In the Shadow of Man

Goodall recalls her first rainy season at camp. One rainy day, she observed several chimp males pant-hooting, dragging branches, and charging downhill in a dramatic kind of performance while the females and juveniles watched. Goodall admits, “My enthusiasm was not merely scientific as I watched, enthralled, from my grandstand seat on the opposite side of the narrow ravine […] I could only watch, and marvel at the magnificence of these splendid creatures” (53). Goodall refers to this display as a “rain dance” and reveals that she witnessed this behavior only twice in 10 years.

The rainy season presented Goodall with many challenges because the grasses grew long and prevented good viewing from the ground, while observing from trees made it difficult to stay stable and use binoculars. In addition, staying out in the cold and wet for long periods was uncomfortable. Overall, Goodall has fond memories of her first rainy season, and appreciated that the wet ground made it easier to move stealthily. She discovered that the chimps were sometimes less sensitive to being approached in the rainy weather. One day she was looking for chimps when Goliath and another male suddenly appeared in a tree above her and screamed at her, shaking branches to threaten her. Goodall remained calm, made herself small, and pretended to pick at roots, trying to seem unthreatening. A chimp charged at her, and a terrified Goodall crouched and waited until he ran away. This period of “aggression and hostility” (58) went on for five months, and in another incident, a protective male again threw branches at Goodall. Additionally, the locals shared stories about aggressive chimps; one had hit a local man in the face, causing him to lose an eye. Goodall remembers, “And so the rumor went around that I had some magic about me, that I went unharmed where others were hurt. This all helped my friendly relations with my African neighbors” (60). Over time, the chimps’ hostility decreased and Goodall was able to approach them more closely without provoking aggressive reactions.

That Spring, Goodall’s sister, Judy, came to visit her; a British paper had agreed to pay her travel expenses in return for an interview with Goodall later. The National Geographic Society, which was funding her work, wanted Judy to take photos of Goodall in the field. While the conditions were tough and the rains constant, Judy eventually got some photos of chimps using grass as tools and of Goodall’s camp life. Judy was alarmed at how thin Goodall was, since she rarely ate much and spent so much time hiking. However, it was impossible to make Goodall gain weight since she was so active. Goodall concludes this chapter by casually mentioning that Leakey secured her a place at Cambridge University to complete a PhD in ethology (the science of animal behavior).

In 1961, Goodall was in England working on her PhD at Cambridge under her supervisor, Dr. Robert Hinde. While grateful for the opportunity, she greatly missed Gombe and was preoccupied with thoughts about the chimp activity she was missing while in the UK. Before she could return to Tanzania, she had two “ordeals” that frightened her even more than aggressive chimps: She had to speak at two scientific conferences. Fortunately, when she returned to Gombe, the chimps were more comfortable with her presence than ever before. Indeed, some of them had become confident enough to walk into her camp during the day. David Graybeard began to regularly “visit” Goodall and help himself to the palm nuts from the tree at her camp. Goodall noticed that he sometimes stole fruit off her table and told her cook to leave food out that might lure the chimps in more regularly. Chimps David Graybeard, Goliath, and William regularly passed through the camp to take a banana, though sometimes menaced Goodall as they did so. As she observed their interactions more closely, she hypothesized that Goliath was the alpha male of the group. She later confirmed this when she saw the other males acquiesce to Goliath and let him access food before them. Goliath boldly threatened other chimps, too, and did things like stealing from them and claiming their sleeping nests at night. Conversely, William was one of the most subordinate males and often displayed gestures of “appeasement and submission” (68). David Graybeard wasn’t as timid as William but wasn’t as dominant as Goliath.

The National Geographic Society arranged for Dutch wildlife photographer Hugo van Lawick to come and photograph Goodall and the chimps. He’d previously documented Louis Leakey’s work in the Olduvai Gorge, and Leakey recommended that he film and photograph Goodall’s study, also noting that they might make a good couple. Goodall was pleased that when van Lawick arrived, the chimps were unbothered by his presence, and he quickly documented behaviors such as “greeting, grooming, begging for food” (70) and even eating a monkey. Goodall was surprised to witness the adult male chimps hunting and killing the colobus monkey; it was only the third time she’d witnessed the chimps eating meat. At first, the other chimps were very suspicious of van Lawick, making it difficult to document their group behaviors. David Graybeard, however, became increasingly familiar; he approached van Lawick for food and even tried to take his extra clothes from him.

While Goodall and van Lawick liked that the chimps came into camp, it was problematic when the baboons began to do the same thing, bringing them into competitive conflict with the chimps. A fight between the baboons and chimps that van Lawick filmed is one of the few recorded instances of baboon-chimp conflict. Eventually, he was able to film their tool use at the termite mounds too. After a couple months’ work, he left the camp, and Goodall missed his companionship: “Together we had roasted in the sun and shivered under plastic covering in the rain. In Hugo I knew I had found a kindred spirit—one who had a deep appreciation and understanding of animals” (75).

That Christmas, Goodall set out piles of bananas, and William, Goliath and David Graybeard came to feed on them. She sat so close to David that she could reach out and “groom” him, which he tolerated momentarily . For Goodall, this was special, “a Christmas gift to treasure” (76). In the following weeks, Goodall was concerned about the chimp William, who was very sick and had a bad cough. She offered him fruit and followed him around. One day, he came into camp and stole the cook’s blanket from his tent; it was the last time Goodall ever saw him.