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Jane Goodall's haunting answer for the 'most important' lesson we can learn from chimps

It's all about reconciliation.

jane goodall, chimpanzees, jane goodall legacy, human nature, jane goodall interview

Jane Goodall beautifully shared the "most important" lesson we should take from chimps.

Photo credit: Nikeush via Wikimedia Commons (cropped), Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0
Ryan Reed
By Ryan ReedOct 01, 2025
Ryan Reed
Ryan Reed is a contributing writer for GOOD residing in Knoxville, Tennessee. He has contributed to Rolling Stone, Relix, Revolver, SPIN and The New York Times.
See Full Bio

Jane Goodall, the pioneering primatologist and animal advocate, shared many wise words throughout her 91 years—right up to the end, when she passed away of natural causes on October 1, during a speaking tour of the U.S.

If you’re looking for a tribute to the late researcher, you can find countless options in YouTube clips, written interviews, and statements from her peers. But one of Goodall’s most haunting messages comes from a chat with the Museum of Science, explaining the "most important" lesson we can learn from chimpanzees.

"They’re very good at reconciliation after conflict," she says in the video. "We don’t seem to be very good at that. We hold grudges. We fight wars. We have conflict all over the world today. So, if we were a little bit better just making things up without continuing to fight about them or hold grudges."

Goodall's path to chimpanzees

The entire interview is filled with similarly insightful moments. Early on, she talks about how she didn’t technically "choose" to research chimpanzees. She developed a passion for animals while growing up in England, ultimately venturing to Tanzania in 1960, where she began documenting the behavior of chimps. But as Goodall told the Museum of Science, she was open to following any path—as long as animals were part of it.

"I went to Africa to study any animal to be out in the wild," she says. "If somebody had said a dormouse, I would have jumped at it if it were out in the wild somewhere. It was meeting Dr. Louis Leakey, famous paleontologist [and] anthropologist, and he told me he’d been looking for 10 years for somebody to go study chimpanzees in the wild. Nobody had. A couple of people had tried. It didn’t work out. So...how lucky!"

The real "breakthrough," she says, was "seeing chimpanzees using and making tools."

- YouTube www.youtube.com

Spreading awareness

Goodall continued to spread awareness about the natural world—from the dangers of climate change to the destruction of our environment—throughout her life. She also continued to answer the very same question that opened this article.

Asked during a 2024 appearance on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert what we could "most learn from chimps," she replied, "That we've been jolly arrogant in thinking we're so special, so different. Chimpanzees are like us—we share 98.7% of our DNA. And they kiss, embrace, hold hands, pat one another. And you know something? They live in a male-dominated society. When you see two males competing for dominance, they stand upright; they swagger; they have a furious face; they shake their fists. Doesn't that remind you of some human male politicians?"

- YouTube www.youtube.com

GOOD had the honor of interviewing Goodall for Earth Day 2020, marking the release of the National Geographic documentary Jane Goodall: The Hope—and, reliably, she spread plenty of wisdom then, too.

"Every single day we live, we make some impact on the planet, and we need to make ethical choices, thinking about the consequences on future generations," she said. "What do we buy, eat, wear? Where did it come from? That will start moving us towards a better world."

- YouTube www.youtube.com

jane goodallscientistsresearcherschimpanzeeschimpshuman natureinspirationanimal welfarelessonsanimals

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