November 4, 1960
Jane Goodall first observed chimpanzees creating tools. At Gombe Stream National Park in Tanzania, she observed two chimps pick up small twigs, strip off the leaves, and use them as tools to fish for termites in the ground to eat for a snack. This was the first time that an animal was observed to modify an object to create a tool to use for a specific purpose. “It isn’t only human beings who have personality, who are capable of rational thought [and] emotions like joy and sorrow,” she later noted.
