. They were eager to discuss a range of problems they knew about from first-hand experience that caused them deep concern. The organisation has over 10,000 groups in over 100 countries Template:As of.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

In 1992 Goodall founded the Tchimpounga Chimpanzee Rehabilitation Centre in the Republic of Congo to care for chimpanzees orphaned due to bush-meat trade. The rehabilitation houses over a hundred chimps over its three islands.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

In 1994 Goodall founded the Lake Tanganyika Catchment Reforestation and Education (TACARE or "Take Care") pilot project to protect chimpanzees' habitat from deforestation by reforesting hills around Gombe while simultaneously educating neighbouring communities on sustainability and agriculture training. The TACARE project also supports young girls by offering them access to reproductive health education and through scholarships to finance their college tuition.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

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Goodall in 2009 with Lou Perrotti, who contributed to her book Hope for Animals and Their World

Owing to an overflow of handwritten notes, photographs, and data piling up at Goodall's home in Dar es Salaam in the mid-1990s, the Jane Goodall Institute's Center for Primate Studies was created at the University of Minnesota to house and organise this data. Template:As of, all of the original Jane Goodall archives reside there and have been digitised, analysed, and placed in an online database.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> On 17 March 2011 Karl Bates, a Duke University spokesman, announced that the archives would be moved to Duke, with Anne E. Pusey, Duke's chairman of evolutionary anthropology, overseeing the collection. Pusey, who managed the archives in Minnesota and worked with Goodall in Tanzania, had worked at Duke for a year.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

In 2018 and 2020 Goodall partnered with her friend Michael Cammarata on two natural product lines from Schmidt's Naturals and Neptune Wellness Solutions. Five percent of every sale benefited the Jane Goodall Institute.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

As of 2004 Goodall devoted virtually all of her time to advocacy on behalf of chimpanzees and the environment, travelling nearly 300 days a year.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Goodall was also on the advisory council for the world's largest chimpanzee sanctuary outside of Africa, Save the Chimps in Fort Pierce, Florida, United States.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Goodall was an advisory board member for The Society for the Protection of Underground Networks (SPUN).<ref>Template:Cite press release</ref>

Activism

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Goodall with Allyson Reed of Skulls Unlimited International, at the Association of Zoos and Aquariums annual conference in September 2009

Goodall credited the 1986 Understanding Chimpanzees conference, hosted by the Chicago Academy of Sciences, with shifting her focus from observation of chimpanzees to a broader and more intense concern with animal-human conservation.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> She was the former president of Advocates for Animals,<ref>Template:Cite webTemplate:Cbignore</ref> an organisation based in Edinburgh, Scotland, that campaigns against the use of animals in medical research, zoos, farming and sport.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

She was a vegetarian and advocated the diet for ethical, environmental, and health reasons. In The Inner World of Farm Animals (2009), Goodall wrote that farm animals are "far more aware and intelligent than we ever imagined and, despite having been bred as domestic slaves, they are individual beings in their own right. As such, they deserve our respect. And our help. Who will plead for them if we are silent?"<ref>Hatkoff, Amy. 2009. The Inner World of Farm Animals, p. 13.</ref> Goodall also said: "Thousands of people who say they 'love' animals sit down once or twice a day to enjoy the flesh of creatures who have been treated with so little respect and kindness just to make more meat."<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> In 2021 Goodall became a vegan and authored a cookbook titled Eat Meat Less.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Goodall was an outspoken environmental advocate, speaking on the effects of climate change on endangered species such as chimpanzees. Goodall, alongside her foundation, collaborated with the US National Aeronautics and Space Administration to use satellite imagery from the Landsat series to remedy the effects of deforestation on chimpanzees and local communities in Western Africa by offering the villagers information on how to reduce activity and preserve their environment.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> To ensure the safe and ethical treatment of animals during ethological studies, Goodall, alongside Professor Mark Bekoff, founded the organisation Ethologists for the Ethical Treatment of Animals in 2000.<ref>Clayton, Philip, and Jim Schaal, editors. "Jane Goodall." Practicing Science, Living Faith: Interviews with Twelve Leading Scientists, by William Phillips, Columbia University Press, New York, 2007, pp. 15–40. Template:JSTOR Accessed 1 April 2020.</ref>

