DISCOVERY, INNOVATION & HOPE
Honoring the Global Impact of Gombe and Jane Goodall
Early 1960s Jane Goodall overlooking Gombe valley with spotting scope. Courtesy of the Jane Goodall Institute.
In 1960, a young British woman arrived on the shores of Lake Tanganyika, Tanzania for the first time. Without realizing it, she would soon change the world forever.
26-year-old Jane Goodall was given the opportunity of a lifetime when paleontologist and anthropologist Dr. Louis Leakey asked her to observe and better understand our closest living relatives: wild chimpanzees. Jane's subsequent ground-breaking discoveries revealed remarkable truths about chimpanzee behavior and humankind.
2010, Mary Nkoranigwa, Field Assistant (B-Record study) at Gombe National Park. Courtesy of Nick Riley Photography.
July 14, 2020 marks the 60th anniversary of the day that Dr. Jane Goodall first arrived in Gombe, Tanzania, to begin her studies of wild chimpanzees.
Over the last six decades, Dr. Goodall, the Jane Goodall Institute (JGI), and research partners have established and maintained what is now the longest running study of wild chimpanzees in the world. In 2018, the study was awarded its own Guinness World Record.
Through critical work in Gombe, Dr. Goodall, JGI, and research partners have not only expanded understanding of chimpanzees and influenced a generation of scientists, they've also highlighted the urgent need to protect chimpanzees from extinction. This work has redefined “species conservation” to put people at the center, empowering local communities to become better stewards of their own environments.
Jane’s pioneering research and legacy of breaking boundaries, Gombe long-term data, innovative science, and trailblazing community-driven conservation approach makes Gombe one of the world’s most precious resources, which will continue to provide remarkable insights for many years to come.
Left: Each evening in her tent at Gombe, Jane Goodall would enter data from her field notebooks into a journal. | Right: Early 1960s, Jane Goodall's handwritten field notes and illustrations, courtesy of the Jane Goodall Institute.
As a trailblazing researcher, Dr. Jane Goodall’s discoveries in Gombe and worldwide influence inspired generations across fields - breaking barriers in science and beyond.
Dr. Goodall’s story sparked a global movement, encouraging scientific expansion and an important increase in the number of women in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) and adjacent fields of conservation, animal behavior, environmentalism, and advocacy. It is estimated that since 1960, as we saw an increase in women joining the workforce overall, there has also been a remarkable jump of 7% to 26% of women in STEM (from 1970-2011 U.S. CENSUS). Though this still demonstrates a gap, Jane's story and role as a mentor continue to pave the way for increased participation in science.
(from 1970-2011 U.S. CENSUS)
One of Jane's greatest contributions is her role as a mentor and creator of the Gombe Stream Research Center (GSRC).
This essential hub has contributed to generations of new scientists, including many Tanzanians, as well as others from all around the globe.
Despite Gombe being one of the smallest national park in Tanzania, the wealth of biodiversity and scientific insights have made it a wellspring for hundreds of researchers. Their findings have then gone on to influence thousands of subsequent publications and areas of inquiry.
'G Family' matriarch Gremlin and newborn Goodali, 2019. Courtesy of Shadrack Samson/the Jane Goodall Institute.
One such scientist is Dr. Anne Pusey, who was a member of the field research team in 1970 and Jane’s student.
For 25 years, Dr. Pusey has led a team of fellow researchers, students, and partners to gather, archive, and digitize Gombe long-term data. These assets are then incorporated into a database, including what is known as the ‘B Record’, a systematically collected daily data on chimpanzee behaviours – started by Dr. Goodall and continued through JGI staff to this day. The resulting database allows researchers to leverage the data collected by others, study trends, and evaluate long-term developments - a resource of tremendous value for understanding long-living chimpanzees.
Gombe baboon on shore of Lake Tanganyika, Gombe National Park. Courtesy of Ashley Sullivan/the Jane Goodall Institute.
