Jane Goodall has died

https://www.latimes.com/obituaries/story/2025-10-01/jane-goodall-chimpanzees-dead

by jaredwiener • 10 months ago

1302 174 10 months ago

latimes.com

toomuchtodo• 10 months ago

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jane_Goodall

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jane_Goodall_Institute

FireBeyond• 10 months ago

The sheer volume of a lifetime's effort in studying chimpanzees and primate behavior is huge. Her contributions are priceless.

No more will chimpanzees be able to conduct research with that tramp (https://screenrant.com/far-side-controversial-comic-strip-ja...).

bombcar• 10 months ago

When the strip ran, the Jane Goodall Institute was not amused, promptly drafting a cease and desist letter. Larson maintained he had no ill will towards Doctor Goodall. At the time of the controversy, Goodall had been out of the country, but saw the cartoon for herself when she returned–and loved it. Goodall instructed the institute to drop the issue. In the aftermath, Goodall reached out to Larson, and the two became friends; Larson even licensed the cartoon to the Institute to produce a t-shirt that was then used to raise funds. Goodall even went so far as to write a preface for one of The Far Side’s collected editions.

Good(all?) on her, it's nice to see leaders both have a sense of humor and actually lead.

thr0waway001• 10 months ago

In heaven with Koko

eej712• 10 months ago

I suspect Koko's capabilities were completely over sold.

Rendello3• 10 months ago

I was fascinated by Koko's abilities and took them at face value until I saw her famous climate change speech:

I am gorilla. I am flowers, animals. I am nature. Man Koko love. Earth Koko love. But Man stupid. Stupid! Koko sorry. Koko cry. Time hurry! Fix Earth! Help Earth! Hurry! Protect Earth. Nature see you. Thank you.

I saw that and felt like I was in crazy land. That's supposedly the kind of talking Koko's been doing this whole time?? Turns out, there was a lot of government funding into ape communication in the 70s, and when researchers figured out that apes can't meaningfully communicate, the funding dried up. Her handler, Penny Patterson, pivoted from research to PR. And how.

https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/what-does-koko-know-about-...

karmakurtisaani• 10 months ago

And Harambe.

libraryatnight• 10 months ago

I remember in grade school so many in the class being inspired by her, then as I grew up every time I encountered her on television or in print she was equally inspiring, empathetic, and informative. I will miss her.

mapmeld• 10 months ago

I really appreciated her speaking to young people, even riding the NYC subway for the first time to record "Subway Takes" last year: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CAkwo6JPV00

She also was speaking on a panel just a week ago: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Df0GWlZm3gk

diggan• 10 months ago

She was also on Spanish TV just five months ago, I was a bit surprised when she appeared there. Seems most of it is on YouTube as well (hoping it's not geo-restricted): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FE7lnl4ah9s

lomase• 10 months ago

I will add it is one of the most watched shows on prime time.

cammikebrown• 10 months ago

My friend had tickets to see her in LA this Friday.

aethrum• 10 months ago

crazy how you can just be this alive one year and then dead the next. I get 91 is old, but still

bobmcnamara• 10 months ago

People don't think it's like that but it is, for all of us, eventually.

jimbokun5• 10 months ago

That is truly a gift, to be able to be that active until almost the end of your life.

lonelyasacloud• 10 months ago

Highly rate her episode of the BBC’s The Life Scientific https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000jmsd

john-tells-all• 10 months ago

The Life Scientific is a wonderful and engaging podcast. The episodes delve into a scientist's field of study, but really bring out their human side. Hobbies, interests; scientists are people too :)

emmelaich• 10 months ago

What the hell is that stuff after 17m? https://youtu.be/CAkwo6JPV00?t=1022

rldjbpin• 10 months ago

i can still recall when she came to visit my high school to address its students many moons ago. it was quite an experience that still left a mark till this day.

she was quite an example of how anyone can impact the world while just doing what they love.

