Jane Goodall Returns to Her Chimps in Tanzania

Humans share more than 98 percent of the same DNA with chimpanzees, which is probably why there has always been a fascination with them. What we know of them is mostly because of one woman, whose name has become synonymous with chimps: Jane Goodall.

She was launched to fame by National Geographic, whose stories about her life in an African forest with chimpanzees made her an iconic figure.

Goodall was the first to discover that wild chimpanzees were capable of making and using tools, a revelation that turned the scientific world upside down by challenging the convention that tool making was what made humans unique.

Fifty years later, Goodall considers her role now to be more important than ever - which is why "60 Minutes" and correspondent Lara Logan wanted to go back with her to Africa.

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60 Minutes Overtime: Jane Goodall
Lara Logan talks about her profile of Jane Goodall and how she and producer Max McClellan hit the "chimp jackpot" on their trip to Tanzania.

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Photos: Visiting Goodall's Chimps
Extra: Lara Logan Facebook Chat
Extra: Why Goodall Went to Africa
Extra: Goodall on Motherhood
Extra: Goodall, A Girl in Africa
Extra: Goodall's Global Efforts
Link: The Jane Goodall Institute
Link: Roots & Shoots
Link: National Geographic Jane Goodall Retrospective

Goodall and the "60 Minutes" team headed to the Gombe Forest; the only way to get there is by boat.

"The hills there, you know, which are like a desert now? When I arrived in 1960, in July, those hills were forest," Goodall observed during the boat ride.

We traveled with her across Lake Tanganyika, the longest lake in the world, and then into the forest which Goodall called home for decades.

She first came to Tanzania, to a stretch of tropical forest on the remote eastern shores of the lake, to study chimpanzees when she was 26 years old. She was a young girl from England with no scientific training - just a notebook and binoculars.

"How would you describe what it was like 50 years ago?" Logan asked Goodall.

"It was a kind of magical place where I never knew each day what I might see or discover," she replied.

We followed the forest trails for hours through the towering trees and tangled vines searching for Goodall's chimpanzees. Then, the chimps' unmistakable sound led us right to them.

Goodall instantly recognized her favorite family, three generations right there in front us. She has followed this family for 50 years and gave them the names they're still known by today.

Asked what she loves about them, Goodall said, "Just everything."

There was little "Google," at nearly two years old one of the youngest there. There was also Google's mother "Gaia," who Jane has known for 17 years.

His grandmother "Gremlin," Goodall says, is one of the oldest and most gentle chimps in the forest. She has known her since she was born in 1970.

They also spotted 12-year-old "Glitter," Google's aunt.

Today, the chimps are so used to humans they don't mind getting close.

But since it's now known that chimps can catch our infectious diseases, we had to keep a safe distance.

When Goodall arrived in the forest in 1960, she had the opposite problem.

At first, the chimps didn't want to come near her. "First they were afraid. Then they became belligerent. And then when I wouldn't go away, well, 'I guess she's ok.' They came to trust," she recalled.

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[ImABeliever2]

Can I toss in another 2 cents? Do your research: all of the so-called "missing link" ape skulls have been very tiny fragments, that have been filled in with with plaster by so-called scientists trying to "prove" evolution theory. There are many variations for skulls/bones of every [created] creature -- they find a fragment showing "variation" and right away it becomes a "missing link". Evolution is lies. God is truth. Satan is the Father of Lies and he's doing a darn good job of deceiving the non-believers (just like the Bible says he will). Anyone who wants to know the TRUTH - read God's Word, it's all there! Thanks for listening.

[elderbigggs]

Amen Brother Jesus said, "I AM the way the truth and the life, None come to the Father But by ME"

[elderbigggs]

LiberalismIsMentalIllness Sir Prince Charles of England also has big ears so what do you make of him? AND just to educate you, According to DNA NO PERSON ON THIS PLANET IS FARTHER THAN 50Th COUSIN. SO the Model for your ears came from a BLAQ AFRICA FEMALE! This can NOT be breaded out! This is who We as a people, Humans, Are! This is scientific FACT!

[elderbigggs]

Hi guys I'm back miss me?
Last time for those in the cheep seats Okay?
1, The Big Bang DID NOT EVOLVE, So by default it was designed and Created!
2, There is No WORKING MODELS TO Explain THE REASON THE PLANET HAS WATER. We should be a dead rock in space like the moon!
3, If this planet had existed for so many Billions of years WE, YOU and ME, WOULD BE WALKING ON DEAD PEOPLE BONES EVERY WHERE WE WOULD WALK! Because there would have been so many people that had lived on this planet over 100,000 years, let along billions of years. Do the math please.
OR continue to believe within the dream, illusion, religion?
That is not science but faith.
Science is not always exact, however, facts are undisputed.
Fraud is also use to deceive people to think the way of the prognosticator. Hitler said," IF YOU TELL A BIG ENOUGH LIE THEN EVERY ONE WILL BELIEVE IT." E-volutionist are not above lying or deception in order to maintain their Life styles and careers! Do we have to talk about the extinct pig's tooth? Pigs DNA IS CLOSER TO HUMANS THAN APES. DO the research. Thanks.
These are facts!

[bankersvox]

Every 5 years or so we get this propaganda. We are not the same as these ANIMALS. Since when do Chimps write music ? On occasion there is human violence that "apes" that of animals, but it is rare, and not in most of our lives. For animals, apes and chimps, it is everyday. EAting their young, eating HUMAN babies.
This ALPHA MALE ate a human baby, stole it, from a strolling mother and child, brought it up to a tree, and ATE IT in front of the screaming mother . THIS FRODO - put down ? Do , the LIBERALs needed it as a CAST MEMBER in their LIES to show how wonderful these dumb creatures are. Should have been killed.

