‘She was always hungry for knowledge’: Tributes pour in for Jane Goodall

On Wednesday, Goodall — the champion of chimps — breathed her last at the age of 91. For over six decades, her work stood at the intersection of science, compassion and activism, influencing generations of researchers, conservationists and young people — from the forests of Africa to research institutes in India. Primatologists in the country said she leaves behind a legacy, one that ensures future conservationists and primatologists view primates no longer as species or groups — but unique individuals with differing behaviour and characteristics.

Over the years, Sinha met Goodall multiple times over the years and even invited her to speak at NIAS. “She made people aware and sensitive not just to the plight of the chimpanzees, but the natural world as a whole. She highlighted the damage urbanisation had done to wildlife. Secondly, she made us realise primates were individuals that were unique beings. She made us conscious to not club species, but look at them as individuals,” Sinha said, stating the third key contribution — which she was initially criticised about, was that she was not a “hardcore” scientist. “She was not a quantitative ecologist and she did not strictly adhere to ecological methods, however she would carry out ethnography, which is done for humans but not animals. This, initially criticised, is an extremely important aspect now often used by primatologists for different species,” he said.

Goodall began her fieldwork in 1960 at Gombe in Tanzania, when she was considered an “outsider” to science. Her detailed observations there revealed how chimpanzees shaped and used tools, hunting cooperatively, and displaying emotions once thought to be uniquely human. The findings forced a rethink of what it meant to be human and set a new benchmark for studying animal behaviour, inspiring several primatologists across the world subsequently, including Mewa Singh, the well-known Indian primatologist, who has been studying primates since 1973.

“Goodall was an inspiration, not just for her research, but the fact that she had no formal training or had studied primates, but was still able to discover so much about them,” Singh told HT. “I met her several times over the years, with my first interaction with her taking place in 1983. We also spent time together, sharing knowledge in Chicago,” he said.

He said that her book In the Shadow of Man and subsequent research papers confirmed what was only a myth — that chimpanzees indeed used tools like humans. “They would use sticks, including for termite fishing. The chimpanzees would put saliva first and then dip them in insect holes, something Goodall discovered by observing them over her time in Gombe,” said Singh, stating Goodall would travel often to share her views on conservation, including multiple lectures that were delivered by her in Mumbai and Delhi.

In 1977, she founded the Jane Goodall Institute (JGI) and built a global conservation network, championing habitat protection, animal welfare and grassroots environmental action. India has its own wing, called the Jane Goodall Institute India (JGII). From the 1980s, her focus shifted to conservation as a whole, marking several trips to countries to educate youngsters and institutions on the need for better protection of all species.

Across her six decades of work, Jane was the recipient of numerous accolades. She was honoured as a Dame of the British Empire and also appointed a UN Messenger of Peace, among multiple awards.

In 1991, she started ‘Roots & Shoots’ — a youth-led initiative to empower youngsters to work on projects for the environment animals. This initiative began with a small group of Tanzanian students and grew into a worldwide movement across more than 100 countries.

Wildlife experts said Goodall also travelled constantly, often spending most of the year on the road, speaking at universities, schools and international forums. In her later years, she became a fixture at climate summits and biodiversity conferences, urging governments and corporations to commit to ecological responsibility.

Narayan Sharma, assistant professor at the Department of Environmental Biology and Wildlife Sciences at Cotton University, Guwahati, said Goodall was known to travel over 300 days a year to spread the message of wildlife conservation. “I had the privilege of meeting her in Japan in 2010, but she would often visit India too and through her talks, inspire the next generation. Despite seeing the destruction of habitat and species, she remained optimistic and would ask other primatologists to do the same. She said humans had caused this damage so far and thus, humans only could reverse it and save the remaining individuals and species,” Sharma added.

In 2024, Goodall visited Mumbai as part of her Hope Tour, delivering multiple lectures; opening an exhibition on her life at the Museum of Solutions and also planting an Ashoka tree to symbolise resilience and hope.

Ishika Ramakrishna, who has been studying primates for 10 years now and is doing a PHD on the behaviour of the western hoolock gibbon at Centre for Wildlife Studies, Bengaluru, said she was lucky enough to attend Goodall’s talk in Mumbai last year. She said her findings were simple yet extremely important, inspiring primatologists over decades. “I began reading her works when I was 12 or 13 and she, like many Indian primatologists, was our first inspiration. Even at 90, when we met her, she was vibrant and encouraging – always calling for focus on conservation of species,” Ramakrishna said.

With her passing, the scientific community loses not only a pioneering researcher but also a global voice of conscience.