ChrisArchitect• 10 months ago

NYT obit: https://www.nytimes.com/2025/10/01/obituaries/jane-goodall-d...

noufalibrahim• 10 months ago

This is sad to hear. I saw her at a lecture about 20 years ago. I remember her passion for her subject and how elegant she was.

maxglute• 10 months ago

When I was young, not knowing who Jane Goodall was, I was dragged into lunch by event planner who showed her around Beijing, and wondered why this lady was talking about chimpanzees so much. This was the year the Nokia released Snake, I remember getting enamoured/distracted by her monkey talk and lost a near perfect snake run.

thom• 10 months ago

Sorry for your loss.

byearthithatius• 10 months ago

The snake game or her death?

butlike• 10 months ago

Well, technically apes don't have tails, monkeys do, so the chimpanzee talk would be an ape talk. Learned that from her too

onraglanroad• 10 months ago

In the same sense that "there's no such thing as a tree" or "there's no such thing as a fish", there's"no such thing as a monkey".

pinkmuffinere2• 10 months ago

"If it doesn't have a tail it's not a monkey, even if it has a monkey-kind-of shape. It if doesn't have a tail it's not a monkey; if it doesn't have a tail it's not a monkey: it's an ape."

throwaway29303• 10 months ago

Godspeed.

seper8• 10 months ago

To anyone who hasn't seen it (especially those who are fans of Philip Glass) watch this biopic: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt7207238

vixen99• 10 months ago

Jane Goodall: “My question was: How far along our human path, which has led to hatred and evil and full-scale war, have chimpanzees traveled?”

jasoneckert• 10 months ago

You don’t have to be a biologist or zoologist to appreciate what Jane Goodall brought to the world.

Her work transcended science. It touched on compassion, respect for all living beings, and a deep curiosity about the natural world that inspired generations. She didn’t just study chimpanzees; she taught us what it means to observe with empathy, to advocate with conviction, and to act with hope. Her legacy will echo for a very long time.

rampareddy• 10 months ago

Beautifully put! Her legacy will inspire generations to come.

adriand• 10 months ago

She was one of my heroes. I'm terribly saddened by this loss.

Imagine what kind of world we would live in if we put these kinds of human beings in charge instead.

jimbokun5• 10 months ago

The first nations to do so would be invaded and conquered by their more militaristic neighbors.

alsetmusic2• 10 months ago

That's sad news. She completely changed the way we thought about primate intelligence. Fun fact: she really liked the Far Side cartoon about her.

https://static0.srcdn.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2022/...

Cuuugi• 10 months ago

The full saga is humourous. from wiki.

Gary Larson cartoon incident

One of Gary Larson's Far Side cartoons shows two chimpanzees grooming. One finds a blonde human hair on the other and inquires, "Conducting a little more 'research' with that Jane Goodall tramp?"[114] Goodall herself was in Africa at the time. The Jane Goodall Institute thought the cartoon was in bad taste and had its lawyers draft a letter to Larson and his distribution syndicate in which they described the cartoon as an "atrocity". They were stymied by Goodall herself: when she returned and saw the cartoon, she stated that she found the cartoon amusing.[115]

Since then, all profits from sales of a shirt featuring this cartoon have gone to the Jane Goodall Institute. Goodall wrote a preface to The Far Side Gallery 5, detailing her version of the controversy, and the institute's letter was included next to the cartoon in the complete Far Side collection.[116] She praised Larson's creative ideas, which often compare and contrast the behaviour of humans and animals. In 1988, when Larson visited Goodall's research facility in Tanzania,[115] he was attacked by a chimpanzee named Frodo.

AdmiralAsshat2• 10 months ago

In 1988, when Larson visited Goodall's research facility in Tanzania,[115] he was attacked by a chimpanzee named Frodo.