In 2008 Goodall gave a lecture entitled "Reason for Hope" at the University of San Diego's Joan B. Kroc Institute for Peace & Justice,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> and in the same year demanded the European Union end the use of medical research on animals and ensure more funding for alternative methods of medical research.<ref>"Dr Jane Goodall appeals to EU to impose ban on animal testing". (28 May 2008). Associated Press.</ref> She described Edinburgh Zoo's new primate enclosure as a "wonderful facility" where monkeys "are probably better off [than those] living in the wild in an area like Budongo, where one in six gets caught in a wire snare, and countries like Congo, where chimpanzees, monkeys and gorillas are shot for food commercially."<ref name="Times">Mike Wade, "Zoos are best hope, says Jane Goodall". The Times, 20 May 2008. Retrieved 18 July 2008.</ref> This was in conflict with Advocates for Animals' position on captive animals.<ref name="Telegraph">Tim Walker, Is Jane Goodall about to lose her post?, The Daily Telegraph, 23 May 2008. Retrieved 18 July 2008. "She's entitled to her opinion, but our position isn't going to change. We oppose the keeping of animals in captivity for entertainment."</ref> In June that year, she resigned the presidency of the organisation which she had held since 1998, citing her busy schedule and explaining, "I just don't have time for them."<ref name="Science">Yudhijit Bhattacharjee, "Defending captivity". Science, Vol. 320. no. 5881, p. 1269, 6 June 2008. Retrieved 18 July 2008.</ref> Goodall was a patron of the population concern charity Population Matters<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> and Template:As of was an ambassador for Disneynature.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

In 2010 Goodall, through the Jane Goodall Institute, formed a coalition with a number of organisations such as the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) and the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) and petitioned to list all chimpanzees, including those that are captive, as endangered.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> In 2015 the United States Fish and Wildlife Service accepted this rule and classified all chimpanzees as endangered.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> In 2011 she became a patron of the Australian animal protection group Voiceless. "I have for decades been concerned about factory farming, in part because of the tremendous harm inflicted on the environment, but also because of the shocking ongoing cruelty perpetuated on millions of sentient beings."<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

In 2012 she took on the role of challenger for the Engage in Conservation Challenge with The DO School, formerly known as the D&F Academy.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> She worked with a group of aspiring social entrepreneurs to create a workshop to engage young people in conserving biodiversity, and to tackle a perceived global lack of awareness of the issue.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> In 2014 Goodall wrote to Air France executives, criticising the airline's continued transport of monkeys to laboratories. Goodall called the practise "cruel" and "traumatic" for the monkeys involved. The same year, Goodall also wrote to the US National Institutes of Health (NIH) to criticise maternal deprivation experiments on baby monkeys in NIH laboratories.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Prior to the 2015 UK general election, she endorsed the parliamentary candidacy of the Green Party's Caroline Lucas.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> She was a critic of fox hunting and signed a letter to Members of Parliament in 2015 opposing the Conservative prime minister David Cameron's plan to amend the Hunting Act 2004.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

In August 2019 Goodall was honoured for her contributions to science with a bronze sculpture in Midtown Manhattan alongside nine other women, part of the Statues for Equality project.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> In 2020 she advocated for ecocide (mass damage or destruction of nature) to be made an international crime, stating "The concept of Ecocide is long overdue. It could lead to an important change in the way people perceive – and respond to – the current environmental crisis."<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> That same year, Goodall vowed to plant five million trees, part of the one trillion tree initiative founded by the World Economic Forum.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

In 2021 Goodall called on the European Commission to abolish caging of farm animals.<ref>Legendary Jane Goodall & 140+ scientists call on EU to end cages in farming Template:Webarchive from 23. February 2021 in Ciwf.eu.</ref>

In 2021 Goodall joined the Rewriting Extinction campaign to fight the climate and biodiversity crisis through comics. She is listed as a contributor to the book The Most Important Comic Book on Earth: Stories to Save the World<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> which was released on 28 October 2021 by DK.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Feeding stations

