♪ ♪
(boat motor)
♪ ♪
INTERVIEWER: I think I've read somewhere, maybe someone told me that when you were a child
you used to dream as a man.
JANE: Yeah.
I was typically a man, I went on adventures.
INTERVIEWER: How come?
JANE: Probably because at the time I wanted to do things which men did
and women didn't.
You know going to Africa, living with animals, that's all I ever thought about.
Everything led in the most natural way, it seems now, to that magical invitation to
Africa in 1957 where I would meet Dr. Louis Leakey,
who had sent me on my way to Gombe and the chimpanzees.
I had no training, no degree.
But Louis didn't care about academic credentials.
What he was looking for was someone with an open mind, with a passion for knowledge,
with a love of animals, and with monumental patience.
My mission was to get close to the chimpanzees,
to live among them, to be accepted.
(distant growling)
I wanted to come as close to talking to animals as I could, to be like Doctor Doolittle.
I wanted to move among them without fear, like Tarzan.
♪ ♪
The huge, gnarled, and ancient trees, the little streams chuckling their way through
rocky pathways to the lake.
The birds. The insects.
Since I was eight or nine years old, I had dreamed of being in Africa,
of living in the bush among wild animals.
And suddenly, I found I was actually living in my dream.
I already felt that I belonged to this new forest world.
That this was where I was meant to be.
♪ ♪
When I arrived in Gombe, I had no idea what I was going to do except that
I was going to try and get the chimpanzees used to me, so that I could really learn
about what they were doing.
That was, that was in the back of my mind because I'd watched other animals,
and the only way to learn about them is when they know you're there but
they ignore you.
INTERVIEWER: Except they can rip your face off.
-Well, I didn't know that.
I didn't think about that!
There was nobody talking about that.
INTERVIEWER: There was no fear of chimpanzees in the wild?
-You have to realize that back then, there were no people out in the field whose research I
could read about except this one man, and he saw chimps once or maybe twice in the
three months of his study.
And then much earlier on, there was this crazy man who painted himself with
baboon shit, I think, and sat in hides, in hopes that chimps would appear.
There were plenty of snakes, many poisonous snakes.
And to be honest, I always believed that if you walk carefully,
you don't startle a snake, you don't tread on it, they're not going to hurt you.
I had this probably crazy feeling, 'nothing's going to hurt me, I'm meant to be here."
♪ ♪
(wind)
(branches crackling)
♪ ♪
I watched them feeding in a large fig tree, calling noisily from time to time.
The trees came alive.
And so began one of the most exciting periods of my life.
The time of discovery.
♪ ♪
My life fell into a rhythm.
Day after day.
In the sun, the wind and the rain.
I climbed into the hills and stayed with the chimps from dawn...
until darkness fell.
Most times I would encounter a group of chimps or a single chimp,
but there were times when I couldn't find them at all.
And when I tried to get closer, they ran off as soon as they saw me.
I was an intruder.
And a strange one at that.
As I am not a defeatist, it only made my determination to succeed stronger.
I never had any thought of quitting.
I should forever have lost all self respect if I had given up.
I became totally absorbed into this forest existence.
I could give myself up to the sheer pleasure of being on my own in the rugged terrain
that I was coming to know as well as I had known the Bournemouth cliffs as a child.
It was an unparalleled period.
When aloneness was a way of life.
And even as I was, bit by bit, piecing together something of their way of life,
so they were getting used to the sight of the strange white ape.
♪ ♪
(rushing water)
In those days, it was not thought at all safe for a young,
single girl to go into the wilds of Africa.
I had to choose a companion.
It was my mother who volunteered.
Mom set up a clinic; she handed out medicine to many of the local fisherman.
Patients would walk for miles to get treatment.
INTERVIEWER: What was your relationship like with your father?
JANE: I didn't really know my father. He went off to the war.
When war broke out I was five and of course I hugely admired him,
but he didn't really care about children.
So, I couldn't say I had a relationship with him.
I think the most important part about my mother was that she listened.
