Jane Goodall, one of the world’s most prolific primatologists, has died at the age of 91.
Dr Goodall, who became known for her work with apes and environmental campaigning, died in California while she was on a speaking tour in the United States.”
A spokesman from her institute 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.
“Dr. Goodall’s discoveries as an ethologist revolutionized science, and she was a tireless advocate for the protection and restoration of our natural world.”
Dr Goodall, pictured in 1995
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The primatologist-turned-conservationist spun her love of wildlife into a life-long campaign that took her from a seaside English village to Africa and then across the globe in a quest to better understand chimpanzees, as well as the role that humans play in safeguarding their habitat and the planet’s health overall.
Goodall was a pioneer in her field, both as a female scientist in the 1960s and for her work studying the behavior of primates. She created a path for a string of other women to follow suit, including the late Dian Fossey.
She also drew the public into the wild, partnering with the National Geographic Society to bring her beloved chimps into their lives through film, TV and magazines.
She upended scientific norms of the time, giving chimpanzees names instead of numbers, observing their distinct personalities, and incorporating their family relationships and emotions into her work. She also found that, like humans, they use tools.
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Dr Jane Goodall was one of the world’s most famous expert on chimps
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Born in London in 1934 and then growing up in Bournemouth on England’s south coast, Goodall had long dreamed of living among wild animals.
She said her passion for animals, stoked by the gift of a stuffed toy gorilla from her father, grew as she immersed herself in books such as “Tarzan” and “Dr. Dolittle.”
She set her dreams aside after leaving school, unable to afford university. She worked as a secretary and then for a film company until a friend’s invitation to visit Kenya put the jungle, and its inhabitants, within reach.
After saving up money for the journey, by boat, Goodall arrived in the East African nation in 1957. There, an encounter with famed anthropologist and paleontologist Dr Louis Leakey and his wife, archaeologist Mary Leakey, set her on course to work with primates.
Under Dr Leakey, Goodall set up the Gombe Stream Chimpanzee Reserve, later renamed the Gombe Stream Research Centre, near Lake Tanganyika in present-day Tanzania.
There she discovered chimpanzees ate meat, fought fierce wars, and perhaps most importantly, fashioned tools in order to eat termites.
British primatologist and UN peace ambassador Jane Goodall, the world’s famous authority on chimpanzees has died
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As her career evolved, she shifted her focus from primatology to climate advocacy after witnessing widespread habitat devastation, urging the world to take quick and urgent action on climate change.
“We’re forgetting that were part of the natural world,” she told CNN in 2020. “There’s still a window of time.”
In 2003, she was appointed a Dame of the British Empire.
She received the US Presidential Medal of Freedom earlier this year.
Jane Goodall sits outdoors and studies an African baboon, 1974.
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A United Nations spokesman said: “The scientist, conservationist and UN Messenger of Peace worked tirelessly for our planet and all its inhabitants, leaving an extraordinary legacy for humanity and nature.”
Journalist Nicky Campbell wrote on social media: “She gave us so much. She gave her beloved chimps so much. She helped us understand them. And thereby understand ourselves. May this gentle, kind, wise and wonderful woman rest in peace.”
More to follow…