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Goodall at TEDGlobal 2007

Many standard methods aim to avoid interference by observers, and in particular some believe that the use of feeding stations to attract Gombe chimpanzees has altered normal foraging and feeding patterns and social relationships. This argument is the focus of a book published by Margaret Power in 1991.<ref name="power">Power, Margaret (1991). The Egalitarians – Human and Chimpanzee An Anthropological: View of Social Organization. Cambridge University Press. Template:ISBN.Template:Page needed</ref> It has been suggested that higher levels of aggression and conflict with other chimpanzee groups in the area were due to the feeding, which could have created the "wars" between chimpanzee social groups described by Goodall, aspects of which she did not witness in the years before artificial feeding began at Gombe. Thus, some regard Goodall's observations as distortions of normal chimpanzee behaviour.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>

Goodall herself acknowledged that feeding contributed to aggression within and between groups, but maintained that the effect was limited to alteration of the intensity and not the nature of chimpanzee conflict, and further suggested that feeding was necessary for the study to be effective at all. Craig Stanford of the Jane Goodall Research Center at the University of Southern California states that researchers conducting studies with no artificial provisioning have a difficult time viewing any social behaviour of chimpanzees, especially those related to inter-group conflict.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Some studies, such as those by Crickette Sanz in the Goualougo Triangle (Republic of the Congo) and Christophe Boesch in the Taï National Park (Ivory Coast), have not shown the aggression observed in the Gombe studies.<ref>Washington University Record, Vol 28 No 28, April 2004.</ref> However, other primatologists disagree that the studies are flawed; for example, Jim Moore provides a critique of Margaret Powers' assertions<ref>Jim Moore, Anthropology Department, University of California, San Diego. The Egalitarians – Human and Chimpanzee (book review).. Am. J. Phys. Anthropol. 88: 259–262.</ref> and some studies of other chimpanzee groups have shown aggression similar to that in Gombe even in the absence of feeding.<ref>American Journal of Primatology 58:175–180 (2002), Noboyuki Kutsukake and Takahisa Matsusaka.</ref>

In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter in November 2017, Goodall was asked about the feeding stations and the controversy she received. Goodall acknowledged that she would not continue with feeding stations in present time as "there was absolutely no knowledge back then that chimpanzees could catch human infectious diseases".<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Opinions and written works

Bigfoot

Goodall was known to have supported the possibility that undiscovered species of primates may still exist, including cryptids such as Sasquatch, Yeren and other types of Bigfoot. She talked about this possibility in various interviews and debates.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="NPR">Template:Cite web</ref> In 2012, when the Huffington Post asked her about it, Goodall replied: "I'm fascinated and would actually love them to exist," adding, "Of course, it's strange that there has never been a single authentic hide or hair of the Bigfoot, but I've read all the accounts."<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Religion and spirituality

Goodall was raised in a Christian congregationalist family. As a young woman, she took night classes in Theosophy. Her family were occasional churchgoers, but Goodall began attending more regularly as a teenager when the church appointed a new minister, Trevor Davies. "He was highly intelligent and his sermons were powerful and thought-provoking... I could have listened to his voice for hours... I fell madly in love with him... Suddenly, no one had to encourage me to go to church. Indeed, there were never enough services for my liking." Of her later discovery of the atheism and agnosticism of many of her scientific colleagues, Goodall wrote that "[f]ortunately, by the time I got to Cambridge I was twenty-seven years old and my beliefs had already moulded so that I was not influenced by these opinions."<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

In Reason for Hope: A Spiritual Journey (1999), Goodall described the implications of a mystical experience she had at Notre Dame Cathedral in 1977: "Since I cannot believe that this was the result of chance, I have to admit anti-chance. And so I must believe in a guiding power in the universe – in other words, I must believe in God."<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> When asked if she believes in God, Goodall said in September 2010: "I don't have any idea of who or what God is. But I do believe in some great spiritual power. I feel it particularly when I'm out in nature. It's just something that's bigger and stronger than what I am or what anybody is. I feel it. And it's enough for me."<ref>Jane Goodall's Questions & Answers, Reader's Digest, p. 128, September 2010</ref> When asked in the same year if she still considers herself a Christian, Goodall told The Guardian: "I suppose so; I was raised as a Christian." She stated further that she saw no contradiction between evolution and belief in God.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