That last sentence is missing from the Wikipedia page. What is the source on it?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Far_Side#Jane_Goodall_cart...

kulahan3• 10 months ago

Everyone's fighting for Jane Goodall but Jane Goodall apparently

ryandrake2• 10 months ago

Always amusing when a bunch of lawyers over-react to something, supposedly on their client's behalf, and then when the client finds out about it, they have to talk the lawyers out of it and tell them to chill. I've always wondered if lawyers are born without a sense of humor or if they lose it during one of the semesters of law school.

apercu• 10 months ago

And that, to all you aspiring entrepreneurs, is how you deal with shit. Please don't take your cues from our current industry and political "leaders".

Tech (and business, and politics) tends to attract a lot of people who are convinced they already know everything and who could probably benefit from a little more confidence and perspective.

That combination makes for a lot of thin-skinned bullshit. I could name names, but you all know the people I am talking about.

thaumasiotes• 10 months ago

She praised Larson's creative ideas, which often compare and contrast the behaviour of humans and animals.

I like the strip that shows a scientist who has invented an animal translator learning that what dogs are really saying is "Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey!"

alsetmusic2• 10 months ago

In 1988, when Larson visited Goodall's research facility in Tanzania,[115] he was attacked by a chimpanzee named Frodo.

This just made the whole story so much funnier. I'm really glad to have read it. Poor guy, but hilarious to read about.

cjfd• 10 months ago

I read one or maybe some (don't remember anymore) of her books about 15 or 20 years ago. Clearly a great person.

Workaccount2• 10 months ago

Wow she was just featured in an interview with the WSJ Journal podcast on Friday. Definitely worth a listen. Such a shame to hear this

inglor_cz6• 10 months ago

The gap between us and the chimpanzees is, at the same time, "tantalizingly small" and "too big".

We have learnt to communicate with them, but they also don't seem to ask questions, at least not the way that humans do.

There is obvious intelligence in their eyes and deliberation in their movements, but they seem to be content with an almost static culture. Which was also true for the Neanderthals.

What was the last subtle mutation that prodded our species onto the road of intellectual curiosity?

We still don't know.

baxtr2• 10 months ago

Maybe asking annoying questions?

inglor_cz6• 10 months ago

Maybe :)

To elaborate, there seems to be a difference between physical curiosity and intellectual curiosity.

Many mammals, especially when young, are very curious about their environment, peeking, sniffing, burrowing in the ground etc. So are human children.

But the ability to ask more abstract questions "why do the stars shine?" does seem to be limited to humans alone, and maybe not even all humans. And it is very uncertain if archaic humans had it as well.

DFHippie3• 10 months ago

For most of human history cultural change was extremely slow, so slow as to be imperceptible. I'm not sure the neanderthals experienced any less dynamic a culture than the modern humans living at the same time.

Perhaps expecting change makes change more likely. Also, when things are scarce and life is tenuous you are less likely to experiment. Why waste the resources? Why take the risk? When surplus calories became commonplace is when cultural change took off.

inglor_cz6• 10 months ago

"Also, when things are scarce and life is tenuous you are less likely to experiment. Why waste the resources? Why take the risk? When surplus calories became commonplace is when cultural change took off."

True, but not the entire picture either. From what we know, even hunters and gatherers living in inhospitable regions have a rich oral culture and extensive pantheons of gods, demigods and legendary heroes. There seems to be something in us humans that yearns for more than just calories.

AlotOfReading3• 10 months ago

I'm pretty skeptical that cultural change was meaningfully slower (except as limited by effective population sizes). Cultural change for early humans is nearly invisible in the material record. Imagine that all archaeologists of the far future find nothing from the current era except iphones without working storage. Do they indicate a unified global culture without cultural change outside WWDC?

Obviously not, even though there are aspects of a shared global culture indicated by their global distribution. Material culture is related to culture, but it's an imperfect and imprecise record. The same issue occurs with correlating culture with genetics or language.

fullstop• 10 months ago

This was ages ago when I was in college, but the theory then was the ability to walk upright freed our hands to do other things. Chimps primarily knuckle-walk, so they can't easily carry objects (food, tools, etc) from point A to point B.

bee_rider• 10 months ago

What’s this about Neanderthals?

nerpderp822• 10 months ago

So many unsubstantiated claims, you find this pattern in someone infected with exceptionalism.

inglor_cz6• 10 months ago

Ok, show me apes who unambiguously ask abstract questions.

