Jane Goodall and baby chimpanzee Flint in Gombe, Tanzania. Flint, the first baby chimpanzee born after Jane's arrival, provided her with a rare opportunity to study animal development, although physical contact with wild chimpanzees is currently considered unethical. (Image: National Geographic Creative/Hugo van Lawick)
When Jane Goodall stepped off a boat in what is now Gombe National Park in Tanzania on July 14, 1960, she began a journey that would change science forever.
Armed with a notebook and binoculars, Goodall positioned herself away from the chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) she'd been sent to observe and gradually gained their trust. Thanks to this patience, the chimpanzees were able to “habituate”—the process by which wild animals become accustomed to human presence to the point where they begin to behave normally.
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Toolmaker Chimpanzee
A chimpanzee catches ants with a stick in Mahale Mountains National Park, Tanzania.
Goodall's first revolutionary discovery was that humans weren't alone in creating and using tools. In October 1960, she observed David Greybeard—a high-ranking adult male who was the first to relax in her presence—poking a stick into a termite mound to dislodge its inhabitants.
Until then, scientists had assumed that only humans possessed the brainpower for such behavior. “It is in toolmaking that man is unique,” wrote Kenneth Oakley, a 20th-century anthropologist and paleontologist, at a conference held at the Natural History Museum in London in 1947. “The working of sticks and stones for specific purposes was the first recognizable human activity,” he said.
The study of tool use in chimpanzees and animals in general is currently a rapidly developing field of research. Chimpanzees throughout Africa are known to catch termites, and West African chimpanzees are experts at using stones to crack hard nut shells. Primatologists now regularly observe chimpanzees using tools to understand how hominins may have accomplished similar tasks, including termite catching.
Every man for himself
Jane Goodall with a young chimpanzee during a visit to the Uganda Wildlife Education Centre in 2018.
Goodall challenged conventional wisdom by giving each member of the Kasakela chimpanzee community a name, such as Flo, Fifi, and Goliath, rather than a number. She also observed that each member had a distinct personality: for example, David Greybeard was very gentle, while Frodo was a notorious bully.
Thanks to Goodall, the discovery of individual differences in chimpanzee behavior and cognition is no longer surprising, but this discovery paved the way for a wave of research into how personality influences behavior. This is important because behavioral differences can have significant evolutionary consequences, especially if they affect the ability to survive and reproduce—a key principle of evolution by natural selection.
Mother-child relationship
An orphaned female chimpanzee holds the hand of a male chimpanzee at Sweetwater Game Reserve, Kenya.
The birth of Flint in the early 1960s gave Goodall the opportunity to observe mothers caring for their newborns. Every interaction she witnessed was a new scientific discovery.
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For example, Goodall observed that as infants grew older, mothers began to actively wean their young, depriving them of the opportunity to nurse and rejecting attempts to ride on their backs, while simultaneously exposing their infants to increasing amounts of social interaction.
Scientists now know that mothers play a crucial role during periods of learning complex skills, such as tool use. A 2019 study published in the journal PNAS found that chimpanzee mothers in the Republic of Congo may even actively teach their young how to catch termites by passing on their own sticks.
I'll be there for you
A wild chimpanzee surrounded by foliage in Kibale Forest, Uganda.
Beyond the mother-infant bond, Goodall also observed that chimpanzees form strong, long-term bonds with their family and other group members. Studies have shown that individual chimpanzees form close bonds with members of other sexes and ranks and share food with their peers.
Moreover, primatologists now know that chimpanzees possess exceptional social memory that complements these bonds. A 2023 study published in the journal PNAS found that chimpanzees recognize their former group mates nearly three decades after they last saw each other.
Goodall's discovery thus provided a key to understanding the previously unknown social lives of our closest living relatives and shed light on what these relationships can teach us about human social and cultural evolution.
For example, these close relationships and the resulting social tolerance they foster are the foundation of learning in chimpanzees, as they adopt a wide range of behaviors from other individuals. Furthermore, it has been argued that tolerance for conspecifics is a fundamental factor in the evolution of toolmaking and use in primates, including hominins.
The taste of blood
A chimpanzee calls out to members of its troop in a Ugandan rainforest.
Goodall's stay at Gombe also revealed that chimpanzees are not vegetarians, as previously thought. In fact, they are omnivorous and actively hunt for meat. Red colobus monkeys (genus Piliocolobus) are the primary prey for the Kasakela community, but it is now known that chimpanzees hunt a wide range of species across Africa.
For example, chimpanzees in Uganda hunt duikers, a type of antelope, and Fongoli chimpanzees in Senegal make spears to hunt bushbabies.
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Goodall also discovered violence between members of different groups, a discovery that paved the way for extensive research on chimpanzee boundary patrolling, group-level cooperation, and reconciliation behavior.
We now know that oxytocin, the attachment hormone, is involved in post-conflict reconciliation, indicating its importance not only for building relationships but also for restoring them.
Sophie Berdugo, Social Link Navigator, Live Science Contributor
Sophie is a UK-based staff writer for Live Science. She covers a wide range of topics, having previously covered research ranging from bonobo communication to the first water in the universe. Her work has also appeared in publications such as New Scientist, The Observer, and BBC Wildlife, and her freelance work for New Scientist was shortlisted for the 2025 Association of British Science Journalists' Newcomer of the Year Award. Before becoming a science journalist, she earned a PhD in evolutionary anthropology from Oxford University, where she spent four years studying why some chimpanzees are better tool users than others.
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