In her foreword to the 2017 book The Intelligence of the Cosmos by Ervin Laszlo, a philosopher of science who advocates quantum consciousness theory, Goodall wrote: "we must accept that there is an Intelligence driving the process [of evolution], that the Universe and life on Earth are inspired and in-formed by an unknown and unknowable Creator, a Supreme Being, a Great Spiritual Power."<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

Seeds of Hope

In 2013 Goodall wrote the book Seeds of Hope with Gail Hudson, which examined the critical role that trees and plants play in our world. However, Hachette Book Group did not release the book due to the discovery of plagiarised portions.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> A reviewer for The Washington Post had found unattributed sections that were copied from websites about organic tea and tobacco and an "amateurish astrology site", as well as from Wikipedia.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Goodall apologised and stated, "It is important to me that the proper sources are credited, and I will be working diligently with my team to address all areas of concern. My goal is to ensure that when this book is released it is not only up to the highest of standards, but also that the focus be on the crucial messages it conveys."<ref>Flood, Alison. "Jane Goodall book held back after accusations of plagiarism." The Guardian, 25 March 2013. Accessed 24 June 2013.</ref>

The book was released on 1 April 2014, after review and the addition of 57 pages of endnotes.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> After the release, Goodall blamed her "chaotic note taking" for the plagiarism accusations and revised the book after the allegations.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Personal life

Goodall was married twice. On 28 March 1964 she married Baron Hugo van Lawick, a Dutch nobleman and wildlife photographer, at Chelsea Old Church, London. She was known during their marriage as Baroness Jane van Lawick-Goodall.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The couple had a son, Hugo (nicknamed "Grub"), born in 1967. Goodall and Van Lawick divorced in 1974. The following year, she married Derek Bryceson, a former member of Tanzania's parliament and the director of that country's national parks. Bryceson died of cancer in October 1980. Owing to his position in the Tanzanian government as head of the country's national park system, Bryceson was able to protect Goodall's research project and implement an embargo on tourism at Gombe.<ref name="GreatApes">Template:Cite book</ref>

Goodall stated that dogs, and not the chimps she studied, were her favourite animal.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> She had been diagnosed with prosopagnosia, which made it difficult to recognise familiar faces.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> She lived in Bournemouth, England.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Death and tributes

Goodall died in her sleep of natural causes while staying at the home of a friend in Beverly Hills, California, on 1 October 2025, at the age of 91.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> She had been on a speaking tour in the United States.<ref name="NBCobit" /><ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Following her death, tributes were paid by prominent figures including Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex, and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex;<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> the former US vice president Al Gore;<ref>Template:Cite tweet</ref> the former Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau, the comedian Ellen DeGeneres, the actor Leonardo DiCaprio;<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> and António Guterres, Secretary-General of the United Nations.<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref>

In October 2025 Netflix released the first episode of Famous Last Words; in the episode, Goodall was interviewed by Brad Falchuk.<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref>

In popular culture

Stevie Nicks's song "Jane", written in 1990, celebrates Goodall's life and work. It is the last track on Nicks's 1994 Street Angel album.<ref>"Jane" at stevienicks.info. "A Song to Help Chimps" at stevienicks.info. Originally appeared in USA Today 16 October 1991.</ref><ref>Steve Morse, "Stevie Nicks, 'Angel' on her own", at stevienicks.info. Originally appeared in the Boston Globe, 17 June 1994.</ref>

On 3 March 2022, in celebration of Women's History Month and International Women's Day, the Lego Group issued set number 40530, A Jane Goodall Tribute, depicting a Goodall minifigure and three chimpanzees in an African forest scene.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