The Neanderthal claim is what you can call unsubstantiated (so, one claim, not so many), but I would like to draw your attention to the extreme stability of the Mousterien industry. No Homo sapiens sapiens industry comes close to this level of stability.

"infected with exceptionalism"

So, we aren't exceptional at all? How do you square this rejection with the fact that you have never encountered, say, a written comment by a member of another species?

The word "infected" is very negative. I like intelligent animals, but no one except for us has, for example, as versatile hands as we do.

xeonmc• 10 months ago

    For instance, on the planet Earth, man had always assumed that he was more intelligent than dolphins because he had achieved so much -- the wheel, New York, wars and so on -- whilst all the dolphins had ever done was muck about in the water having a good time. 
    But conversely, the dolphins had always believed that they were far more intelligent than man -- for precisely the same reasons.
    
    - The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy

inglor_cz6• 10 months ago

Yeah, I read it too, but let's not take the book as a holy one.

Dolphins are plenty smart, but their absence of a material culture also leaves them exposed to various forces beyond their control.

Are dolphin moms not grieving when their baby gets eaten by killer whales?

This sort of threats is ubiquitous in nature, but almost unknown in a civilization.

True nature is brutal.

dennis_jeeves2• 10 months ago

The gap between us and the chimpanzees is, at the same time, "tantalizingly small" and "too big".

You will find a similar gap between some humans. Just saying.

cldwalker• 10 months ago

Thanks to Jane for her contributions. Some great quotes from her: "We have a choice to use the gift of our lives to make the world a better place." and “If we kill off the wild, then we are killing a part of our souls.”

ndegruchy• 10 months ago

What a phenomenal woman, scientist and activist. We could use more people like her.

Rest in peace, Jane.

revjx• 10 months ago

I saw her talk in London earlier this year. She was hilarious, eloquent, and inspiring. I found listening to her quite moving in a way I hadn't anticipated.

Remarkable woman. I feel thankful to have had the chance to just stand there and listen to her and look around at all the other rapt faces around me.

andyjohnson0• 10 months ago

Sad to read this. But also a long life well used and, I hope, well lived. As well as helping us to understand some of our companions on this planet, she helped us humans to see ourselves more clearly too.

kulahan3• 10 months ago

I think I finally kinda understand what it means when someone says they're personally touched by the loss of a celebrity. I really will miss this lady.

aiauthoritydev• 10 months ago

Sad day. Some of these folks dedicate their lives to otherwise thankless job/work with such dedication has always made me feel so positive about humanity in general I do understand when religious people do it but Goodall like people are modern day sages.

bostonpete• 10 months ago

Not sure “thankless” really applies here. She enjoyed a sort of celebrity status for the past 40-50 years and was universally loved.

pnw• 10 months ago

Sad news. She lived an amazing life. I'll never forget seeing her and Nathan Myhrvold greet each other like chimps at a book signing in Seattle.

nerpderp822• 10 months ago

You mean greet each other like a chimp and a baboon.

rmason• 10 months ago

She last appeared in Detroit at the Fisher theatre just three weeks ago. Knew some folks who attended and they raved about her one person show. Thought I might catch her next time she's there. But I didn't realize how old she was or I might have made it more of a priority. She was pretty high energy for someone in their nineties.

givehimagun• 10 months ago

I just saw her two weeks ago taping her interview for Overheard with Evan Smith. She was in top notch form and had the audience at the edge of our seats and in tears at moments. I am glad I got to go -- but I am sad the world lost Jane.

https://video.austinpbs.org/video/jane-goodall-knw3gq/

boxerab2• 10 months ago

“We cannot hide away from human population growth, because it underlies so many of the other problems. All these things we talk about wouldn’t be a problem if the world was the size of the population that there was 500 years ago.”

