Gombe Stream National Park

Social grooming of chimps observed in Gombe NP

Without college training directing her research, Goodall observed things that strict scientific doctrines may have overlooked.[4] Instead of numbering the chimpanzees she observed, she gave them names such as Fifi and David Greybeard, and observed them to have unique and individual personalities, an unconventional idea at the time.[4] She found that "it isn’t only human beings who have personality, who are capable of rational thought [and] emotions like joy and sorrow".[4] She also observed behaviours such as hugs, kisses, pats on the back, and even tickling, what people consider identifiable human actions.[4] Goodall insists 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.”[4] These findings suggest similarities between humans and chimpanzees exist in more than genes alone but can be seen in emotion, intelligence, and family and social relationships.

Goodall’s research at Gombe is best known to the scientific community for challenging two long-standing beliefs of the day: that only humans could construct and use tools, and that chimpanzees were passive vegetarians.[4] 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.[9] The chimps would also take twigs from trees and strip off the leaves to make the twig more effective, a form of object modification which is the rudimentary beginnings of toolmaking.[9] Humans had long distinguished ourselves from the rest of the animal kingdom as "Man the Toolmaker". In response to Goodall’s revolutionary findings, Louis Leakey wrote, "We must now redefine man, redefine tool, or accept chimpanzees as human!"[9] Over the course of her study, Goodall found evidence of mental traits in chimpanzees such as reasoned thought, abstraction, generalization, symbolic representation, and even the concept of self, all previously thought to be uniquely human abilities.[10]

Hunting chimp with prey

In contrast to the peaceful and affectionate behaviours she observed, Goodall also found an aggressive side of chimp nature at Gombe. She discovered that chimps will systematically hunt and eat smaller primates, such as colobus monkeys.[4] 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.[10] The others then each took parts of the carcass, sharing with other members of the troop in response to begging behaviours.[10] The chimps at Gombe kill and eat as much as one-third of the colobus population in the park each year.[4] This alone was a major scientific find which challenged previous conceptions of chimp diet and behaviour.

But perhaps more startling, and disturbing, was the tendency for aggression and violence within chimpanzee troops. Goodall observed dominant females deliberately killing the young of other females in the troop in order to maintain their dominance,[4] sometimes going so far as cannibalism.[9] She says 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.”[9] These findings revolutionized contemporary knowledge of chimpanzee diet and feeding behaviours, and were further evidence of the social similarities between humans and chimpanzees, albeit in a much darker manner.

Feeding station where Jane Goodall used to feed the chimps

Goodall lived at Gombe almost full-time for fifteen years and the long-term data she accumulated is still of value to scientists today.[4] In 1967, the Gombe Stream Research Centre (GSRC) was established to coordinate ongoing chimpanzee research in the park.[3] Run mostly by a team of trained Tanzanians, the GSRC is the longest-running field study of an animal species in their natural surroundings, now over 60 years.[3][11] This long-term data has provided scientists with insight into chimpanzee demographic patterns, male politics, hunting, culture and mother-infant relationships over multiple generations—rare and valuable data.[3] The ongoing research is also providing information on the current threats to chimpanzees, such as disease, poaching, and habitat disturbance, which affect other species at Gombe as well.[12] The research of Goodall has also drastically changed ethological thinking and how behavioural studies are conducted.[8] Where once talk of animal emotion was dismissed as anthropomorphism, her observations of animals in their natural habitat show that societies, behaviour, and relationships between animals are quite complex.[8] Her research of chimpanzee habitat (food and other requirements) also aid in improved design for new protected areas.[12] The GSRC also conducts research on the baboon population, led by the Jane Goodall Center for Primate Studies.[13] Research from the GSRC has resulted in 35 Ph.D. theses, over 400 papers and 30 books.[3]