She was always fair.
She was never angry without a reason.
She supported me and my love of animals.
She never said, "Well, you're just a girl.
You can't do that.
Why don't you dream about something you can achieve?"
Which is what everybody else told me.
So it was my mother who really built up my self-esteem.
Like most children before the age of TV and computer games, I loved being outside.
Playing in the secrets places in the garden, learning about nature.
I spent many hours high above the ground at the top of my favorite tree and
I would read up there in my own leafy and private world.
It was daydreaming about life in the forest with Tarzan that lead to my determination to go
to Africa to live with animals and write books about them.
I never had any aspiration of being married and having a family.
It just didn't come into my way of thinking.
It simply wasn't there.
Going to Africa, living with animals.
That's all I ever thought about.
We were by no means a wealthy family, so university wasn't an option.
But I still wanted to work with animals in some far off place.
I got a job as a waitress.
I saved my wages and my tips, every penny I could...
to get me to Africa.
But even though I was living my childhood dream, I couldn't help but be concerned
because I couldn't get close to the chimps.
♪ ♪
I didn't know if they would ever get used to me.
And time was running out.
♪ ♪
(thunder)
INTERVIEWER: How frustrating was it trying to study them in those early days?
-It was probably mostly frustrating because they kept running away.
And while chimpanzees are running away from you, you can't really get down to the
details of their behavior and in the back of my mind it was always the fear if I don't
find out something exciting.
The money will run out cause all my earlier observations were either chimps
close up running away or sitting on the peak or some other spot and
watching them through binoculars.
And so, you know, from those early observations
it was very clear that I wasn't really learning anything much.
(wind)
I'd been in Gombe for five months.
It had been a frustrating morning.
I had tramped up and down three different valleys in search of chimps,
but had found none.
I soon recognized the adult male less fearful than the others whom I
already knew by sight because of the distinctive white hair on his chin.
And unlike the others, he didn't run.
♪ ♪
(hooting and calling)
After months of patient and tireless observation, I had been rewarded.
The chimps had accepted me.
And gradually I was able to penetrate further and further into a magic world that no
human had explored before.
The world of the wild chimpanzees.
♪ ♪
Finally, I was allowed to observe the chimpanzees closely.
I learned that chimpanzees spend long hours in grooming sessions.
They, like us, need friendly contact and reassurance.
As I got to know them as individuals I named them.
David Greybeard, with his calm and dignified personality and often
he was accompanied by the top ranking male at the time, Goliath.
Mr. McGregor, a somewhat belligerent old male, and then there was Flo,
with her bulbous nose and ragged ears along with her infant daughter Fifi.
Staring into the eyes of a chimpanzee, I saw a thinking,
reasoning personality looking back.
♪ ♪
I was learning from some of the most fascinating creatures of our times.
And I realized that they were all part of one group.
A community.
And the more I learned,
the more I realized how like us they were in so many ways.
At that time in the early 1960's it was held at least by many scientists
that only humans had minds.
Only humans were capable of rational thought.
Fortunately, I had not been to university, and I did not know these things.
I felt very much as though I was learning about fellow beings capable of joy and
sorrow, fear, and jealousy.
(hooting)
(screaming)
(chimp heavy breathing)
Louis Leakey sent me to Gombe because he believed that an understanding of chimpanzees
in the wild would help him to better guess how our Stone Age ancestors may have behaved.
It had long been thought that we were the only creatures on earth that used
and made tools.
Man the toolmaker is how we were defined.
And here was David Greybeard using a tool.
It was hard for me to believe what I had seen.
A few days later I watched spellbound as chimps set off to a termite mound,
picked a small leafy twig, then stripped it of its leaves.
That was object modification.
The crude beginning of tool making.
It had never been seen before.
♪ ♪
When I telegramed the news to Louis Leakey he responded that we must now redefine man
or accept chimpanzee's as human.
My observations at Gombe would challenge human uniqueness and whenever that happens...
there is always a violent uproar.
