Two Sides. One Story. You Make the Third.
Carlos Taylhardat | 3 Narratives News | October 1, 2025
Today I must break protocol. For months I have promised you at least two narratives to every story, inviting you to make the third. But my heart is too heavy to divide this one. Jane Goodall has died. And there is only one narrative that matters: the story of a life lived in wonder, discipline, and devotion to the natural world.
A Life Among Chimpanzees
Jane Goodall began her groundbreaking work in 1960 at Gombe Stream National Park in Tanzania. With patience and humility, she lived among wild chimpanzees and treated them not as specimens but as individuals. She named them rather than numbering them, challenged orthodoxy, and documented behaviors once thought uniquely human: tool use, alliances, grief, play—even war. Her field notes, photographs, and films changed how science—and the world—view our closest relatives.
“What you do makes a difference, and you have to decide what kind of difference you want to make.” — Jane Goodall
Advocate, Educator, Visionary
In 1977, she founded the Jane Goodall Institute; in 1991 she launched Roots & Shoots, a youth program now active in more than 65 countries. She became a United Nations Messenger of Peace, received the Templeton Prize, and was made a Dame of the British Empire. Well into her nineties she kept traveling and teaching, urging conservation rooted in compassion and community.
The Personal Jane
Her family describes her as tireless—gentle but unyielding. Her son, Hugo, and her grandchildren remembered not just the global icon but the grandmother who could still laugh at the world’s small absurdities. Early in her career, when the press fixated on her appearance, she once quipped, “If my legs were getting me the money, thank you legs.” The point was never vanity—it was resolve. She would use every microphone to speak for creatures with none.
Above all, she never stopped seeing the apes she first befriended at Gombe as kin. In her words: “Chimps teach us that we are not the only beings with personalities, minds, and feelings.”
A Silent Forest, A Lasting Legacy
Her death leaves a hush in the forest she loved, but her voice carries on—in every young scientist she inspired, every child planting trees with Roots & Shoots, every activist who learned from her that hope is not a mood but a discipline. Jane Goodall showed that science can be both rigorous and tender, fierce and compassionate. That is her one narrative—and it is enough.
Sources & Further Reading
Washington Post obituary · The Guardian obituary · People Magazine: Final days · Jane Goodall Institute
Key Takeaways
- Goodall began her field research in 1960 and documented chimpanzees making and using tools.
- She challenged scientific orthodoxy by naming and humanizing her subjects.
- She founded the Jane Goodall Institute (1977) and Roots & Shoots (1991), becoming a global voice for conservation.
- Her honors include the Templeton Prize, the title of Dame, and recognition as a UN Messenger of Peace.
- Her family and colleagues remember her humor, resilience, and lifelong bond with apes.
Questions This Article Answers
- Who was Jane Goodall and what did she discover about chimpanzees?
- What organizations did Jane Goodall found and why do they matter?
- What awards and honors did she receive in her lifetime?
- What are her most enduring quotes?
- How is her family—and the scientific community—remembering her legacy?
