Jane Goodall

Somebody discovers an animal doing something that we used to think was unique to us.

There is this scientific uproar because we have to keep our uniqueness.

And of course the chimps have challenged this belief again and again and again.

There are all kinds of intellectual performances we used to think unique to us.

Abstraction, generalization, understanding and using words

abstract symbols things like this that they can they've been shown to do especially some of the careful work in captive situations and because of this and because of all the similarities in emotion happiness sadness fear because of the fact they have such very vivid personalities

They've really helped so much to blur the line that used to be perceived as sharp, dividing humans on the one hand from the rest of the animal kingdom on the other.

And it sort of gives you a new humility.

We're different, yes.

We're unique, yes.

But not as different as we used to think.

Well, I think it was.

I mean, I consciously thought that what I'd learned from watching the chimpanzee mothers was very appropriate for raising a human child.

I think one of the things that I've learned that's really significant in relation to raising human children is

is that there are very different kinds of mothering in the wild.

We find good mothers and bad mothers.

And the good mother will be attentive, protective, tolerant, playful, affectionate, and above all, supportive.

And the mother who is on the poorer end of the scale tends to be rather harsh or cold in her treatment of the baby, to be less supportive, less affectionate, less tolerant, and much less playful.

And it does seem that these maternal characteristics, along with the kind of family into which the infant is born, in other words, the whole early experience, has a tremendous influence on the type of chimpanzee that infant will become.

And we find that those with the good supportive mothers tend to be assertive, successful mothers.