-- Goodall at 2002 WEF panel discussion on Amazon rainforest

The population 500 years ago was around 500 million. The only way we return to this level is de-industrialization.

Paul Ehrlich wrote "The Population Bomb" almost 60 years ago - all of his predictions turned out to be dead wrong.

nntwozz• 10 months ago

Yeah I've seen this before, we could all drive V12s and eat only beef but it's not a very meaningful insight. We're going to stabilize around 10 billion by 2080 according to projections and then decline, hopefully reaching some kind of Star Trek utopia at some point.

We came from the caves, we didn't know any better we just multiplied like a cancer. More population also brings more benefits, more geniuses more inventions etc.

The trick is doing it without wars and inequality, good luck with that.

dingnuts2• 10 months ago

hopefully reaching some kind of Star Trek utopia at some point

it is so dangerous and naive to think that utopia is possible, even if we all could agree that Star Trek is one, which we shall not, because I certainly do not think its depiction of watered down "luxury space communism with military ranks" is a desirable society.

jimbokun5• 10 months ago

We have improved a lot on eliminating wars front.

Inequality not so much but much progress has been made in eliminating abject poverty.

psunavy03• 10 months ago

Utopia literally means "no place" for a reason. We're always going to be just what we are right now . . . humans.

akavi• 10 months ago

We're going to stabilize around 10 billion by 2080 according to projections and then decline, hopefully reaching some kind of Star Trek utopia at some point.

10 billion is gonna be the high end by the looks of things, and that decline is going to be hardly conducive to utopia. The math of dependency ratios is inescapably painful.

missedthecue• 10 months ago

It's pretty clear we're not going to hit 10B

At current trends, the global population will begin actively shrinking as soon as 2040, just 15 years away.

jibal5• 10 months ago

Whatever subset of projections you're looking at seems to leave out any that take global warming into account.

dingnuts2• 10 months ago

to advocate for the death of 8 billion people is a hell of a stance. there's pro genocide and then there's... I guess this is just hating the whole species.

lIl-IIIl3• 10 months ago

I think she advocating for fewer births. The 8 billion deaths would eventually happen by themselves, most of them of old age.

michaelhoney• 10 months ago

to straw-man what someone says and then get indignant is a waste of your emotional budget

shoo• 10 months ago

here's an AP news fact check article from 2022 if anyone is curious about what Goodall actually said: https://apnews.com/article/fact-check-jane-goodall-populatio...

lIl-IIIl3• 10 months ago

Why?

jacksnipe2• 10 months ago

If I’m not mistaken, she goes on to say “but we don’t live in that world, and so we must…” and goes on to argue for policy that doesn’t neglect the poorest and least fortunate members of society.

NoMoreNicksLeft3• 10 months ago

The only way we return to this level is de-industrialization.

Unfortunately, we will return to that level. Then 25 years later, we'll be only half that number (or worse).

all of his predictions turned out to be dead wrong.

Hilariously wrong, you mean. I especially like the ones about how the UK would be filled with cannibal savages by the 1980s, because everyone would be starving.

Antibabelic• 10 months ago

Unfortunately, we will return to that level. Then 25 years later, we'll be only half that number (or worse).

What are your main reasons for thinking that?

andrepd• 10 months ago

[flagged]

boxerab2• 10 months ago

"freedom-hating vegan commie" - this is what is known as a straw man. Hopefully you will develop a little more nuance in your thinking.

archon810• 10 months ago

Oh wow, I was just listening to her interview with the WSJ The Journal podcast a few days ago. Ryan Knutson may have been her last interview.

https://pca.st/episode/a724a8f6-b269-4a86-af32-18932f1efbf2

canucker2016• 10 months ago

Listening to the podcast, I realized that Ryan Knutson and Jane Goodall were talking in front of an audience. Was there video?

a quick search and, as the french say, "Viola" :)

see https://www.wsj.com/video/is-jane-goodall-fighting-a-losing-...

bananaflag• 10 months ago

When I was 10, I was bored one day and my grandma brought me from a neighbour "In the Shadow of Man" to read, which I loved. I don't know anyone else who read that book.

