by Emma Chuo
“Some of us can say ‘bonjour’, some of us can say ‘guten morgen’, and so on. But I can say: [mimicking the cries of chimpanzees]. That’s ‘good morning’ in chimpanzee!” (Jane Goodall Canada 2025, 0:00)
Born in 1934, Dr. Jane Goodall was a British life scientist who specialized in primatology and anthropology (Fieldhouse 2025). As a young girl, she was captivated with her collection of the Dr. Dolittle books and the beauty of African wildlife as portrayed in Tarzan. And—she was equally smitten by Tarzan.
“I read Tarzan of the Apes and fell in love with him, and I was very jealous he married the wrong Jane!” (Kelly Clarkson Show 2023, 1:15)
Though she had always harbored a deep love of nature, reading about the rich biodiversity of Africa was the moment she decided: one day, she was to go to Africa and live with the apes (Appleton 2022). Today, Goodall’s famed globally for her numerous groundbreaking revolutions regarding evolutionary relationships between humans and primates, which was a product of her equally renowned twenty-year-long immersive study of chimpanzees in the Gombe Reserve of Tanzania (Appleton 2022). Goodall had achieved her childhood dream—but it was not always easy.
Beginning her research alone was difficult. As a young woman in a heavily male-dominated field, Goodall faced severe sexism in the academic space: her ambitions were doubted upon by fellow (male) scientists, and her ideas were often dismissed—most believed she would not understand the nuances of science because she was “just a girl” (Goh 2025). Furthermore, Goodall’s financial background meant that she was unable to afford to attend college and receive a degree, which further invited disputes over her scholarship and belittlement of her discoveries (Fore 2025).
Beyond logistical burdens, when Goodall was finally able to conduct her study (largely thanks to paleoanthropologist Louis Leakey who recognized her potential [Appleton 2022]), she faced resistance against her findings, too.
One such example is when she noticed that David Greybeard, the first chimpanzee to have trusted and approached her, possessed the knowledge of making tools, and was using grass stems and leafy twigs to extract termites from a nest (Falchuk and Bondesen 2025). Toolmaking, at the time, was considered a defining characteristic of humans; we were quite literally known as “man the toolmaker” (McKie 2010). Thus, Goodall’s discovery raised anthropological questions of the relationship between humans and animals, best summarized by Leakey’s famous remark: “[n]ow we must redefine ‘tool’, redefine ‘man’, or accept chimpanzees as humans.” (Schneider 2025)
Another instance that exemplifies the controversiality of Goodall’s research is when she confirmed that animals were highly sentient beings with rich emotional and social lives, contrary to the previously popular belief of behaviorism—a concept pioneered by American psychologist John Watson which stated that animals were “not driven by internal thoughts and feelings” and, rather, learn “through conditioning via environmental stimuli.” (Taylor 2025) Notably, Goodall observed Flint, a chimpanzee whose mother, Flo, passed away. Goodall noted that for five consecutive days after Flo’s death—but before Flint realized what had happened—Flint would walk to her body and lift her hand so she could groom him. Later, when flies began nesting in Flo’s ear and Flint properly registered her death, he climbed the tree they had nested together, walked it slowly as he pondered, then passed away lying beside her (Falchuk and Bondesen 2025). From this, Goodall solidified her belief that animals, like humans, could feel emotions and experience thoughts. Although this realization was originally rejected by scientists who echoed the popular opinion, “[y]ou can’t talk about [the chimpanzee’s] personality, mind capable of problem-solving, or emotions, because those are unique to us [humans]” (McKie 2010), Goodall’s research eventually proved that we are more anatomically and neurologically similar to chimpanzees than we had initially believed, ultimately challenging the notion that humans are inherently superior to animals. In this way, Goodall’s research placed humans and animals as equals, which demanded a broader reexamination of how we, as humans, relate to and treat animals.
In addition to her findings, though, Goodall’s scholarship was also greatly contested due to her methodology. One main point of contention regarded the unorthodoxy of Goodall’s long-term immersion in a natural environment to observe (chimpanzee) behavior. Such a way of deriving scientific conclusions was never-before-seen at the time and significantly contradicted the commonly held belief among the scientific community that “good science” must be defined by accurate, quantitative measures (Fieldhouse 2025). Moreover, having always felt kinship towards animals—and she often credited her childhood dog Rusty for instilling this sentiment (Falchuk and Bondesen 2025)— Goodall conducted her studies by humanizing chimpanzees. Specifically, instead of numbering chimpanzees as one conventionally would the subjects of study, Goodall named them, ascribing to them a sense of identity; instead of writing down merely objective sentences in her observations, Goodall used an anthropomorphic lexicon (including words such as “handsome” [Jane Goodall Canada 2025] or “loving” [Goodall 2018]) to illustrate the chimpanzees’ behavior, portraying their sentience. But as these methods infused empathy and emotional connection with study subjects, they were deemed highly “unscientific” (Fieldhouse 2025), incompatible with the traditional standards of “good science”, and hence unacceptable.
