The Legacy of Primatologist Jane Goodall
In October 2025, primatologist Jane Goodall died peacefully in her sleep, age 91. This unassuming and quiet beautiful woman had no ego, yet has left a legacy that has helped not just wild chimpanzees, but animals across the world.
Jane was born in London, but grew up in Bournemouth (her father was a racing driver, her mother a novelist). Always fascinated by nature, she enjoyed reading animals and watching birds, and had a toy chimp named Jubilee on her bed, a daily reminder of her dream to work with wild apes later in life.
After working as a secretary and waitress to save a ticket, she visited Kenya in 1957, and met archaeologist Louis Leakey, who sent her to what became Gombe Stream National Park in Tanzania. Her observations led to her becoming the world’s foremost expert on wild chimpanzees.
Jane her team rescued Wounda from the illegal wildlife trade, then released her to her natural forest home (she’s thriving, with a daughter of her own). Just before going off to her new life, she gives a big hug to Jane, it’s the most heart-warming video you’ll ever see!
Childhood Dreams to African Adventures
Jane’s most famous finding was when she observed a chimpanzee using a twig, to fish termites from a mound, and stripping leaves, to make the tool work better. Before that, people thought only humans could make tools.
She also discovered that chimps shared many human traits like grief, family bonds, grooming and even arguments and conflict. This led to beliefs that our differences were far less than previously thought. And her findings have caused many to switch donations to animal-testing medical charities to humane medical research.
Jane’s Lasting Conservation Legacy
By the late 1970s, an older Jane was spending less time in the field, and instead speaking to others to build empathy for all creatures on earth. This resulted in creating the Jane Goodall Institute which even after her death, works on many projects worldwide, including:
- Mandrill rehabilitation and release
- Stopping illegal wildlife trafficking and crime
- Restoring wildlife habitats
- Funding eco fuel stoves (to stop deforestation)
- Caring for rescued captive apes (not in zoos)
- Snare removal
- Agroforestry
- Sustainable coffee production
You can donate anonymously with a Charities Aid Foundation account (personal or business use) or list Jane Goodall Institute as your cause as easyfundraising (anytime you buy things with listed companies, they donate a portion to the charity, at no cost to you). Or donate unwanted shares.
Inspiring Young People Through Roots & Shoots
Roots & Shoots is Jane’s worldwide network for youth, to look after the planet and animals. Teachers can download free educational resources, and youngsters can access the My Local Area hub to focus on actions in your community (including environmental mapping and rubbish charts that impact local wildlife).
I hate hearing that ‘we’ve borrowed the Earth from our children’, because it’s a lie. We’ve not borrowed, we have been stealing. We’ve mad so many mistakes and it’s not the young people’s job to put it right. We have to work with them to fix it. We’re holding your hand, so that together we can make it better. Jane Goodall
Cheeky Chimp Ale!
When you’re next buying booze, considering Cheeky Chimp Ale, this brew from Fauna Brewing uses profits to help wild chimp welfare. Jane would raise a glass to you!
Wise Wisdom from Jane Goodall
The least I can do is speak out for chimpanzees who sit hunched, miserable and without hope, staring out with dead eyes from their metal prisons. They cannot speak for themselves.
My mission is to create a world where we can live in harmony with nature. And can I do that alone? No. So there is a whole army of youth that can do it. So I suppose my mission is to reach as many of those young people as I can, through my own efforts.
The biggest problem we have as environmental activists, is to fight the power of money.
I don’t have any idea of who or what God is. But I do believe in some great spiritual power. I feel it particularly, when I’m out in nature. It’s just something that’s bigger and stronger than what I am, or what anybody is. I feel it. And it’s enough for me.
Dr Lily (the world’s top animal conservationist?)
Instead of focusing on awful images and upsetting stories (which undercover investigators heroically do), it’s better to focus on good news stories for the general public, to inspire to prevent wildlife crime. And in 2025, Dr Lily-Arison René de Roland (what a great name!) won the world’s top animal conservation award. So let’s meet him, and find out what he did to win!
René is Madagascar’s director of The Peregrine Fund, a U.S.-based non-profit. He started out studying local raptors, and now has mentored over 100 students and a team of almost 50 conservationists.
He led his team in rediscovering a rare pochard duck (believed to have been extinct) and also has helped to discover two new species of lemur. Along with a small songbird, that had not been observed in the wild for over 20 years. He’s even had a newly discovered ‘wolf spider’ after him!
Not just about finding new species, he is protecting their habitats. He helped to create four nationally protected areas of rainforests, dry forests, wetlands, mangroves and savannas, covering over 1500 square miles.
Madagascar’s Conservation Model
Madagascar (the fourth largest island on earth) is one of the most fascinating places on earth for wildlife. 90% of all creatures are found nowhere on earth, so it pays that the locals want to keep their wildlife. People here literally revere their wildlife (unlike in England, where planners don’t take into account the needs of newts, hedgehogs or beavers).
Community groups in Madagascar have taken action, to drop deforestation by half, and this has ended with sacred forests remaining intact. It’s illegal to fish in lakes that are home to endangered fish or marine creatures.
Lesson for England from Madagascar
Our rare mammals, birds and insects need connected landscapes. Wildlife corridors, hedgerows and rivers need to be maintained, so that creatures like endangered hedgehogs can travel from hedge to hedge at night, to find food and shelter. The lack of natural spaces is why so many end up on our roads, and get killed. ‘Hedge’ hog – the clue’s in the name.
Another lesson that Madagascar can teach is that ecotourism is big business, and does far more good than slamming bored species in zoos, for children to go gawp at. There are few conservation benefits to zoos ((endangered species are being saved in wild habitats by excellent organisations).
What’s far better is to encourage wonder for wild spaces. The Conservation Volunteers run weekend volunteering expeditions, you can save nature and wildlife, make new friends and learn new skills – tea and biscuits included!
Did you know that vanilla is the world’s favourite food flavour? The best type is from Madagascar. Never use ‘fake vanilla’, even if it’s cheaper. Not only does it taste vile, but often is made from a secretion from beavers (the same that’s used in some perfumes – castoreum).