The weird thing is just today I had recommended that book to a friend.

westurner2• 10 months ago

Jane Goodall was a United Nations Messenger of Peace.

Jane Goodall: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jane_Goodall

"Dr. Jane Goodall Teaches Conservation" https://www.masterclass.com/classes/jane-goodall-teaches-con...

westurner2• 10 months ago

This one is more about the "apes" (primates),

"Primatologist Answers Ape Questions From Twitter" https://youtube.com/watch?v=z4BmXSBXz-c

moshegramovsky• 10 months ago

I saw her speak once many years ago. We would all be lucky to have a life as long and impactful as hers. May her memory be a blessing / זכרונה לברכה

rvz• 10 months ago

Truly exceptional and outstanding.

RIP.

evanb• 10 months ago

If you find Jane Goodall inspirational, you may be delighted to learn about Anne Innis Dagg [0], whose studies of wild giraffe predates Goodall's study of chimps. The documentary "The Woman Who Loves Giraffes" [1] is fantastic and has 100% on Rotten Tomatoes. The reason you might not know Dagg's name is essentially that she was denied tenure for being a woman.

[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anne_Innis_Dagg

[1] https://thewomanwholovesgiraffes.com/

DirkH• 10 months ago

That was an absolutely lovely read. I did not think I would get so invested. However... I didn't know she died as well so the final sentence on her wiki article caught my off-guard :(

mkl• 10 months ago

It's stated in the first sentence.

kortilla• 10 months ago

Jane Goodall did not have tenure

zephyreon• 10 months ago

As a young person I really appreciated how she worked to connect with our generation. She was such an inspiration.

devinegan• 10 months ago

Jane came to my high school and I forged a pass to sneak in to her talk. I am not sure why every class didn't get the opportunity to see her, but I am glad I did. RIP

adidoit• 10 months ago

Sad to hear this. She was a symbol of a kinder relationship with nature. I grew up in Kenya and have many fond memories of seeing her name on the Chimpanzee sanctuary in Sweetwaters

https://www.olpejetaconservancy.org/what-we-do/conservation/...

tinyplanets• 10 months ago

I typically feel pretty disconnected when a major public figure passes away, but this one really got to me. Dr. Goodall was one of my heroes... I read a couple of her books when I was much younger and had dreams of being a primatologist.

It was so gratifying to see her turn into a global leader in conservation, compassion, and peace. I had a former supervisor who got to meet her personally at a conference on wildlife conservation in Africa several years ago (I was quite jealous)... I was fortunate to see her speak publicly though.

RIP Jane Goodall!

junon• 10 months ago

Damn. Jane Goodall was the reason I am the pro-environmentalist person I am today. Learned about her from a young age as an "easy day TV class" sort of day, and it fundamentally shaped how I viewed the world.

This is awful news, though I can't help but to feel she really did it all the right way. Happy she was a part of my timeline.

themadturk• 10 months ago

Growing up in the 1960s with access to National Geographic Magazines, Jane Goodall was one of the trio of scientists I grew up with, the others being Leakey and Jacques Cousteau. Her articles were fascinating! RIP

Communitivity• 10 months ago

A true loss for the world, the scientific community, and nature.

SLWW• 10 months ago

Mumkey Jones will not be happy to hear this

RIP Jane Goodall

jrflowers• 10 months ago

My favorite thing of hers was her documentation of the Gombe Chimpanzee War.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gombe_Chimpanzee_War

jgtor• 10 months ago

Been lucky enough to visit that park and it's a fantastic place. Take a walking tour and see the chimp groups up close.

foolserrandboy• 10 months ago

I thought she already died a few years ago I must’ve jumped universes again.

jibal5• 10 months ago

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/False_memory#Mandela_effect

orsenthil2• 10 months ago

My favorite quote of her has been.