There were some who would try to discredit my observations because I was a young,
untrained girl and should, therefore, be disregarded.
The result of it all, however, was that Louis was able to obtain a grant from the
National Geographic Society to continue my study.
In addition, they would be sending out a photographer to document the chimpanzees.
(inaudible)
Hi, I'm Jane.
-Hugo
INTERVIEWER: Jane, for someone who enjoyed your solitude,
were you concerned about bringing another person into your...
-Yeah.
No, I wasn't particularly happy, but it was part of the deal.
Geographic funds you.
They must cover the research.
It was my project.
And he came to, you know, document my project.
And I just didn't want anybody coming into my little paradise.
♪ ♪
INTERVIEWER: What were your first impressions of Hugo?
-Well, Hugo smoked.
He almost chained smoked.
And all the butts on the floor, oh I have always hated smoking.
And he was a perfectionist.
It drove me nuts.
But at the same time, you know, he was a nice looking guy and his voice was quiet.
-The first evening Hugo spent telling me about the films that he'd made and his
childhood and how he had always wanted to photograph animals.
So we had a lot in common.
And I think it was pretty obvious to me right from the start that I was a subject of
interest as well as the chimps.
One day we were greeted with fantastic news.
A chimp had crept into my tent and had taken some bananas left from my supper.
Perhaps he would come again.
And so the next day, Hugo and I waited.
As the hours went by, I began to fear that the chimp wouldn't come.
Then a black shape appeared on the other side of the clearing.
I recognized him at once.
It was David Greybeard.
I could hardly believe it.
For months the chimps had been running off when they saw me.
Now one had actually visited my camp.
After that I always had a supply of bananas ready.
♪ ♪
The chimps often came to camp looking for bananas.
And gradually they allowed me to get closer and closer.
♪ ♪
(camera shutter)
It was absolutely thrilling to have the chimpanzees so close,
but the bananas feedings were not without problems.
(hooting and calling)
As they lost their fear of us, the chimps quickly proved to be unconscionable thieves.
They would steal blankets, cloths from the kitchen, shirts and pillows,
and cardboard boxes- wonderful things to chew on.
(metal clanging)
(screaming)
No longer did the chimpanzees arrive in small quiet parties.
Instead, they invaded our camp in huge groups and aggressive competition between
chimpanzees increased.
(screaming)
Occasionally, we had to seek shelter.
And the aggression became more serious.
♪ ♪
In order to stop the aggression, we decided to create the feeding station.
With the hope that it would control their aggressive tendencies and bring peace.
Now, using hand operated steel boxes we could manage the feeding in an organized way.
As a result, we were able to make closer observations than ever before.
♪ ♪
Old Flo was easy to identify, she had a bulbous nose and ragged ears.
Flo was the top ranked female of her community and could dominate all
the other females.
But none of the adult males.
For in chimpanzee society males are the dominant sex.
One day she came to camp with a pink swelling on her backside.
It was a sign that she was ready for mating.
Many of the males quickly realized and began their pursuit.
She was followed by a long line of suitors.
It was from Flo that I first learned that in the wild female chimps do
not just have one mate.
She allowed them all to mate with her.
And Fifi hated it.
♪ ♪
INTERVIEWER: It must have been exciting to have been joined by someone who
shared your passions.
-No, that's right.
We both loved being out in nature and we both loved the work we were doing.
We just got on very well.
♪ ♪
Hugo's time in Gombe was almost over.
I cared for him, and I knew that I would miss him,
but then after he had left I
received a telegram.
♪ ♪
INTERVIEWER: When you and Hugo decided to get married, what were your plans?
JANE: You know honestly, we didn't really make long term plans, we really didn't.
We just wanted to go back to Gombe and make films.
When we returned to Gombe, there was wonderful news.
Flo gave birth to a son.
I called him Flint.
When Flint was born it gave Hugo and I the opportunity to initiate a study that could
last 50 years.
And it was the first time an infant chimpanzee and the relationship between parent
and child could be observed so closely in the wild.
