Five Things That Dr. Jane Goodall Taught Us

Dr. Jane Goodall, pioneering primatologist , with a chimpanzee.

October

/ 2025

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Like countless others, I had known about Dr. Jane Goodall since childhood. I watched her on TV, read about her and read her articles. She was someone you could trust; she was saving chimps and making huge discoveries in Africa. She was working for the common good – even a child sensed her purity. She was the epitome of a compassionate hero. She wrote lots of books and encouraged humankind to live wisely, care for animals, nature and each other, go plant-based and be mindful.

When she died recently, it was a shock, as if a close friend had gone, as if a light house had gone dim. On her compassionate quest, she had led the way to the best of living and the best of thought, who took you out of yourself and the trivial plane. It started with her childhood love of animals and all the books she read; and continued with meeting Mary & Dr. Louis Leaky and befriending the chimp at Gombe in Tanzania she named David Greybeard.

And now Jane is gone - but what a life and legacy. She had faith and a huge mission. She never gave up and rarely fell into despair. In her last talk (now on Netflix), she asked us to get involved, that we matter and what we do matters. We have choices…

Some years ago, I was teaching at Rutgers University where she gave a presentation to a huge audience. Afterwards, I met her briefly. Even with others crowding around her, she was kind and gentle and answered questions she had answered countless times. She traveled something like 300 days per year. I also met her at Omega Institute in Rhinebeck, NY, where she was speaking at a conference with other luminaries. It was one of those beautiful experiences where you seem to learn enough for a lifetime. Then I got a surprise when I happened to be sitting next to her on the lawn. She had a lovely English accent and smiled at me, and I was glad that she remembered me. She was one of those special approachable heroes who never let you down.

A few weeks later I interviewed her over the phone. I still wonder why I never tried to meet her or speak to her again. 300 days a year of travel - she had enough on her plate. I guess I thought she was going to live forever. In some sense, she does.

Dr. Jane Goodall in Gombe National Park. (Simon Fraser University/CC BY 2.0)

Five Things that Dr. Jane Goodall Taught US

1.) "I loved Kipling's Jungle Book. I loved visiting zoos and seeing the animals - but I really wanted to see the animals in the wild. My dog Rusty taught me that animals have minds and personalities. And my mother said if you really want something, if you really want to go to Africa, you will find a way" (Dr. Jane Goodall in our interview).

As most of us know, Jane loved talking about her upbringing: family, pets, exploring nature and more. She had a beloved dog, Rusty, as well as a pony and tortoise. She visited the library often and read all sorts of books about animals. All of this helped set the course for her future: saving chimps and their habitat, saving the planet, being mindful and compassionate. (But it was not always easy. She was just a kid during the lean and dangerous times of World War II when the Nazis dropped bombs on England.)

When I think of her childhood and her incredible journey, the words "authenticity" and "vision" pop up. It is The Good Life based not on ego but on serving others and bringing light to the shadowy areas of life. The Swiss German psychologist, Carl Jung called this individuation or wholeness. In Jung's words, "The privilege of a lifetime is to become who you truly are."

Self-realization, living out your story. An inspired life. Service to the Tree of Life. She became who she was at an early age and kept to it. An old soul.

2.) "Louis Leakey wanted an unbiased mind. He also wanted someone who was patient and enthusiastic about studying the chimps in their natural habitat" (from our interview.)

Throughout her youth, Jane continued her studies on animals and nature. Her mother believed that secretarial school would open doors, so Jane became a terrific secretary – it would prove to be quite fortunate. She saved money from various jobs. But her dream was to visit Africa. In 1957, she was just 23 when, as luck would have it, she got the chance to visit a friend who was staying with her family in Kenya. Then luck truly blossomed: she met Dr. Louis and Mary Leakey, famed paleoanthropologists-archaeologists who did ground-breaking work on early humans. Louis, who was curator of the Coryndon Museum, was very impressed with Jane and hired her as his secretary – and that was just the start of it.

Let's borrow something from Joseph Campbell, mythologist and seminal revealer of the hero. Campbell believed that the hero gets a call to adventure and that refusing the call leads to a life that will dry up. Jane welcomed the call. It's easy to refuse the call when we're young – or at any age, but it's an important thing to keep in mind when opportunity knocks. Her inspirations and call to adventure can help us see the way forward.

Chimpanzee, similar to those Jane Goodall studied at Gombe. (Thomas Lersch/CC BY-SA 3.0)

3.) "It is my long days, months, and years in the forest of Gombe that help me to keep calm in the midst of chaos, for I carry the peace within me. (Reason for Hope: A Spiritual Journey 268).

In July 1960, Jane (aged 26), her mom Vanne and the cook Dominic arrived by boat to Gombe Stream Chimpanzee Reserve (now Gombe National Park). There were many challenges – Jane caught malaria to name one – but they settled in, and she began her research in this mysterious world. It was slow-going, but her mother proved to be very encouraging.