In addition to this crucial work, other studies of chimpanzee vocalizations, adolescent females, and health, including the SIV virus (HIV’s precursor), have been ongoing and expanding coordinated by a team of Gombe Principal Investigators, including Dr. Elizabeth Lonsdorf, Dr. Carson Murray, Dr. Ian Gilby and Dr. Michael Wilson. The detailed parallel study of baboons is in its 53rd year, led by Dr. Anthony Collins, and is joined by the younger studies of guenon monkeys (Cercopithecus) — chiefly red-tailed monkeys (C. ascanius), blue monkeys (C. mitis) and their remarkable hybrids — led by Dr. Kate Detwiler. Finally, habitat and human land use are continuously monitored inside and outside the park using satellite imagery, field surveys and citizen science efforts led by Dr. Lilian Pintea.
Gombe Researchers: Where are they now?
The knowledge and impact of Gombe researchers expands across the globe.
BY THE NUMBERS
Gombe has produced more than 300 scientific publications from 1960 to today, covering topics that range from chimpanzee social bonds to both human and ecological health.
59 doctorates have been obtained through work in Gombe.
More than 250 researchers have conducted studies in Gombe.
In 2019 alone, more than 38 research pieces across major journals and other platforms either directly published Gombe research or referenced it.
Gombe researchers join together with Dr. Goodall at the International Primatological Society Conference (Chicago, 2016).
The Next Generation of Jane Goodalls
Gombe’s living legacy continues to influence many different areas of study and practice across animal behavior, animal welfare, conservation, health, and ecology for millions of individuals, institutions, organizations and corporations.
Jane Goodall’s recorded observation at age 26 that chimpanzees make and use tools is considered one of the greatest contributions of the 20th century.
"Now we must redefine 'tool', redefine 'man', or accept chimpanzees as humans.” - Dr. Louis Leakey
Through groundbreaking research in Gombe spanning 60 years, we have made incredible discoveries, forever redefining our understanding of what it means to be human, and our relationship to the rest of the animal kingdom.
Dr. Jane Goodall and filmmaker Hugo Van Lawick. Photo by Vanne Goodall, electronically placed on the phonograph records which are carried onboard the Voyager 1 selected for NASA by a committee chaired by Carl Sagan.
Dr. Goodall's other discoveries spanning chimpanzee mother-infant bonds, compassion, emotionality, intelligence, social hierarchies, meat consumption and hunting, and even primitive warfare, likewise revolutionized the way we think about other non-human animals, our own evolutionary journey, and human behavior.
Zinda using a modified stem to fish for termites in Gombe National Park, Tanzania. Courtesy of Nick Riley Photography.
From Jane’s early days of having nothing more than a simple pair of binoculars, notebook, and a typewriter, advancements in science and technology have allowed JGI to answer critical questions about chimpanzee behavior, ecology, and health like never before.
Though many methods perfected by Jane and her students including following individual chimpanzees and recording their behaviour have continued, new methods from genetics to satellite imagery utilizing Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and mobile technology have allowed for improved user accessibility, near-real time updates, and new insights from molecules to landscapes.
Researcher Samson Shadrack Pindu observes a group of chimpanzees in Gombe National Park, Tanzania. Courtesy of Nick Riley Photography.
The key feature of Gombe chimpanzee research is to focus on individuals, by tracing their life-histories, and the histories of their families, and their communities, through time and circumstance. This can be most directly attributed to Dr. Goodall as the original “Jane Goodall approach,” carried out to this day at Gombe Stream Research Center, led by Dr. Deus C. Mjungu. Through this approach, the current field team records their observations of numerous recognised chimpanzees - one focal individual per day.
These and new advanced technological methods, such as genetic analyses, have allowed us to track the ‘G, F’ and other families over generations, following individuals across their lives and relationships. Assessments of these observations and of samples collected have introduced new understandings of maternity and paternity, zoonotic disease, social structures, and defined success for individuals and groups.
Chimpanzee dung sample collected in Gombe National Park. Courtesy of Nick Riley Photography.
