By Aline Vandergoten Pelayo
On 1st of October 2025, the world lost a revolutionary primatologist, anthropologist and activist, Valerie Jane Morris Goodall. She created a bridge between the natural world and humans, which forever changed how animals and homo sapiens are regarded.
Born in 1934 in London, Goodall knew she wanted to go to Africa to study the wild animals that resided there. In 1960 she travelled to Tanganyika (modern-day Tanzania) with her mother, Vanne Morris Goodall. There, she met Dr Louis Leakey, who worked in the Natural History Museum and offered her the opportunity to live with chimpanzees in the Gombe Stream Game Reserve. She spent four months in the forest, observing both large and small creatures, from leopards to dung beetles. Around this time, Goodall became vegetarian and later transitioned to a vegan diet for ethical reasons. She maintained this diet until the end of her life.
When Goodall found the wild chimpanzees, she gave them bananas and began the “Banana Club” – a feeding method to gain the chimps’ trust. She specifically observed two chimps, David Greybeard and Goliath, creating tools from grass stalks to aid their extraction of termites from the soil. She also witnessed chimps attacking, killing and eating a red colobus monkey that had climbed high into a tree. These discoveries challenged the existing belief that Homo Sapiens were the only toolmakers and that chimps were vegetarians. Through her groundbreaking work, chimpanzees were recognised for their likeness to humans. Goodall redefined the meaning of humanity by breaking the human-animal divide. Her work also promoted the protection of chimpanzees and inspired further research into human evolution. Leakey famously said, “Now we must redefine ‘tool,’ redefine ‘man,’ or accept chimpanzees as humans.” Goodall became a pioneering woman in science.
After these discoveries, the National Geographic arrived in Tanganyika and published a cover story titled “My Life Among the Wild Chimpanzees”, describing Goodall as a “courageous young British scientist”. Along with the money for Goodall to continue her research, the National Geographic sent a film maker, Hugo van Lawick, who later became Goodall’s husband. This propelled her iconic rise to fame, though she remained calm and composed demeanour throughout her life. At the time, people believed her popularity contradicted her scientific seriousness, but Goodall once again proved stereotypes wrong. She showed that science was for all genders and ages, and forever changed the face of the field.
In 1962, Goodall entered Cambridge University as a doctoral candidate in ethology (a branch of zoology focusing on animal behaviour), an exceptional achievement given that she had not previously attended university. In 1966, she earned her PhD. Together with her husband, they had a son in 1967, also named Hugo Eric Louis, lovingly known as “Grub”. However, Goodall and van Lawick divorced in 1974, as van Lawick went to the Serengeti to continue film making while Goodall remained in Gombe. She described van Lawick as “always wanted to be out there with them [the chimpanzees]”, and stated that their relationship “ended gradually”.
In 1977, Goodall co-founded the Jane Goodall Institute for Wildlife Research, Education and Conservation to promote research, protection and education related to chimpanzees and the environment. The centre was first established in California, but was later moved around Washington D.C. Roots & Shoots was another initiative founded by Goodall and students in Tanzania in 1991 — a youth service program aiming to empower young people to create practical solutions to global challenges.
Goodall received more than 50 honorary degrees, was named a UN Messenger of Peace in 2002 and became Dame Jane Goodall in 2004. She also wrote several books throughout her lifetime, including In the Shadow of Man and The Book of Hope, and hosted a podcast “Hopecast” to spread her message with wider audiences. She was determined in her efforts to show her passion towards animals and the natural world, and her love for it was contagious.
Goodall knew that she was placed on this planet for protecting and giving a voice to the environment; her mission was for people “to understand that we are part of the natural world”. Jane Goodall reminds us of the importance of speaking up for animals and the planet.
“Every single day you live, you make a difference in the world, and you get to choose the difference that you make.” Jane Goodall