Jane Goodall in Gombe, Tanzania, in 1965. Courtesy of the Jane Goodall Institute
Jane Goodall, the renowned scientist who revolutionized our understanding of primates, died Wednesday at the age of 91. In her final interview, she issued a last, urgent warning to safeguard the Earth.
“We need to protect this planet and think about the future,” she told The Wall Street Journal. “Because if we don’t, that’s the end of our species. Humans are not exempt from extinction.”
Studying chimpanzees in East Africa in the 1960s, she found that the primates made and used tools, created complex social hierarchies, and even engaged in warfare. Her work, which revealed that humans are little removed from other animals, constitutes “one of the Western world’s great scientific achievements,” said evolutionary biologist Stephen Jay Gould.
Speaking to the Journal, she said that humans are, “without question, the most intellectual creatures to ever walk the planet.” But, she added, “we are not intelligent, because intelligent creatures don’t destroy their only home.”
In a statement on her death, the Jane Goodall Institute, the conservation group she founded, said the scientist “was always guided by her fascination with the mysteries of evolution, and her staunch belief in the fundamental need to respect all forms of life on Earth.”
