ABSTRACT
Chimpanzees, in many ways, serve as ambassadors from the animal kingdom to the world of humans – as a bridge between ‘man’ and ‘beast’. I began my study of the Gombe chimpanzees, living on the eastern shore of Lake Tanganyika, in Tanzania, in 1960. During the 46 years of continuous study since then, we have learned much of enormous significance, both for the understanding of chimpanzees and their complex society, and for the understanding of many aspects of our own behaviour and our relationship with the rest of the animal kingdom. Perhaps the most significant findings are those that show just how like us chimpanzees actually are.