In 2022 Mattel released a Barbie-themed Goodall doll from recycled plastic in field attire with binoculars and a notebook. According to Mattel, the doll was made in recognition of Goodall's "decades of dedication, ground-breaking research, and heroic achievements as a conservationist, animal behavior expert, and activist".<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Gary Larson cartoon incident

In 1987 Gary Larson published a Far Side cartoon of two chimpanzees grooming, in which one discovers a blonde hair and says, "Conducting a little more 'research' with that Jane Goodall tramp?"<ref name="Strange Legacy">Template:Cite news</ref> The Jane Goodall Institute called the cartoon an "atrocity" in a letter drafted by its lawyers to Larson and his syndicate. Goodall, who was in Africa at the time, later found the cartoon amusing.<ref name="farside">Larson, Gary. The Prehistory of the Far Side: a 10th-anniversary exhibit. Kansas City, MO: Andrew and McNeel, 1989. Template:ISBN.</ref> She went on to name it her favourite depiction of herself in pop culture.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Larson offered profits from sales of a shirt featuring the cartoon to the Jane Goodall Institute.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Goodall wrote the preface to The Far Side Gallery 5, detailing her version of the controversy.<ref>Larson, Gary. The Far Side Gallery 5. Kansas City, MO: Andrew and McNeel, 1995. (Template:ISBN).</ref> She praised Larson's creative ideas, which often compare and contrast the behaviour of humans and animals. In 1988 Larson visited Goodall's research facility in Tanzania.<ref name="farside"/> While there, he was attacked by a chimpanzee named Frodo.<ref name="Strange Legacy"/><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Television and film

The Simpsons parodied Goodall in the 2001 episode "Simpson Safari", in which the scientist researcher Dr Joan Bushwell was written as an indirect parody of her.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> She voiced herself on the episode "Gorillas on the Mast" in 2019.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Goodall also voiced herself in The Wild Thornberrys episode "The Trouble with Darwin" where she is portrayed as visiting a chimpanzee sanctuary in Tanzania.<ref name="thornberry">Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The episode was later adapted into a children's book by Kiki Thorpe.

In February 2021 Apple TV+ ordered Jane, a live action/animation hybrid educational children's television programme which was created by J. J. Johnson co-produced by Sinking Ship Entertainment and the Jane Goodall Institute based on Goodall's missions.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> It ran for three series, and Goodall appeared as herself in its twentieth and final episode, which aired on 18 April 2025.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

In October 2025, following Goodall's death, it was announced that a documentary about her life was being worked on by the filmmaker Richard Ladkani.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Awards and recognition

File:Jane Goodall sharing the magical wonders of water and wetlands with children on Martha's Vineyard.jpg

Goodall teaching about wetlands in Martha's Vineyard, US, 2006

Goodall received many honours for her environmental and humanitarian work, as well as others. In the 1995 New Year Honours, she was appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) "for services to zoology",<ref>Template:London Gazette</ref> and in the 2003 Birthday Honours, promoted to Dame Commander of the same Order (DBE) "for services to the environment and conservation".<ref>Template:London Gazette</ref> The investiture to damehood was held at Buckingham Palace in 2004.<ref>Dame Jane Goodall Receives Appointment in Buckingham Palace Ceremony. Jane Goodall Institute, 20 February 2004. Retrieved 7 November 2011.</ref> In April 2002 Secretary-General Kofi Annan named Goodall a United Nations Messenger of Peace.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Her other honours included the Tyler Prize for Environmental Achievement, the French Legion of Honour, Order of the Torch of Kilimanjaro of Tanzania, Japan's prestigious Kyoto Prize, the Benjamin Franklin Medal in Life Science, the Gandhi-King Award for Nonviolence and the Spanish Prince of Asturias Awards.Template:Citation needed

Goodall received many tributes, honours and awards from local governments, schools, institutions, and charities around the world. Goodall was honoured by The Walt Disney Company with a plaque on the Tree of Life at Disney's Animal Kingdom theme park, alongside a carving of her beloved David Greybeard, the original chimpanzee that approached Goodall during her first year at Gombe.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> She was a member of both the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the American Philosophical Society.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