After much effort and disappointment, finally she met a dominant male chimp. Chimps are shorter than humans, but they are very strong and potentially dangerous. She met and named a kindly chimp David Greybeard, which was in itself a radical gesture in the scientific establishment, which used numbers, not names, for their subjects. Jane didn't see it that way. (Later on, at the University of Cambridge where she received a Ph.D. in ethology (a branch of zoology) in 1965, the professors tried to correct her. In the end she won out.)

Soon Jane made discoveries that helped create a new consciousness, a new paradigm, making news around the world. She saw David Greybeard sticking blades of grass into holes to fish for termites. Toolmaking! Dr. Louis Leakey wrote: "Now we must redefine 'tool,' redefine 'man,' or accept chimpanzees as humans." Scientists were now compelled to reevaluate the capabilities of chimps and what it means to be human.

She also saw chimps hunting monkeys and other creatures. It had always been thought that chimps were vegetarian. She believed that chimps, like humans, were mostly peaceful but could become very violent. She also said that the facial gestures that chimps make show how similar they are to humans. Chimps kiss and hug and form close friendships. Jane also befriended Flo (the matriarch) and her family. Flint, a young male, really loved his mother Flo. When Flo died Flint fell into depression, grew weak and died.

How similar are chimps and humans? They share around 98% of their DNA with humans. It's a long story…

4.) Saving Chimps, Saving the Planet

In 1977, Jane founded the Jane Goodall Institute (JGI) which supports research at Gombe and supports communities and conservation in Africa and elsewhere. It works to empower people and communities to protect animals, nature and people. An offshoot of JGI is Roots and Shoots. In 1991 Roots and Shoots was born in Tanzania after a group of students met with Goodall to discuss their concerns.

According to the Roots and Shoots website:

Dr. Jane believes that every individual can make a difference and that today's young people are some of the most compassionate, creative, change-makers our world has ever seen. Young people driven to take action are one of her reasons for hope, which is why she created the Jane Goodall Institute's Roots & Shoots program in order to empower and encourage youth of all ages to pursue their passion, mobilize their peers, and become the compassionate citizens and leaders our world needs in order to ensure a better future for people, other animals, and the environment.

Focused on respect and compassion-based living, Roots and Shoots is located in over 75 countries and all 50 states in USA.

Two young chimpanzees are playing together in the Gombe National Park in Tanzania, at the banks of Lake Tanganyika. Here, Jane Goodall spent many years researching the behavior of chimpanzees in the wild. (Cethuyghe/CC BY-SA 4.0)

5.) "I chose to eat plant-based all those years ago. I continue to ask people to consider what this choice really means on a moral and practical level for animals and the environment. It is the choice to change our individual lives, which will in turn have enormous benefits for all of humanity and all of the other living creatures we share our home with." (Jane Goodall's Good For All News; April 28, 2017).

Jane turned vegetarian when she was around 21 – and later went vegan. The main reasons are compassion, environmentalism and climate change. She hated factory farms and animal experimentation and worked hard to call attention to these horrors.

For most of recorded history, humans have mostly been plant-based – not necessarily vegetarian but mostly plant-based. For most of human history, there wasn't a Green Revolution, pesticides, hormones and such.

Jane is part of a long tradition of vegetarianism going back to ancient India and other places. In Greece, Pythagoras was vegetarian – Socrates and Plato might have been too. (An archaeology discovery making the rounds over the last few years is that the main diet for Roman gladiators was beans!) Famous vegetarians is a list that would be too long, but would include Lonardo da Vinci, Leo Tolstoy, George Barnard Shaw, Gandhi and a host of others in the in the 20th century and in the new century – Fred Rogers, Paul McCartney, Al Gore, Venus Williams, Alex Baldwin, Woody Harrelson, Alicia Silverstone, Jessica Chastain, Natalie Portman, Miley Cyrus, Usha Vance and many others whether, famous or not. The Game Changers is a documentary about topnotch vegetarian athletes.

Vegetarianism is growing around the world. There are a number of countries around 10% vegetarian, such as Finland, Taiwan and England, with India being around one third.

Jane Goodall was one of the great beings and leading scientists. Fortified by her childhood, a kind family (especially her wise mom), animal friends, explorations outside and constant reading, she had an early calling. This led to her travel to Africa, working with chimps in Tanzania, focus on environmentalism and community, diet and compassion. On a number of paths, she will continue to inspire us.

In Famous Last Words now on Netflix, Dr. Jane Goodall tells us, "You get to choose the difference that you make… We are part of the natural world."

Top image: Dr. Jane Goodall, pioneering primatologist and conservationist who revolutionized our understanding of chimpanzees and dedicated her life to protecting animals and the environment. Source: Public Domain

By Richard Marranca, Ph.D.