Jane Goodall, Famed Primatologist and Conservationist, Dies at 91

Dr. Jane Goodall, the revered primatologist and global conservation icon, has reportedly died at the age of 91.

She was on a speaking tour in California when she died, per her eponymous institute. Her death now marks a grave loss in the environmental science and animal behavior world, as she was a pioneer in influencing the understanding of primates.

According to Newsweek, her research in Gombe, Tanzania, proved groundbreaking in primatology as it challenged scientific assumptions that were long thought to be true. She was just 26 years old when she traveled from England at the time, on a mission to learn about chimpanzees.

Jane Goodall's life and legacy explored:

According to Jane Goodall's official website, the late icon sought to learn more about primates on a trip to the trenches of Gombe, a forest in Tanzania, in July 1960.

"Through nearly 60 years of groundbreaking work, Dr. Jane Goodall has not only shown us the urgent need to protect chimpanzees from extinction; she has also redefined species conservation to include the needs of local people and the environment," the page states.

It was her discovery at the time that the primates make and use tools that shaped the knowledge for generations of scientists.

In a post on social media announcing her demise, her foundation said:

"The Jane Goodall Institute has learned this morning, Wednesday, October 1, 2025, that Dr. Jane Goodall DBE, UN Messenger of Peace and Founder of the Jane Goodall Institute, has passed away due to natural causes."

According to People Magazine, her institute continued:

"Dr. Goodall’s discoveries as an ethologist revolutionized science, and she was a tireless advocate for the protection and restoration of our natural world.”

Speaking with ABC News in 2020, Goodall explained that one of her most surprising discoveries in her 1960 trip was "how like us" chimpanzees are.

"Their behavior, with their gestures, kissing, embracing, holding hands and patting on the back," she said. "The fact that they can actually be violent and brutal and have a kind of war, but also loving and altruistic."

Speaking with People magazine that same year, Goodall said of her learnings:

"We have learned so much. We've learned how alike chimpanzees are to us, which has changed science perception. In the early 1960s, I was told that the difference between people and animals was one of kind. We were on a pinnacle, and there was an unbridgeable chasm between us and the rest of the animal kingdom."

However, based on her observations indicating otherwise,

"that reductionist way of thinking began to crumble and now we have a different way of thinking about our relationship with all the other animals," she said. "Hopefully, we can begin a new era of our relationship with other animals. But we're not there yet."

Goodall spent her final years rallying for immediate action against the worsening climate crisis.

“We’re forgetting that were part of the natural world,” she told CNN in 2020. “There’s still a window of time.”

Goodall was appointed a Dame of the British Empire in 2003, and just this year, she was honored with the US Presidential Medal of Freedom. She launched the Jane Goodall Institute, a nonprofit organization, in 1977. It aims to fund research in Gombe and conservation and developmental efforts across Africa, though its goals have since expanded worldwide.

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