♪ ♪
As a mother Flo was affectionate, tolerant, and nurturing
and used distraction rather than punishment to teach her small infant.
♪ ♪
Fifi soon became utterly preoccupied with her infant brother.
She tried to handle him.
But Flo very gently prevented her.
Eventually though as soon as she was allowed she played with him, groomed him,
and carried him around.
Indeed, she became a real help to her mother.
♪ ♪
INTERVIEWER: What was it about Flo that you admired?
- Well, she was all things that a chimp mother should be.
She was protective, but not over protective.
She was affectionate, she was playful, but being supportive.
That was the key and of course that is what my mother was.
She supported me.
And there is no question that those close contacts with Flo and her family were very
important to my own development.
It was just so amazing to have this sort of relationship.
♪ ♪
Together, the chimpanzees and the birds and the insects,
the teeming life of the vibrant forest, formed one whole.
All part of the great mystery.
And I was part of it too.
All the time, I was getting closer to animals and nature and as a result,
closer to myself and more in tune with the spiritual power that I felt all around.
♪ ♪
I thought, as I have so often since, what an amazing privilege it was to be utterly
accepted thus by a wild, free animal.
-Truth is stranger than fiction and fiction can be transformed into prophecy.
Here we have a perfect example of that evolution, with this lovely English lady called
Jane and likewise traded her comfortable home in England for the primitive life of the
African wilderness among the African apes.
And now I give myself the rewarding pleasure of presenting to you
Miss Jane Goodall.
JANE: David Graybeard is a chimpanzee who has put his complete trust in man.
Surely it's up to us to see that at least some of these nearly human creatures survive
in their natural habitat.
- Jane Goodall tall, blonde and beautiful.
Jane Goodall living with the chimpanzees in the wilds of Africa...
JANE: I was the Geographic covergirl.
And people said well my fame was due to my legs.
Well, I mean, it was so stupid, it didn't bother me.
It was really very useful because by this time I was needing to raise money myself,
so I made use of it.
Hugo and I successfully applied for additional funding,
to build up a research station in Gombe.
And we accepted students so that we could take advantage of the increased opportunity
for collecting data.
REPORTER: Jane Goodall came back from Africa just a few weeks ago.
Since then, she's been traveling around Europe and across America,
telling zoologists.
JANE: It is a very great pleasure for Hugo and me to be with you here tonight.
-Dr. Goodall and her husband
have been filming and studying...
-Hugo, a Dutchman, came to Africa to film her studies and they later married.
-She and her Husband, Baron Hugo van Lawick, are now the leading experts in the study
of chimpanzees, their research station in Gombe in Tanzania.
-I am absolutely full of admiration for somebody who can go and live
alone in a jungle and do this sort of work that you did.
Were you ever really very frightened?
-Sometimes I was frightened especially of things like leopards,
but it was the kind of life I had always dreamed of myself living.
And it was so fascinating that nothing could deter me.
INTERVIEWER: What about the actual significance of the studies?
JANE: We feel quite strongly that one of the goals of continuing work is to
increasingly relate our understanding of chimpanzee behavior to human behavior.
INTERVIEWER: How long are you going to be associated with the chimpanzees?
JANE: Oh I should say it's a rough guess until I die, but I can't tell you how
many years that will be.
But I think one of the most valuable things has been this film record which has been
kept and we are hoping that Hugo will be able to come back and carry on.
Especially as the last three months gave such fantastic film,
better than all the rest put together.
It seems to me vitally important that somebody should be there.
-Unless there is something else to discuss we will adjourn the meeting.
- Geographic ended the funding for Hugo just like that.
But it was always an assignment and assignments when you're a
cameraman come to an end.
It was very upsetting, unfortunate and sad.
And it was like, well what do we do? You know, how do we?
Cause I wanted to go on at Gombe and he couldn't.
It was simple like that.
So then I had to change everything actually.
We had to find other work to do, which we did of course.
On the Serengeti.
