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Remembering Jane Goodall – a true friend of the gorillas
Dr Jane Goodall, the visionary primatologist and tireless environmental campaigner, has died at the age of 91.
Her groundbreaking work with chimpanzees transformed humanity’s understanding of their behaviour and, above all, their intelligence. But she was also a champion of her fellow primatologists, not least her peer Dian Fossey, who blazed a similarly important trail in the field of gorilla research and conservation.
Goodall and Fossey were two-third of a group of pioneering women researchers who came to be known as the “Trimates”. In the late 1950s, Goodall began her field work researching the chimpanzees of Tanzania, while Fossey set off to Rwanda to study its mysterious mountain gorillas (their colleague Birute Galdikas would later go on to study the orangutans of Borneo). Tragically, Fossey was murdered in the field in 1978, before she could achieve the scientific adulation that came Goodall’s way.
Jane Goodall and Dian Fossey: Conservation pioneers
In 2010, the Gorilla Organization published a collection of Dian Fossey’s letters from the field, alongside photos by Bob Campbell. Goodall generously agreed to pen the foreword, making clear the lasting bond between the two women. Here, Goodall paid tribute to her “dear friend and colleague” who, through these previously unpublished letters, made clear her deep passion for gorillas. The two would occasionally take different approaches to their work. However, they were united by a determination to shake up the scientific consensus, and to see great apes as individuals, with elevated intelligence, emotions and complex societies. Fossey would get up-close to the gorillas she studied, communicating with them through grunts and chest beatings. Goodall, meanwhile, gained the trust of chimpanzees through mimicking their behaviour. Both women also broke convention by giving their study subjects names rather than numbers, highlighting their shared affection for the great apes.
Beyond her scientific achievements, Goodall became a leading global advocate for wildlife protection and environmental stewardship. She founded the Jane Goodall Institute in 1977, which has worked to protect great apes and their habitats in Africa and beyond. Her Roots & Shoots programme, launched in 1991, has inspired millions of young people around the world to take action for people, animals, and the environment. For her work, she was honoured with numerous awards, including Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire (DBE), the French Legion of Honour, and the Templeton Prize Her books, lectures, and tireless advocacy brought the wonders of the natural world to a broad public audience.
The world has lost a scientific icon and a true humanitarian. But just like Dian Fossey before her, Goodall’s spirit lives on in the forests she loved, the great apes she studied, and the countless people she inspired.
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