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Jane Goodall

Curled like a dog, an ape dozes. He will vary sleeping positions, but prefers the side.

Perched 1,500 feet above a precipitous valley, 29-year-old Jane Goodall sights chimpanzees afar, then moves in among them. Equipped with blanket, flashlight, tinned beans, and coffee, she often stays out alone all night to observe primate sleeping habits. She took her own picture by using a delayed exposure.

Prey clamped in teeth, a meat-eating ape hurries to cross an exposed ridge. Chimpanzees in the Gombe region kill game for food, Miss Goodall found, thus upsetting a widely held belief that wild chimps eat no meat. This one, uneasy in open ground, flees with the remains of a colobus monkey.

Nesting chimpanzee seeks solace by chewing on a towel he stole from the author.

Rainy weather routine: To escape the cold, damp ground, two mature males rest among branches in freshly built day nests, but they make no effort to take shelter from the rain. In the dry season, usually from May through September, the animals prefer to nap in the shade of trees.

In friendly persuasion, David nudges a restraining arm, hoping to get at bananas in a hinged box, the camp's only chimp-proof storage. Wild chimpanzees are normally gentle; this contrasts with the dangerously bad tempers many males develop in captivity.

Cooperative endeavor to chew up a cardboard box belies a common notion that a dominant male always drives away lesser competitors. Meeting in the wild, large groups call loudly, screaming with excitement and drumming on trees, but mingle without fighting. Here Goliath stands while William (left) munches and David ponders a bite.

Balancing in a tree, apes groom each other. Remarkably free of fleas, these chimps pick out seeds, dirt, burrs, and ticks. Among adults, mutual grooming takes as much as two hours of leisure time daily.

A bellicose youngster glares down from a fig-tree larder. Toes gripping a slender branch, Spray stretches high to reach fruit-bearing sprigs. Thick side whiskers identify him and fellow troupers as the long-haired, or eastern, chimpanzee. This animal is about six years old.

Dining at a forest buffet, David peels away the outer layer of reed and munches its juicy core. Plumed plant bears the local name.