Jane Goodall, the pioneering primatologist and tireless global advocate for wildlife and the environment, has died at the age of 91. The Jane Goodall Institute announced on Wednesday that she passed away of natural causes in California while on a speaking tour.
“Dr. Goodall’s discoveries as an ethologist revolutionized science, and she was a tireless advocate for the protection and restoration of our natural world,” the institute said in a tribute posted on Instagram.
Goodall’s remarkable journey began in London in 1934 and led her from England’s southern coast to the forests of East Africa, where she became one of the world’s most influential scientists.
Arriving in Kenya in 1957, she was mentored by famed anthropologist Louis Leakey, who later sent her to the Gombe Stream Reserve in present-day Tanzania.
There, Goodall made groundbreaking discoveries about chimpanzee behavior, documenting their use of tools, complex family bonds, hunting practices, and even inter-group conflicts.
Her work shattered scientific norms by giving chimpanzees names rather than numbers and acknowledging their individual personalities and emotions. “We have found that after all there isn’t a sharp line dividing humans from the rest of the animal kingdom,” she said in a 2002 TED Talk.
Through a decades-long collaboration with National Geographic, Goodall’s chimpanzees became household names, most famously David Greybeard, her first close subject. Her research transformed primatology and opened the door for future generations of women scientists, including Dian Fossey.
In 1977, she founded the Jane Goodall Institute, expanding her mission from research to global conservation. Over the years, she evolved into a leading environmental activist, warning of deforestation, climate change, and biodiversity loss.
She also launched Roots & Shoots, a youth-focused program that has inspired generations to pursue conservation work.
Goodall authored more than 30 books, including Reason for Hope: A Spiritual Journey, and spent much of her later life traveling up to 300 days a year, meeting world leaders, communities, and students.
Even in her final days, she remained active, speaking at Climate Week in New York just last week.
Her contributions earned her numerous accolades, including being named a Dame of the British Empire in 2003 and receiving the U.S. Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2025.
Goodall was married twice, to wildlife cameraman Hugo van Lawick, with whom she had her only son, Hugo “Grub” van Lawick, and later to Tanzanian politician Derek Bryceson. Both preceded her in death.
Reflecting on her life’s work, Goodall often emphasized hope. “Yes, there is hope. It’s in our hands, it’s in your hands and my hands and those of our children,” she said in 2002. “It’s really up to us.”
Her legacy, a blend of science, compassion, and environmental activism, will continue to shape how humanity understands both itself and its place in the natural world.
Source: Reuters
Written By Rodney Mbua