Understanding what chimpanzees are like has made me realize that we humans are not so different from other animals as we used to think. What makes us most different is that we are far more clever than even the cleverest chimp, and we have words. We have a spoken language. We can tell stories about what happened a week or a year or a decade ago. We can plan for the future, and we can discuss things - one person's idea can grow and change as other people contribute their ideas. Great ideas become greater, problems are solved.

My Life with the Chimpanzees (1996), p. 140

orsenthil2• 10 months ago

There is a video of the chimp Wounda returning to hug Jane before the chimp's liberation. It brings tears in eyes everytime I watch that.

Rest in peace, Jane. You will be missed.

ETH_start• 10 months ago

I hope that one day aging and the growing inexorability of death as life progresses into old age ceases to be a thing. She being 91 does not negate the tragedy of her death for me.

FilosofumRex• 10 months ago

Jane Goodall and the late E.O. Willson were two great treasures of humanity. They 're leaders of a generation of scientists and public intellectuals who transcendent politics and remained faithful to the motto of great citizens - lead by example.

rnoorda• 10 months ago

Several years ago my niece dressed up as Jane Goodall for Halloween. Through a string of random connections, someone sent Jane a picture of her. She wrote my niece an incredibly nice note complimenting the costume and all its details.

For all the good Jane Goodall has done in the world, I am forever grateful that she cared enough to give a young girl a gift she can treasure forever.

hoag• 10 months ago

RIP Jane Goodall. Not to make a flippant pun but, thank you indeed for all the good you brought to all of us. By discovering humanity in our chimpanzee cousins, you helped us see the humanity in each other.

wvh• 10 months ago

Rip Jane. We need more gentle souls like her, using soft power to get stuff done instead of bullying the world and everybody in it.

mdp20214• 10 months ago

Of possible interest:

"60 Minutes" re-published a 2018 interview about Tom Mangelsen with Jane Goodall:

https://youtu.be/QSxvy0lKJTM

Also, the "Speech for History" last year:

https://youtu.be/_qnWuPHJwy4

mdp20214• 10 months ago

I was born loving animals - all kinds of animals - and she was just so supportive. To give you one example: when I was four-and-a-half years old, she took me for a holiday onto a farm in the country - a proper farm, not these terrible factory farms that we have today. So I met, for the first time, cows and pigs out in the fields, and I was given a job to collect the hens’ eggs. The hens pecked around in the farmyard, but at night they slept in these little wooden hen-houses to keep them safe from foxes. My job was to go and collect the eggs. I’d go around these little hen-houses, and if there was an egg I would put it in my basket.
But I kept asking people, “But where does the egg come out of the hen, because I can’t see a hole that big?” And nobody told me. So one day - I remember this really well - I saw a hen (she was brown) going into one of these hen-houses, and I must have thought, “Ah, she’s going to lay an egg”. So I crawled after her. Big mistake! Squawks of fear - she flew out. But now I’m on the path of discovery: I’m going to jolly well find out how this egg comes out. So I waited in an empty hen-house, and I waited for four hours. For a child of four - some of you are parents - that’s a lot of patience. My mother was about to call the police; nobody knew where I was. And then she sees this excited little girl rushing towards the house, because I had seen how a hen lays an egg and where the egg comes out. I don’t know who was more excited - me or the hen. Anyway, so she sat down to hear this wonderful story of how a hen lays an egg.
I tell that story because isn’t that the making of a little scientist? Curiosity, asking questions, not getting the right answer, deciding to find out for yourself, making a mistake, not giving up, and learning patience - it was all there.

(From the "Speech for History".)

stavarotti• 10 months ago

Such a wonderful soul. Few people have left an impression on me these many years later. I hope she's done the same for many here.

Jane Goodall has died

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