[Agnatha]

No one is saying we are exactly the same as chimps, but your desire to elevate humans so far above ANIMALS speaks as to your approach. The idea that chimps are similar to humans seems to bother you. So are bonobos, for whom so far as I know no observed instance of infantcide has been seen. Point of reality, in many ways, including cognition, chimps are more similar to human beings than most other "animals" are to chimps and other great apes. Large brained animals with lifespans extending through multiple decades are unusual.

1) Individual chimps have killed and eaten infant chimps, but it is no more the rule for chimps than it is for humans.

2) You make a big deal of chimpanzees killing human infants. So what do you make of human beings killing chimpanzee families and eating them, including infants, or trying to sell infant chimpanzees for the illegal trade? You seem to be outraged that chimpanzees might kill humans but the inverse happens far more of the time. And horrific crimes are committed by humans against other humans, including infants, all the time. Your outrage is selective.

3) Frodo is not a domesticated animal that is "put down". He is a wild chimpanzee living in a wild chimpanzee community that is being observed by human beings. There have been steps taken to prevent what happened with the human infant from happening again. That being said, the researchers are aware of the risk of observing wild chimpanzees, and especially Frodo, who in the entire 50 year history of the Gombe research project, seems to be the only chimp who has been such a consistent threat to humans (someone involved in the research can correct me if I am wrong).

4) "Liberal" and "conservative" has nothing to do with this. Get a grip.

[bankersvox]

On eating their young... you opine.."but it is no more the rule for chimps vs. humans" ?? Are you so taken in ( you must be a college professor !) that you can't see how crazy this sounds ?

There is not enough data to judge Apes and Chimps as anything more than just another mammal, or animal. Please do not try to elevate them above that station, nor lower Humans to their level.

[liberal111]

I definitely believe in evolution and and think humans are in different phases.. Some have evolved more than others.. My belief is confirmed every time a " Republican, Right Winger, Ugly American " opens their Neandertal mouth !! They are in that phase with Chimps !!

[bankersvox]

Google FRODO and human baby killer. You may not want to read it. A human baby, taken from a back sling, and eaten by this ANIMAL. Did they kill FRODO ? of course not. DID CBS think it was important enough to MENTION in this article ??? Not at all

STORY LINE..... PROPAGANDA. What is it, about every 5 years they dust this stupid story out. See - We are just like them.... we are animals too. (See page 3), EXCEPT we do not eat our BABIES !!!

[Agnatha]

Humans do eat chimpanzees, a lot, which is a large part of the reason why they are endangered. And since I learned about Frodo killing a human infant from Jane Goodall herself, the claim you make that there is an effort of propoganda to hide this is false. In fact, I have to wonder what your point is.

Chimpanzees are not humans, no one is arguing that. But humans are capable of every bit as much darkness as chimpanzees.

[bankersvox]

No. The idea behind these every 5 years stories, is to say that we are just like animals. No we are not. When was the last time a Chimp composed a piece of music, or wrote a book ? gave their own life to save another ? We ARE NOT LIKE THEM. WE ARE SUPERIOR TO THEM. THEY ARE ANIMALS WE ARE HUMANS. BIG DIFFERNCE. WELL, IN ANOTHER 5 years they will trot out another bla bla story, leaving out the eating of a human baby. THERE has to be A BOOK deal coming up soon.

[NorthrupP61]

A lovely and touching piece, thanks.

[kmmd511]

Just because all of you lefties are threatened by any type of religion doesn't mean he's wrong. You can't prove it either way and he's entitled ot his opinion.

[pubsrtoast]

Nobody is threatened by his religion. Some of us were just considering the hypocrisy of taking one version of events totally on faith while criticizing the other for not having any "facts" to back it up. I suppose that is the nature of all religion though.

[xraeddie]

The entire world is threatened by every religion.And just because you righties always go the non-thinking ,non-analytical way and just rely on blind faith,( a good band but that's it)that doesn't mean we are threatened.I'm as afraid or threatened by religion as I am of the boogey man,Santa Claus,the Tooth Fairy or the Easter Bunny.Its sad how we have to tell our kids that that's all make believe but we have all you religious zealots running around and trying to brainwash people into following something even harder to believe. Adam and Eve,the parting of the sea,the walking on water,the ark...I mean really...I can't believe the basic tenets of a religion are so far fetched and yet the masses are brainwashed.It's actually funny but sad at the same time.

[ImABeliever2]

To xraeddie: Blind faith, baloney -- if you are born again you see all these things happen: a new creation, the burning bush, the sea is parted, walking on water and every desire comes true! Faith in the Truth is not blind. Quit attacking people who believe. The Bible is true and God loves you even though you are blinded by His enemy. Read God's Word, it's all there! God promises to reveal Himself to those who seek Him with all their heart, soul and mind. I have found it to be true so my faith is not blind! Jesus reaches out His hand to you too -- take it before it's too late !

[ImABeliever2]

I don't understand the teabagger concept nor that I sold my daughter ... ?? what's that mean? please explain monkey brain.

[ouchitatom]

I spent seven years in tanzania with special ops 101Airborne as Nato security force . I heve see a large male chimpanzee rip the door of a pickup truck because the occupant were teasing him with food and would not give it to just luring it close for photos Until the chimp had all he could handle and started with the grill and worked away around until one person opened the door and tryed to SHOO it away . That chimp twisted that door so bad it hanging by tethers and then he pulled it off and took all the food and the occupants got under the truck until the chimp left. The truck was 1981 dodge.