We had students at Gombe and we used to talk to them on the radio telephone just about
every day I think.
So I would write books, and Hugo would make films.
♪ ♪
INTERVIEWER: Was it difficult for you to not be at Gombe?
JANE: Well, because I had a jolly good team of students at Gombe and I heard what
was happening all the time, it wasn't too bad at all.
I had all this finding out to do.
So, I was getting on with writing and I was able to watch other animals and that
gave me a wider perspective.
I understood more animals better than if I hadn't left Gombe.
♪ ♪
From the moment when we stood on the Serengeti plains, it had been as though an unseen
hand had drawn back a curtain.
The mystery of evolution was all around us.
I was awed by the beauty.
♪ ♪
We didn't sit down and talk about shall we have children or
anything like that.
But Grub came along so, that was that.
It was just one of the things that happened, you know.
You got married and you got pregnant, and you had a baby.
I don't remember contemplating what this would do to me, what it would do to us,
how it would be, but the idea of having a baby after Flo had a baby and I thought
I would watch my baby and see the difference.
And of course, Grub would be with us on the Serengeti.
I had planned to do a decent study and keep notes and everything,
watching for the development stages in Grub, just as I had done with the chimps.
And catching it on film seemed a jolly good idea, but it doesn't work with
your own child.
I just found that I didn't want to do it, I wanted just to be there in the moment.
For the first three years of his life, I wasn't away one single night.
I was always there.
Of course, like all mothers, I wanted to give my son the best possible start in life,
and I had to choose between various sources of advice.
There was my own mother, there was Dr. Spock, and there was Flo.
There is no doubt that my observations of the chimpanzees helped me to
be a better mother.
But I found also that the experience of being myself a mother helped me better
understand chimpanzee maternal behavior.
It was not until Grub came along, for example, that I began to understand
the basic powerful instincts of mother love.
How much more easily I could now understand the feelings of a chimpanzee mother who
furiously waved her arms and barked out threats to any who approached her
infant too closely.
When Grub was little, it was dangerous for him at Gombe.
Chimpanzees eat other primates.
We are a primate.
They have been known to take infant humans.
I wasn't going to risk my little precious son.
So when we went to Gombe, it was a cage.
It had been made at a time when some of the chimps became very aggressive towards Hugo.
And so Grub sat in a cage.
But it was painted blue and there were mobiles hanging down and it was very lovely.
I had thought that I could raise a child and carry on with my work at the same time.
It was not so.
I stopped following the chimps; the students and field staff did that.
I merely administered the research station.
Eventually, we spent the bulk of our time working on the Serengeti.
I was Hugo's assistant and I was mother to Grub.
REPORTER: From Nairobi, in a small bush plane it's a two hour flight to
en Dudu Tanzania.
Our purpose was to meet Grub, the three and a half year old
son of Doctor Jane Goodall and Hugo van Lawick.
Born and raised in Africa, who speaks to animals, English to his parents,
and perfect Swahili to his only playmate, a 40-year-old African.
This child has spent three quarters of his life in Africa,
and I don't mean in a Nairobian cities.
I mean in really remote areas.
You'll make a sound for me?
-What does a zebra say, Grub?
(makes zebra sound)
A bit louder. That's right.
And what about a hyena?
(makes hyena sound)
That's a beauty.
Now lion?
(roars)
INTERVIEWER: Tell me some stories about raising the child here, Hugo.
-Well, one of the first things we had to do when he was tiny was teach him of the dangers in
the bush, so we showed them to him and say, "Ow, ow," and teach him that he was to stay
away from these animals.
INTERVIEWER: Did you learn anything from watching chimps and raising children?
I'm told that a chimp baby is just given so much love.
Is that a good, do you think you could transfer that to our lives?
Does it have a meaning?
-With Grub, we gave him immense amounts of love and security, and everyone said,
"Oh, he'll be so dependent on you.
He'll never make his own way in the world."
It seems to myself, the opposite.
INTERVIEWER: When he reaches six, Grublin will have to be taken to
England for schooling.
