The primate behavior Jane Goodall first observed that changed scientific understanding was tool use. In 1960 at Gombe, Tanzania, she watched a chimpanzee later known as David Greybeard strip or place blades of grass into a termite mound and pull them out with termites attached.
The observation challenged a powerful scientific assumption: that humans were the only animals capable of making and using tools. Louis Leakey famously suggested that the discovery required scientists to rethink the definition of “human.” Goodall’s work also showed that chimpanzees could modify an object for a specific purpose, rather than merely use whatever happened to be nearby.
Her findings were especially important because they came from a wild animal behaving naturally, not from a captive chimpanzee trained by humans. She later documented other forms of chimpanzee tool use, including using leafy twigs to fish for insects and sticks in food-related activities.
Tool use was only one part of Goodall’s broader contribution. Her observations also revealed chimpanzee hunting, social bonds, conflict, communication, and individual personalities, helping establish modern primatology.