The Ghosts of Gombe

On July 12, 1969, Ruth Davis, a young American volunteer at Dr. Jane Goodall’s research site in Gombe Stream National Park, Tanzania, left camp to follow a chimpanzee into the forest. Six days later, her body was found floating at the base of a high waterfall. What happened? Drawing on his recent book, The Ghosts of Gombe, Dale Peterson will delve into the full story of day-to-day life at Gombe during the months preceding Ruth’s death. These months were marked by stress, excitement, social conflicts, cultural alignments, and the friendships that developed among three of the researchers and some of the chimpanzees.