Summary Of Goodall's Case Study On The Gombe Stream Chimpanzees

Goodall’s team initially encountered difficulties when attempting to study the chimpanzees on the Gombe Stream Chimpanzee Reserve. The chimpanzees were very distant and afraid of the new company. It is clear that it took quite a significant amount of time before Goodall could closely observe the chimpanzees without scaring them away. Goodall attempted to get closer observation in the beginning, but as the chimpanzees realized she was getting close they quickly fled. It was only after Goodall decided to go alone to the peak she often visited, that the chimps were less apprehensive of her presence. Previously she attempted to appear alone with her African companions by leaving them in a different area, but the chimpanzees appeared to notice what

The chimpanzees were more than interesting when it came to social relationships. The chimpanzees had wide variety of ways in which they travelled when it came to groups. There were certain times they travelled in a large group, sometimes they travelled in smaller groups of 2 or 3. Although they travelled in groups it was not difficult to identify which in the group was the more dominant individual. Amongst the male chimpanzees Goliath was initially the more dominant chimp. Other chimpanzees would often move aside for him, and this would continue until Mike became the new dominant chimpanzee. Often when the dominant male such as Goliath became angry or tense his companions were able to calm him by embracing or touching him in some way. Relationships between other members of the group were important, but family relationships were even more important. This proved to be when after attempts to wean Flint, Flo was very unsuccessful. This would be detrimental to Flint in the future. When Flo perished Flint was unable to live without her and consequently passed on

Through Goodall’s research valuable information such as the chimpanzees eating larger mammals such as a bushpig were uncovered. Goodall made a valid argument when she mentioned that the behavior of these chimpanzees may have been comparable to that of our ancient hominin ancestors. Goodall went in to observe the chimpanzees with no previous bias opinion, and this I believe attributed to her successful study of the chimpanzees. Goodall is able to in time get close enough to the chimpanzees in order to gain the knowledge and material needed in order to properly study chimpanzee behavior. Noting the compelling nature of Goodall’s research, I believe that without Goodall’s research the lack of information on chimpanzees and their behavior would be distressing. It isn’t often that we learn of a species that is deemed most biologically equivalent to us, and then find in that study that they are much similar to us. The chimpanzees live in group setting much like humans and our society. Chimpanzees also demonstrated use of tools in order to hunt for food, such as using leaf stems to fish for termites. They also demonstrated predatory behaviors in hunting and killing other larger mammals such as bushpigs, baboons, and other monkeys. In short the chimpanzee is an intriguing species that can be closely compared to