Yet in the face of such resistance against her scholarship, Goodall stood by her values. In fact, she felt that her research “would have had far less resonance scientifically or emotionally if [she] had just referred to the proud and confident chimp known as David Greybeard by a number, as was the usual practice.” (Schneider 2025) And indeed, she was right, because today, she is lauded as one of the most influential figures in anthropology and life sciences, recognized for her “high standards for methods and ethics in behavioral studies” (Appleton 2022) which have only been increasingly adopted since she pioneered them decades ago.
As Goodall’s research came to an end and she left Gombe, however, she did not stop advocating for animal rights and the protection of our environment. In multiple ways, even after her passing, she continues revolutionizing the way we view wildlife and nature today. Having been appointed a United Nations Messenger of Peace in 2002 (Schneider 2025), Goodall has used her platform to communicate the salience of equal, ethical treatment of animals, publicly condemning concentrated animal feeding operations (Goodall 2025) as well as politicians who deny the climate crisis’ potential effects on Earth’s wonderful biodiversity (Falchuk and Bondesen 2025). Furthermore, Goodall’s Jane Goodall Institute rehabilitates chimpanzees in Africa, while her Roots & Shoots program encourages youth across sixty countries to take even small actions in favor of the environment (Schneider 2025), because, as her research proves, with our interconnectedness, millions of small actions can accumulate into a significantly meaningful environmental effort to protect our Mother Nature.
Independently, her legacy serves as an inspiration for young girls and aspiring scientists everywhere that, despite powerful resistance, it is possible to make an impact where it matters as long as you hold the perseverance and compassion for the beings around you.
Dr. Jane Goodall sadly passed away on October 1st, 2025. (Schneider 2025) In a recent Netflix film that was released shortly after Dr. Jane Goodall’s passing, she imparts us with her final words of wisdom: “I want you to think about the fact that we are part—when we are on Planet Earth—we are part of Mother Nature; we depend on Mother Nature for clean air, for water, for food, for clothing, for everything. And as we destroy one ecosystem after another, as we create worse climate change, worse loss of diversity, we have to do everything in our power to make the world a better place for the children alive today, and for those that will follow. You have it in your power to make a difference. Don’t give up. There is a future for you. Do your best while you’re still on this beautiful Planet Earth that I look down upon from where I am now. God bless you all.” (Falchuk and Bondesen 2025)
Bibliography
Appleton, Sarah. 2022. “Jane Goodall.” National Geographic. October 24, 2022. https://education.
Falchuk, Brad, and Mikkel Bondesen, dirs. 2025. Famous Last Words: Dr. Jane Goodall. Netflix.
Fieldhouse, Rachel. 2025. “3 Ways Jane Goodall Challenged What It Means to Be a Scientist.” Scientific American. October 2, 2025. https://www.
Fore, Preston. 2025. “Jane Goodall Made a Name for Herself with No Degree, No Experience: She Got a Job as a Waitress and Saved ‘Every Penny’ on a One-Way Ticket to Africa.” Fortune. October 2, 2025. https://fortune.com/2025/10/
Goh, Amanda. 2025. “Jane Goodall Says Having ‘Nice Legs’ Helped out Early in Her Career.” Business Insider. May 22, 2025. https://www.businessinsider.
Goodall, Jane. 2018. “Dr. Jane Goodall’s Thoughts for First World Chimpanzee Day.” Jane Goodall’s Good for All News. July 14, 2018. https://news.janegoodall.org/
Goodall, Jane. 2025. “Jane Goodall: Farm Animals Are Sentient – and Often Sapient.” Jane Goodall’s Good for All News. June 3, 2025. https://news.janegoodall.org/
Jane Goodall Canada Channel. 2025. “Dr. Jane Goodall says ‘good morning’ in ‘chimpanzee’” YouTube. May 18, 2025. https://youtube.com/shorts/
Jane Goodall Canada Channel. 2025. “Dr. Jane Goodall on Observing Chimpanzees Using Tools.” YouTube. October 18, 2025. https://www.youtube.com/
Kelly Clarkson Show. 2023. “Dr. Jane Goodall Reflects On Mother's Early Support Of Her Passion For Animals” YouTube. May 2, 2023. https://youtu.be/emZunYAr2mc?
McKie, Robin. 2010. “Chimps with Everything: Jane Goodall’s 50 Years in the Jungle.” The Guardian. June 26, 2010. https://www.theguardian.com/
Schneider, Keith. 2025. “Jane Goodall, Revered Chimpanzee Expert and Conservationist, Dies at 91.” The New York Times, October 1, 2025. https://www.nytimes.com/2025/
Taylor, Ingrid. 2025. “Science and the Heart: Remembering Jane Goodall.” Trends Magazine. The American Animal Hospital Association. October 9, 2025. https://www.aaha.org/trends-
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