While Google Maps is a helpful tool to find your way around, you can also use it to observe chimpanzees in the African rainforest. The Street View feature now takes users into Tanzania's Gombe Stream National Park. Within the 20-square-mile park lives the chimpanzee population that famous primatologist Jane Goodall started working with in 1961.
Google partnered with the Jane Goodall Institute to obtain images of the park. Smithsonian Magazine reports that the team spent nine days hiking through the rainforest and took over 490,000 photos. In lieu of the cars usually used to capture images, two members of the group wore 40-pound backpacks with cameras that snapped a picture every 2.5 seconds. By using Street View throughout the park, you can see chimps flying through the trees, a mother chimp carrying her daughter on her back, and baboons hanging out by Lake Tanganyika.
When Goodall started her research at Gombe over 50 years ago, she was the first to observe that chimps create and use their own tools like humans do. Unfortunately, the chimpanzee population is declining due to deforestation. Goodall hopes that being able to see these creatures in the wild will encourage people to support conservation efforts to preserve their habitats.
"When I went to Gombe, I set out to observe and learn about the amazing chimpanzees who make their home there," Goodall said in a statement. "I hope that your journey through this website and the Street View imagery takes you on a similar voyage of learning and discovery."
Previous Street View treks have produced stunning images of wonders such as the pyramids of Giza, Angkor Wat, and the Galapagos Islands. Allison Lieber, Google's project manager for the Gombe trek, said that Gombe was their most challenging expedition to date. Considering how few people get to travel to Tanzania to see chimpanzees in their natural habitat, it was well worth it.