I hope, in the process of being educated, he never forgets what he
has already learned.
♪ ♪
JANE: Hello, hello, hello. Anynews with you? Any news with you? Over.
MAN (over radio): I just talked to (inaudible) and I think they are coming. Over.
JANE: Ok, ok, have received you.
I'll be joining you soon.
Over and out, over and out.
(thunder)
(thunder and rain)
♪ ♪
It was a horrible time, one after the other.
Chimpanzees came in, dragging limbs.
Some of them were okay.
But McGregor, both legs gone.
Unable to use even one arm.
♪ ♪
It was awful.
We immediately found that we could vaccinate the chimps.
It was a bit late, but maybe it would have gone on if we hadn't.
But, McGregor, he had to be shot.
INTERVIEWER: Did someone say, "Let nature take its course?"
-Sorry.
I didn't care what anybody said.
I was going to help the chimps if I could.
I couldn't watch an animal suffering anymore than I could watch a human suffering
and not help if I could.
I see no difference between helping a human and helping an animal.
I mean, yes we could have gone on and fed him everyday and kept him alive
for what reason?
To be honest, if that happens to me, I do not wish to be kept alive either.
INTERVIEWER: Were you ever concerned that you might've carried it in?
-No.
The first examples of polio were not from our chimps.
They were way to the south, and that's where the human polio was.
So I didn't feel responsible for introducing it.
Although, for sure, it could pass on more because they were coming together.
But it didn't start with us which was very reassuring, actually.
After the incident, it was no longer permitted to touch the chimpanzees.
Gombe would never be quite the same.
♪ ♪
I wanted nothing more than to be with the chimpanzees, and I made the decision
to spend more time in Gombe.
Grub stayed with me.
So in the morning, I would do analysis of data, administration,
that sort of thing.
Then I would spend about one to two hours up in a chimp camp with the students and
looking at the chimps.
And then every afternoon was his, totally.
INTERVIEWER: And he loved chimpanzees?
- No, he did not. He hated them.
He's never loved chimpanzees.
(inaudible)
I tried to homeschool him.
(inaudible)
I felt a bit isolated at that time.
But there were always one or two students who would come along and provide
that sort of, you know, emotional support that I think sometimes is very important.
And of course Hugo was away somewhere else filming so he wasn't there to, to help.
I mean that was the deal, that was his work.
♪ ♪
Flint was now an adolescent.
And old Flo, she was now a grandmother.
Fifi had an infant of her own.
A new generation of Flo's family to study.
But even though he was at an age, when most males begin to spend time away from their
mothers, Flint was still dependent on Flo.
By this time she must've been close to 50 years old.
But Flint insisted on riding her back.
Flint was still suckling.
Flo would push him away, and he cried, and he screamed, and he got very, very clingy
and very, very dependent.
She was too old to push him to independence.
INTERVIEWER: You more than anyone knew the importance of socialization,
were you concerned about Grub?
-Well, Grub was school age, and I couldn't go on homeschooling him anymore.
So, it was decided that he would start school in England and live with Mom.
And I quite well remember when I had to leave him.
And how awful and betraying I felt.
But, it was better for Grub.
In Christmas and Spring, I went to the UK.
In the summer, he came out to Tanzania.
INTERVIEWER: Back at Gombe now, Dr. Goodall, what kind of enterprise is it today?
- Well today, it's the Gombe Stream Research Center.
There are anything between six and twelve scientists working on different aspects
of chimp or baboon behavior.
And there are also students studying for their PhD degrees or doing postdoctoral work on
specific aspects of chimp behavior, which is you know, quite a big
little scientific community.
♪ ♪
Flo died as she crossed the clear, fast-flowing Kokombe stream.
She looked so peaceful.
It was as if her heart had suddenly just stopped beating.
Flint sat on the bank of the stream near Flo's body.
From time to time he approached her as though begging her to groom him,
to comfort him as she had always done throughout his life.
♪ ♪
Finally, Flint moved away.