Example of Changes in Chimpanzee Community Ranges in Gombe
Chimpanzees live in distinct, territorial social groups called “communities." In these communities, both males and females regularly move alone or in sub-groups called parties. Gombe has three chimpanzee communities: Mitumba, Kasekela, and Kalande. Mitumba and Kasekela are habituated and field researchers collect daily long-term data through what is known as the 'B Record' and other protocols.
Using 'B Record' data location points from field researchers on chimpanzee movements, scientists can estimate and map community home ranges or areas where chimpanzees move in search of food and other resources. These range maps show that deforestation and an increase in settlements outside the national park has had an unequal effect on the Gombe chimpanzee communities.
The animation on the right shows changes in Kasekela and Mitumba ranges between 1997 and 2015. Kasekela community range is the largest and only uses areas inside the national park. Kasekela has also been the least affected by the changes outside the park. In contrast, both the Mitumba and Kalande communities are trapped between the stronger Kasekela community and the park boundaries. Historically, both the Mitumba and Kalande chimpanzees had moved outside of the park (the dotted lines represent max estimates of historic ranges). But because of deforestation, largely driven by the conversion of forests and woodlands to oil palm, farmland, and settlements, these two communities lost that habitat (see Pusey et al. 2007 ).
Thanks to these long-term data and spatial insights, JGI prioritized restoring and protecting habitats in Village Forest Reserves within the chimpanzees' former historic range, to improve their viability inside and outside the park (see Pintea 2011 ). This became the first Greater Gombe Ecosystem Conservation Action Plan that led to the regeneration of some woodlands outside Gombe by the local communities (see Pintea 2016) .
Data sources: Lilian Pintea, Deus Mjungu, and Paul Mjema, the Jane Goodall Institute; Anne Pusey and Steffen Foerster, Duke University; Ian Gilby Arizona State University; Michael Wilson, University of Minnesota, TAWIRI and TANAPA
The impact of 60 continuous years of science in this unique place of discovery represents tremendous possibility for new and important findings and insights every day.
JGI's Gombe Stream Research Center leverages data-reach and unique long-term research at Gombe as global assets for interdisciplinary science.
To do this, JGI complements and enriches long-term data with innovative applications using cutting-edge geospatial technologies, including very high resolution 30-cm satellite images and remote sensing from UAVs, mobile, desktop, cloud as well as web-mapping tools and platforms.
The result is the ability to provide reliable, detailed maps of chimpanzee behavior, ranges, habitat suitability and change with precision and efficiency, with applications of these insights across the chimpanzee species range.
Tree heights and 2 meter Digital Surface Model (DSM) of Gombe Stream Research Center extracted from very high resolution stereo Maxar satellite imagery. Courtesy of Chuck Chappel, Maxar and Lilian Pintea, the Jane Goodall Institute.
Today, JGI is a resource for global dialogues, supporting discussions among stakeholders, and improved decision-making through providing spatially explicit annual updates on the status of chimpanzees, along with their habitats across their range in Africa.
From the IUCN Red List to national and regional Conservation Action Plans and JGI's Decision Support System modeling chimpanzee habitat suitability , these data contribute not only to our overall understanding of great apes, but also the threats facing them and changes over time.
Alpha female chimpanzee Gremlin carries her son Grendel in Gombe National Park. Courtesy of Bill Wallauer/the Jane Goodall Institute.
These insights have not only shaped public understanding of the unique likeness to our closest living relatives, but also their innate value as sentient, complex beings and the need to protect them.
Dr. Jane Goodall’s blissful life as a scientist in Tanzania's Gombe National Park changed in the early 1990s. She was in a small airplane flying over Gombe. When she looked down, she was shocked by what she saw. Hill after hill had been stripped of its dense blanket of trees; they were completely bare.
The home of the precious chimpanzees was disappearing before her eyes.
Northern border of Gombe aerial view, 2000. Mwangongo Village on the left. Courtesy of the Jane Goodall Institute.
Chimpanzees are endangered.
From a population of around 1-2 million in the 1900s to an estimated 340,000 today, their numbers are declining rapidly. A huge part of this problem is loss of habitat, and as Jane recognized in that tiny plane, most of their habitat lies outside of protected areas that are being readily converted to settlemeents, farmlands and other land uses through unsustainable human development.