In 2010 Dave Matthews and Tim Reynolds held a benefit concert at DAR Constitution Hall in Washington, D.C., to commemorate "Gombe 50: a global celebration of Jane Goodall's pioneering chimpanzee research and inspiring vision for our future".<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Time magazine named Goodall as one of the 100 most influential people in the world in 2019.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> In 2021, she received the Templeton Prize.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

On 31 December 2021 Goodall was the guest editor of the BBC Radio Four Today programme.<ref>Template:Cite webTemplate:Dead linkTemplate:Cbignore</ref><ref>Template:Cite episode</ref> She chose Francis Collins to be presenter of Thought for the Day.<ref>Template:Cite episode</ref>

In 2022 Goodall received the Stephen Hawking Medal for Science Communication for her long-term study of social and family interactions of wild chimpanzees.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

In April 2023, Goodall was awarded as Officer of the Order of Orange-Nassau in a ceremony in The Hague, the Netherlands.<ref name="Trouw_2023">Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="NOS.nl 2023 m164">Template:Cite web</ref>

In October 2024 Goodall gave "A Speech for History" at UNESCO.<ref name="unesco_2024">Template:Cite web</ref>

In January 2025 Goodall was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by US President Joe Biden.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Works

Books

Sources:<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

• 1969: My Friends the Wild Chimpanzees. Washington, DC: National Geographic Society.
• 1971: Innocent Killers (with H. van Lawick). Boston: Houghton Mifflin; London: Collins.
• 1971: In the Shadow of Man. Boston: Houghton Mifflin; London: Collins. Published in 48 languages.
• 1986: The Chimpanzees of Gombe: Patterns of Behavior. Boston: Belknap Press of the Harvard University Press. Published also in Japanese and Russian. R.R. Hawkins Award for the Outstanding Technical, Scientific or Medical book of 1986, to Bellknap Press of Harvard University Press, Boston. The Wildlife Society (USA) Award for "Outstanding Publication in Wildlife Ecology and Management"
• 1990: Through a Window: 30 Years Observing the Gombe Chimpanzees. London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson; Boston: Houghton Mifflin. Translated into more than 15 languages. 1991 Penguin edition, UK. American Library Association "Best" list among Nine Notable Books (Nonfiction) for 1991.
• 1991: Visions of Caliban (co-authored with Dale Peterson, PhD). Boston: Houghton Mifflin. New York Times "Notable Book" for 1993. Library Journal "Best Sci-Tech Book" for 1993.
• 1999: Brutal Kinship (with Michael Nichols). New York: Aperture Foundation'
• 1999: Reason for Hope: A Spiritual Journey (with Phillip Berman). New York: Warner Books, Inc. Translated into Japanese and Portuguese.
• 2000: 40 Years at Gombe. New York: Stewart, Tabori, and Chang.
• 2000: Africa In My Blood (edited by Dale Peterson). New York: Houghton Mifflin Company.
• 2001: Beyond Innocence: An Autobiography in Letters, the Later Years (edited by Dale Peterson). New York: Houghton Mifflin Company. Template:ISBN .
• 2002: The Ten Trusts: What We Must Do to Care for the Animals We Love (with Marc Bekoff). San Francisco: Harper San Francisco.
• 2005: Harvest for Hope: A Guide to Mindful Eating. New York: Warner Books, Inc. Template:ISBN.
• 2009: Hope for Animals and Their World: How Endangered Species Are Being Rescued from the Brink Grand Central Publishing. Template:ISBN.
• 2013: Seeds of Hope: Wisdom and Wonder from the World of Plants (with Gail Hudson) Grand Central Publishing. Template:ISBN.
• 2021: The Book of Hope, with Douglas Abrams and Gail Hudson, Viking<ref>The New Statesman, 15–21 October 2021, p. 40, review by Philippa Nuttall</ref>

