The world premiere of the 2025 EST/Sloan Project production, HAVE YOU MET JANE GOODALL AND HER MOTHER?, written by Michael Walek and directed by Linsay Firman, begins previews on March 5 at the Ensemble Studio Theatre and runs through April 6. You can purchase tickets here.
This 2024/2025 season marks the twenty-fifth anniversary of the EST/Sloan Project, the joint initiative between the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation and the Ensemble Studio Theatre “designed to stimulate artists to create credible and compelling work exploring the worlds of science and technology and to challenge the existing stereotypes of scientists and engineers in the popular imagination.” In that spirit, we offer this essay on Jane Goodall’s wide-ranging contributions to science.
What Jane Goodall Has Taught Us About Chimpanzees
By Rich Kelley
The brilliant new comedy, HAVE YOU MET JANE GOODALL AND HER MOTHER?, recreates the first six months of primatologist and anthropologist Jane Goodall’s first expedition to Tanganyika in 1960 to observe chimpanzees in the wild. The observations Goodall began then—and continued for thirty years—revolutionized our understanding of nonhuman primates. Primatology, ethology, and the practice of field observation have never been the same since.
The field work of Goodall and the colleagues she assembled in Gombe Stream National Park in Tanzania has led to major discoveries about chimpanzee behavior, communication, social structures, and even their darker tendencies. These discoveries not only reshaped scientific perceptions of chimpanzees but also challenged our understanding of the boundaries between humans and animals, calling attention to the profound similarities we share with our closest living relatives.
Consider the range of these findings:
Social Structures and Hierarchies
Chimpanzees live in dynamic communities that can range from fifteen to over one hundred.
Chimpanzee meeting Uganda Wildlife Conservation Centre Entebbe Uganda 2018 Photo Elisha Muwanguzi CC 4.0
As Jane Goodall documented, these communities have distinct hierarchies and are fluid, with members frequently splitting into smaller subgroups (parties) for activities like foraging, traveling, or resting. Unlike many other animals, chimpanzees form long-term bonds and maintain extensive social networks.
Chimpanzee communities are typically led by an alpha male, who gains his position through physical strength, intelligence, and familial and political alliances.
Alpha male chimpanzee walking at Kibale forest National Park, Uganda 2022 Photo: Giles Laurent CCA 4.0
Goodall observed that these dominant males have priority access to resources, mating opportunities, and influence over group decisions. But chimpanzee societies are not static. Power struggles, alliances, and betrayals are common, leading to frequent shifts in the social hierarchy. The alpha male is not necessarily the strongest individual but often the most socially adept, capable of manipulating group dynamics to maintain power. Goodall documented instances where lower-ranking males formed coalitions to overthrow an alpha male, demonstrating a level of strategic thinking and cooperation previously thought to be unique to humans.
Grooming is a vital social activity that serves both hygiene and social functions,
A group of chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes schweinfurthii) grooming each other, Gombe Stream National Park 2010 Photo: ikiwaner GNU License 1.2
Grooming reduces tension and reinforces relationships within the group. Chimpanzees experience conflicts, but they also engage in reconciliation behaviors, such as embracing or grooming after a fight, to restore social harmony.
Maternal Bonds and Learning
Mother chimpanzees are highly attentive to their infants, carrying them constantly, nursing them, and protecting them from harm.
Chimpanzee mother climbing a tree with its baby at Kibale forest National Park, Uganda 2022 Photo: Giles Laurent CCA 4.0
Goodall observed that young chimpanzees spend several years heavily dependent on their mothers. This extended period of dependency allows for the transmission of knowledge and traditions across generations, a phenomenon previously thought to be unique to humans. Chimpanzee mothers provide comfort and reassurance to their infants. When a young chimp is frightened or upset, it will often run to its mother for safety and comfort. The bond between a mother and her offspring can last for many years, even after the young chimp reaches adulthood. Goodall observed adult chimpanzees maintaining close relationships with their mothers, often seeking their company and support. Daughters often mirrored the parenting behavior of their mothers.
Mothers teach their young critical skills, such as foraging food, using tools, and navigating social interactions.
Mother and child chimpanzees sharing food 2014 Photo by Blackseablue CCA 3.0
For example, Goodall observed mothers showing their offspring how to use sticks to extract termites from mounds or stones to crack nuts. These behaviors are not instinctual but are learned through observation, imitation, and practice. Mothers also engage in play with their infants, which helps the young chimps develop physical and social skills. This playful interaction strengthens their bond and prepares the infants for life within the group.