She also recognized that human communities were suffering; many without access to health, education, or economic opportunities and with dwindling natural resources.
Jane took action.
The Lake Tanganyika Catchment Reforestation and Education (TACARE) program was designed by Jane and a group of key stakeholders around Gombe as a pilot project. This work aimed to protect chimpanzees outside National Parks by addressing poverty and supporting sustainable livelihoods in villages around Lake Tanganyika.
Tacare village nursery attendant Yahya Hamza grows his passion fruit and Komamanga plants to generate income sustainably. Courtesy of the Jane Goodall Institute.
Now known as ‘Tacare’, it represents the Jane Goodall Institute’s (JGI) community-driven conservation approach.
The Tacare philosophy is based on the principle that local people are the most connected to and dependent on healthy landscapes and ecosystem services.
Beyond just collaboration, Tacare is about local ownership of the process of human development and managing local environments.
Tacare acknowledges that though local people are the most impacted and vulnerable when ecosystem services disappear, they are also the best stewards of their own environment, and that every community member can make a difference every day.
Hafsa Ramadhan, village nursery attendant in Mkongoro in Western Tanzania grows passion fruit, mandarin oranges, mangos, beans, pines and Maesopsis (Mshehe or Muhumula) to generate income sustainably. Courtesy of Shawn Sweeney/the Jane Goodall Institute.
Growth of 'Tacare' Across Chimpanzee Range
Gombe Stream Game Reserve
From the beginning, Dr. Goodall worked collaboratively with local people in and around Gombe. Local knowledge was essential to Jane's success as a researcher and in establishing a long-term study to record chimpanzee behavior. Her immersive approach and skill-set as a mindful observer, inclusive leader, and activator would become integral to JGI's science and conservation strategies. This landscape became the protected area of Gombe Stream National Park in 1968.
Data Sources: Lilian Pintea and Paul Mjema, the Jane Goodall Institute; TAWIRI and TANAPA
Tacare Begins
In the early 90s, the first initiative known as The Lake Tanganyika Catchment Reforestation and Education (TACARE) program started in 12 villages outside of Gombe. Key stakeholders, community members and Jane piloted the project by first listening to the needs of local people to develop solutions that would protect forests and improve human well-being, while also restoring and protecting chimpanzee habitat.
Data Sources: Lilian Pintea and Paul Mjema, the Jane Goodall Institute; TAWIRI and TANAPA
Greater Gombe Ecosystem (GGE)
An important second step was expanding community-led work outside of the villages surrounding Gombe to protect more chimpanzee habitat outside National Parks. JGI was able to connect dynamic information on the same map, including the knowledge, values, land-uses, and needs of communities, as well as forests, watersheds, chimpanzees and other biodiversity. As a result, JGI was able to see the big picture and share it with local people.
Communities that live in or around chimpanzee habitat in the Greater Gombe Ecosystem became our partners in conservation. This became JGI's 'Tacare' approach, scaling up beyond a single area as a framework that could be applied across the chimpanzee range.
Data Sources: Lilian Pintea and Paul Mjema, the Jane Goodall Institute; TAWIRI and TANAPA
Masito Ugalla Ecosystem
Building on the success of the GGE, this work grew to include the Masito Ugalla Ecosystem in addition to the Greater Gombe Ecosystem in Tanzania.
By using traditional knowledge and best available GIS data to support local ownership of planning, implementation, monitoring, and management of the natural resources of communities, human and great ape well-being is improved.
Data Sources: Lilian Pintea and Paul Mjema, the Jane Goodall Institute; TAWIRI and TANAPA
Gombe-Masito Ugalla (GMU) Ecosystem
The Jane Goodall Institute, together with other organizational and government collaborators, continued to build on valued, long-term trust and benefit of sustainable development initiatives, land-use planning and other 'Tacare' methods of conservation. In 2014 the work grew again to include 74 villages across a landscape called the Gombe-Masito Ugalla Ecosystem or GMU.
