When Jane Goodall first set foot in the forests of Gombe, Tanzania, in 1960, she had no formal scientific degree, no big grants, and certainly no textbook on how to “talk" to chimpanzees. Yet, within a few years, she was being described as the woman who could understand the very language of our closest relatives.

Was it magic, instinct, or sheer patience? The truth lies in a blend of all three. Goodall didn’t learn a spoken tongue of chimps, because they don’t have one in the human sense. But she tuned herself to their world so completely that she could read meaning in gestures, postures, and sounds that most outsiders would miss.

The Starting Point: Silent Observation

Goodall began with one rule: say nothing, do nothing, just watch. At first, the chimpanzees fled at the sight of her. S

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