Individual Personalities
Goodall treated her chimpanzee subjects as individuals, giving them names, and demonstrated that they possess distinct personalities and temperaments.
Jane Goodall grooming David Greybeard, the first chimp to lose his fear of her. (Photo: National Geographic Creative/Hugo Van Lawick)
One of the most enduring legacies of Goodall’s work is her recognition of individual personalities among chimpanzees. Giving subjects names rather than numbers was controversial at the time but it allowed Goodall to appreciate their unique traits and behaviors. Flo, for instance, she described as a nurturing and influential matriarch, while Mike was a clever and resourceful alpha male who used empty kerosene cans to intimidate rivals and assert dominance. “Gentle, calm, unafraid” David Graybeard has become famous as the chimpanzee who showed her that chimpanzees use tools.
Emotional Complexity and Empathy
Chimpanzees experience a wide range of emotions similar to those of humans, including grief.
One of the most poignant examples of chimpanzee empathy came from Goodall’s account of Flint, a young chimpanzee who exhibited profound grief after the death of his mother, Flo.
Video excerpt about Flo’s last days and Flint’s grief from The People of the Forest, The Chimps of Gombe (1988), Part 7, by Hugo Van Lawick (9:53)
Flint’s behavior—refusing to eat, becoming lethargic, and eventually dying himself on the same spot where his mother died—suggested that chimpanzees are capable of deep emotional attachments and can experience grief and loss in ways strikingly similar to humans. This discovery influenced scientists to reconsider the emotional capacities of animals and their ability to form meaningful relationships.
Communication and Vocalizations
Chimpanzees use a sophisticated communication system that allows them to coordinate activities, warn others of threats, and maintain social cohesion.
Learn the different sounds and gestures chimpanzees use to communicate. From Primate Models for Evolution Lab (4:09)
Goodall documented a wide array of vocalizations, gestures, and facial expressions that chimpanzees use to convey information and emotions. For example, she identified distinct calls for food, danger, and social interactions, each with specific meanings and contexts.
In addition to vocalizations, Goodall observed that chimpanzees use body language and gestures to communicate. For instance, a submissive chimpanzee might crouch or present its back to a dominant individual, while an aggressive chimpanzee might puff up its fur, stomp, or throw objects to intimidate rivals.
Hunting and Meat-Eating
Chimpanzees are not strictly herbivorous but also engage in hunting and meat eating.
Ugandan chimps hunting from Life of Mammals BBC Earth (3:40)
Before Goodall’s research, chimpanzees were thought to be primarily vegetarian, with occasional insect consumption. However, Goodall observed chimpanzees hunting and eating smaller primates, such as colobus monkeys, in coordinated group efforts. This behavior revealed a level of cooperation and planning previously unrecognized in nonhuman animals.
The hunting parties often involved strategic roles, with some chimpanzees acting as drivers to herd the prey while others ambushed or captured it. The group then shared the meat, though not always equally. Goodall noted that the distribution of meat often followed social lines, with dominant individuals receiving larger shares and using meat as a political tool to strengthen alliances or assert dominance. This discovery challenged the simplistic view of chimpanzees as peaceful vegetarians and demonstrated their capacity for violence and strategic thinking.
Conflict and Warfare
One finding that shocked Goodall was discovering how territorial and violent chimpanzees could become.
Goodall observed that chimpanzee communities will aggressively defend their territory from neighboring groups. In some cases, these conflicts escalated into brutal attacks, with groups of males patrolling their borders, ambushing rivals, and killing individuals from other communities.
World War Chimp | The Brutal 1974 – 1978 Gombe Chimpanzee War: Documentary (9:22)
The most infamous example of chimpanzee warfare occurred during the Gombe Chimpanzee War, a four-year conflict between two rival groups, the Kasakela and the Kahama. Goodall and her team witnessed violent raids, kidnappings, killings of males and females, and even cannibalistic feasting on the flesh of newborns. Ultimately, the Kasakela group wiped out the Kahama. This extended conflict revealed a darker side of chimpanzee behavior, challenging the romanticized view of them as peaceful, harmonious creatures.
HAVE YOU MET JANE GOODALL AND HER MOTHER? began previews on March 5 and runs through April 6. You can purchase tickets here.
Read more about HAVE YOU MET JANE GOODALL AND HER MOTHER?
Interview with playwright Michael Walek about the creation of the play
