In Tanzania, the chimps are isolated in a very tiny patch of forest. I flew over it 13 years ago and realized that, basically, all the trees had gone, that people all around the park are struggling to survive. It became very clear that there was no way to protect the chimps while the people were in this dire circumstance.

If you catch somebody doing something wrong, he will just cringe away and curl up. He will not listen anymore. Instead, he will think of how he can counterattack.

The cheapest and most efficient way of slowing down global warming is to protect and restore the forests, particularly the tropical forests

Certainly it's very often true that women tend to be a bit quieter and more prepared to sit there and let the animal tell you things.

There are many people out there (me being one of them) who can vouch that animals have feelings; they feel compassion and love, as well as pain!

It was because the chimps are so eye-catching, so like us and teach us so much that my work was recognised worldwide.

I do not want to discuss evolution in such depth, however, only touch on it from my own perspective: from the moment when I stood on the Serengeti plains holding the fossilized bones of ancient creatures in my hands to the moment when, staring into the eyes of a chimpanzee, I saw a thinking, reasoning personality looking back. You may not believe in evolution, and that is all right. How we humans came to be the way we are is far less important than how we should act now to get out of the mess we have made for ourselves.