His depression worsened.
He stopped eating.
He stayed mostly alone.
And in this state of grief, he fell sick.
It was as though without his mother, he no longer had the will to live.
And about three weeks after Flo died, Flint died too.
♪ ♪
After the death of Flo, the chimpanzee community, whose members I had come to
know so well, began to divide.
As chimps of one group started to spend more time in the southern part of
the range over which the whole community roamed.
By separating themselves, it was as though they had forfeited their right to be
treated as community members.
Instead, they were treated as strangers.
(screaming)
Our idyllic world, our little paradise, had been turned upside down.
The once peaceful seeming chimpanzees were heavily engaged in what amounted to a
sort of primitive warfare.
The entire community that moved south was annihilated.
♪ ♪
INTERVIEWER: It must have been a very dark time for you.
JANE: It was a very, very dark time, it was.
I thought they were like us, but nicer than us.
I had no idea of the brutality that they can show.
Took me awhile to come to terms with that.
♪ ♪
War had always seemed to me to be a purely human behavior.
I had come to accept that the dark and evil side of human nature was deeply embedded in
our genes, inherited from our ancient primate ancestors.
♪ ♪
INTERVIEWER: You and Hugo had been in different places.
Did you feel yourselves drifting apart?
-Well, you do drift apart when you're in two different places and you have
different goals in a way.
Hugo wasn't anymore content with just being at Gombe for me,
he needed to be in the Serengeti for him.
♪ ♪
INTERVIEWER: Were you struggling to try and keep the marriage together?
-Well for Grub's sake, but we'd begun bickering by then, and so you have to weigh up,
you know, is it better to stay together or to subject your child to constant bickering's.
He wanted me to leave Gombe, because there was no way he could stay and work,
but I couldn't.
It was my life, and he had his.
During the trying time of my divorce, it was all very sad.
Especially for Grub, for he of course loved us both.
But I realized that my experience in the forest had given me perspective.
In the forest, death is not hidden; it's all around you, all the time.
A part of the endless cycle of life.
Chimpanzees are born, they grow older, they get sick, and they die.
And always there are the young ones that carry on the life of the species.
Louis Leakey sent me to Gombe with the hope that a better understanding of chimpanzee
behavior might provide us with a window on our past.
Our study of the chimpanzees had helped to pinpoint not only the similarities between
them and us, but also those ways in which we are most different.
Admittedly, we're not the only beings with personalities, reasoning powers, altruism,
and emotions, nor are we the only beings capable of mental as well as physical suffering.
But our intellect has grown mightily in complexity since the first true men branched
off from the ape men's stalk some two million years ago.
And we, and only we, have developed a sophisticated spoken language.
For the first time in evolution, a species evolved that was able to teach its
young about objects and events not present, to pass on wisdom gleaned
from the successes and the mistakes of the past.
With language we can ask as can no other living being, those questions about who we
are and why we are here.
And this highly developed intellect means surely, that we have a responsibility
towards the other life forms of our planet, whose continued existence is threatened by the
thoughtless behavior of our own human species.
♪ ♪
My life, the time, was perfect.
I was spending time in the field, I was writing a book,
I had students so the research was secure and I could be with my son.
Who's my life for the rest of my life?
It was better than anything I dreamed of.
But I knew that the chimpanzees across Africa were disappearing.
So that's when I realized that I had to raise awareness about the plight of chimps in Africa
and the role that I must play is to make sure that the next generation are
better stewards than we've been.
And I needed to take that message to the world.
And since that time, which was October 1986, I haven't been more than three weeks
consecutively in any one place.
(applause)
♪ ♪
When I look back over my life, it seems I've been extraordinarily lucky.
Although as my mother Vanne always says, luck was only part of the story.
She's always believed that success comes through determination and hard work
and that the fault is not in our stars, but in ourselves that we are underlings.
I certainly believe that's true.
Yet though I had worked hard all my life, I must admit that the stars seemed to have
played their part too.
(music plays through credits)