Data Sources: Lilian Pintea and Paul Mjema, the Jane Goodall Institute; TAWIRI and TANAPA
LCWT
The Landscape Conservation in Western Tanzania (LCWT) initiative is a five-year USD $20 million program funded by USAID.
Western Tanzania, including the GMU ecosystem, contains over 90% of Tanzania’s estimated 2,200 chimpanzees, yet this population is facing increasing threats. The initiative is designed to protect chimpanzee populations and their habitats, strengthen local government capacity in natural resource management, and empower local communities in the Gombe-Masito-Ugalla (GMU) Ecosystem.
This work expands implementation of Tacare program activities from 74 villages to 104 villages in the Kigoma and Uvinza districts in Kigoma region, and Mpanda and Tanganyika districts in Katavi region.
“I’m tremendously proud of JGI's work in Tanzania over the past nearly 25 years and I am ecstatic about the news of our new initiative, which will make such a difference toward protecting wildlife, forests and livelihoods in the region. This is truly some inspiring good news, which I’m sure will radiate outward in our overall efforts to partner with communities in the protection of wildlife.” - Dr. Jane Goodall
Data Sources: Lilian Pintea and Paul Mjema, the Jane Goodall Institute; TAWIRI and TANAPA
UNESCO Man and Biosphere (MAB) Area
The Gombe Masito Ugalla ecosystem was proposed by the Tanzanian Government, and designated by the United Nations Science and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), to be an official Man and Biosphere Reserve. This historic designation recognized JGI's ability to reconcile biodiversity conservation with human activity through the sustainable use of natural resources.
Data Sources: Lilian Pintea and Paul Mjema, the Jane Goodall Institute; TAWIRI and TANAPA
The Jane Goodall Institute's 'Tacare' model of community-driven conservation has grown across the chimpanzee range to develop curated action plans and activities to address appropriately the different local threats to great apes and their habitats while improving human well-being.
From those early 12 villages around Gombe, JGI's 'Tacare' work in Western Tanzania now includes 104 villages. From Tanzania to Guinea, JGI's programs reach hundreds of thousands of individuals across different countries, improving access to healthcare and family planning, micro-credit, sustainable livelihoods, and natural resource management.
As of 2020, These efforts have resulted in 6,067,130 hectares of chimpanzee habitat under management for conservation and millions of dollars in income generated from sustainable alternative livelihoods adopted by local communities since 1994.
Data sources: IUCN, the Jane Goodall Institute
Jane and JGI’s conservation insights from Gombe and ‘Tacare’ have had a tremendous impact on science and current conservation practice, including data, knowledge, technologies, and tools.
JGI’s innovative efforts in science and community-driven conservation in Gombe created one of the world’s most significant examples of collaboration with human communities for species conservation.
Through this collaboration, protection and restoration of vital great ape habitats is achieved through local ownership of land-use planning, natural resource management, and sustainable livelihoods. By connecting information spatially, and jointly managing forest, water, and land resources that support both people and chimpanzees, well-being is improved for all.
Community participatory mapping using Maxar satellite images. Courtesy of Lilian Pintea, the Jane Goodall Institute.
JGI's 'Tacare' approach now exists across the chimpanzee range in a growing number of countries and will continue to influence the conservation landscape in meaningful ways for many years to come.
Gremlin and her son Gizmo in Gombe National Park, Tanzania. Courtesy of Nick Riley.
Join us as we honor 60 years of innovative science, a legacy of breaking boundaries, and community-driven conservation.
About the Jane Goodall Institute
The Jane Goodall Institute (JGI) is a global, community-centered conservation organization founded in 1977 that advances the vision and work of Dr. Jane Goodall in over 30 countries around the world. We aim to understand and protect chimpanzees, other apes and their habitats, and empower people to be compassionate citizens in order to inspire conservation of the natural world we all share. JGI uses research, collaboration with local communities, best-in-class animal welfare standards, and the innovative use of science and technology to inspire hope and transform it into action for the common good. Through our Roots & Shoots program for young people of all ages, now active in over 65 countries around the world, JGI is creating an informed and compassionate critical mass of people who will help to create a better world for people, other animals.