Children's books

Source:<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

• 1972: Grub: The Bush Baby (with H. van Lawick). Boston: Houghton Mifflin.
• 1988: My Life with the Chimpanzees. New York: Byron Preiss Visual Publications, Inc. Translated into French, Japanese and Chinese. Parenting's Reading-Magic Award for Outstanding Book for Children, 1989.
• 1989: The Chimpanzee Family Book Saxonville: Picture Book Studio; Munich: Neugebauer Press; London: Picture Book Studio. Translated into more than 15 languages, including Japanese and Swahili. The UNICEF Award for the best children's book of 1989. Austrian state prize for best children's book of 1990.
• 1989: Jane Goodall's Animal World: Chimps. New York: Macmillan.
• 1989: Animal Family Series: Chimpanzee Family; Lion Family; Elephant Family; Zebra Family; Giraffe Family; Baboon Family; Hyena Family; Wildebeest Family. Toronto: Madison Marketing Ltd.
• 1994: With Love, New York; London: North-South Books. Translated into German, French, Italian, and Japanese.
• 1999: Dr. White (illustrated by Julie Litty). New York: North-South Books.
• 2000: The Eagle & the Wren (illustrated by Alexander Reichstein). New York: North-South Books.
• 2001: Chimpanzees I Love: Saving Their World and Ours. New York: Scholastic Press.
• 2002: (Foreword) "Slowly, Slowly, Slowly," Said the Sloth by Eric Carle. Philomel Books.
• 2004: Rickie and Henri: A True Story (with Alan Marks). Penguin Young Readers Group.

Films

Goodall is the subject of more than 40 films:<ref name="veconomist" >Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

• 1965: Miss Goodall and the Wild Chimpanzees. National Geographic Society.
• 1973: Jane Goodall and the World of Animal Behavior: The Wild Dogs of Africa with Hugo van Lawick.
• 1975: Miss Goodall: The Hyena Story: The World of Animal Behavior Series 16mm for DiscoVision (not released on LaserDisc).<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• 1976: "Lions of the Serengeti", an episode of The World About Us on BBC2.
• 1984: Among the Wild Chimpanzees. National Geographic Special.
• 1988: People of the Forest with Hugo van Lawick.
• 1990: Chimpanzee Alert in the Nature Watch Series, Central Television.
• 1990: The Life and Legend of Jane Goodall. National Geographic Society.
• 1990: The Gombe Chimpanzees. Bavarian Television.
• 1995: Fifi's Boys for the Natural World series for the BBC.
• 1996: Chimpanzee Diary for BBC2 Animal Zone.
• 1997: Animal Minds for the BBC.
• 2000: Jane Goodall: Reason For Hope PBS special produced by KTCA.
• 2001 Template:Scientific American Frontiers
• 2002: Jane Goodall's Wild Chimpanzees (IMAX format), in collaboration with Science North.
• 2005: Jane Goodall's Return to Gombe for Animal Planet.
• 2006: Chimps, So Like Us. HBO film nominated for 1990 Academy Award.
• 2007: When Animals Talk, We Should Listen theatrical documentary feature co-produced by Animal Planet
• 2010: Jane's Journey. Theatrical documentary feature co-produced by Animal Planet.
• 2012: Chimpanzee. Theatrical nature documentary feature co-produced by Disneynature.
• 2017: Jane biographical documentary film National Geographic Studios, in association with Public Road Productions. The film is directed and written by Brett Morgen, music by Philip Glass
• 2018: Zayed's Antarctic Lights. Dr Goodall featured in the Environment Agency-Abu Dhabi film that screened on National Geographic-Abu Dhabi and won a World Medal at the New York Film and TV Awards.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• 2019: Exploring Hans Hass. Dr Jane Goodall featured in the biographical documentary film about the legendary diving pioneer and filmmaker Hans Hass.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• 2020: Jane Goodall: The Hope, biographical documentary film, National Geographic Studios, produced by Lucky 8<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• 2023: Jane Goodall: Reasons for Hope is an IMAX format documentary about successful projects to restore Earth's wildlife habitat, animals, birds and environment.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

See also

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• Dian Fossey – The trimate who studied gorillas until her murder
• Birutė Galdikas – The trimate who dedicated herself to orangutan study
• List of animal rights advocates
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• Timeline of women in science
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External links

• Profile at the Jane Goodall Institute
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