Protectionist Jane Goodall passed away at 91
Chimpanzee researcher Jane Goodall died of natural causes, the conservation organization she founded.
The legendary chimpanzee researcher Jane Goodall has passed away. The conservation organization she founded was announced on October 1st.
Goodall, 91, died of natural causes when she was in California, according to the Jane Goodall Institute.
“Dr. Goodall’s discoveries as an ethologist revolutionized science, and she was a tireless advocate for the protection and recovery of our natural world,” the institute said in a statement on social media.
British ethologists – scientists studying animal behavior in habitats – did not receive formal training when they set out to study chimpanzees that would become Gombestream National Park in Tanzania, Africa, in the early 1960s. She thanked some of the National Geographic documentaries on her fieldwork and used the status of science celebrity to promote conservation efforts for chimpanzees and other endangered species through her foundation of the same name.
“We are a part of it and passionately cares about the natural world we depend on, and I love it.
Who was Jane Goodall?
Born in London, England in 1934, Goodall was fascinated by animals in his youth. In 1957 she traveled to Kenya, where she met the British paleontologist and archaeologist Louis Leakey.
Goodall became his secretary and eventually joined a field expedition studying chimpanzees on the shores of Lake Tanganyika in Gombe National Park, Tanzania, East Africa.
There she used grass stalks to observe chimpanzees and pull termites from the food mound. It said that it shattered the mainstream scientific belief that only humans created and used tools, “is considered one of the greatest achievements of 20th century scholarships.”
The National Geographic Society funded the study of Goodall’s chimpanzees and documented her efforts along photographer Hugo Van Rooke. Goodall and Van Lawick later married in March 1964, and the 1965 documentary “Miss Goodall and the Wild Chimpanzees” attracted an estimated 25 million viewers in North America with its first broadcast on CBS.
The couple had one Hugo Eric Louis Van Lawick, known as “Grub,” and divorced in 1974. In 1975 she married Derek Bryceson, who died in 1980.
Goodall, a messenger of UN peace, was appointed to the British Empire dam in 2003 and was awarded the US Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2025.
Goodall” has tirelessly worked for our planet and all its inhabitants, leaving an extraordinary legacy for humanity and nature,” the United Nations said in a post on social media mourning her death.
Jane Goodall spent her life and focused on studying chimpanzees
Goodall has published over 30 books, appeared in more documentaries, and continues to expand his research on chimpanzees.
After receiving the prestigious Templeton Award in 2021, awarded to celebrities such as Mother Teresa, the Dalai Lama and South Africa’s Archbishop Desmond Tutu from 1972, Goodall told USA Today from the home where she lived that she was “never planned” to grow up and become such an iconic figure.
“There are basically two Janes, this is the one I’m talking to you right now, sitting here and looking at my childhood, the other one is there.
“I’ve come to the point of responding to what’s there, realizing that I’ve been given a gift and that I have to continue to make the most of my abilities,” added Goodall.
As a pioneer in her field, Goodall has set a path for many other women to follow in her footsteps, including the late Dianne Fossey and Birte Mary Gardica. The trio, who studied primates and counted Leakey as leaders, became known as the Trimeet or Leakey Angels.
Gardikas told USA Today that he was in a “absolute shock” over the news of Goodall’s death. She remembered her first meeting with Goodall in London over 50 years ago, and had been in contact over the years, often talking together and supporting each other’s work.
“What she did to protect her chimpanzees is extraordinary, so she was truly extraordinary,” Gardikas said. “She was an inspiration. It takes not only thousands, but perhaps millions. And her legacy will never die. Her legacy will last forever.”
In 1977, she founded the J-Good All Institute, continuing her long-term research on chimpanzees in Gombe, boosting the conservation efforts of other species around the world. Founded in 1991, the Roots & Shoots program involves young people in local efforts to protect animals and the environment.
“Every day we live, we have an impact on the world. Most of us have a choice of how we will affect us,” Goodall told Detroit Free Press, part of the USA Today network, during a conversation tour stop in September. “Hope is not a hopeful idea. I say to people, “Find what you can do in your community. Do that. Have your friends support you. Make sure you can make a difference. Know that other people like you are making a difference, all around the world, and others, like you, are making a difference.”
Contributions: Karen Weintraub and Reuters
(This story has been updated to add new information.))
