Jane Goodall understands better than most the impact humans have had on the planet. The world, the primatologist says, isn’t what it used to be. Having witnessed so much environmental deterioration during her lifetime, today Goodall is as much an activist as a scientist. She warns tirelessly of accelerating environmental devastation, vanishing biodiversity, and rapidly intensifying climate change. “When I began, there weren’t such problems,” she says.
At 26, Goodall ventured into the Tanzanian rainforests—where the now-famous Gombe National Park was established a few years later—to study chimpanzees. Her years of meticulous observation deepened our understanding of these animals and their similarities to us. Among her most significant discoveries was