Jane Goodall, the celebrated primatologist and conservationist, has died
[October 02, 2025]
By HALLIE GOLDEN
Jane Goodall, the intellectual, soft-spoken conservationist renowned for
her groundbreaking, immersive chimpanzee field research in which she
documented the primates' distinct personalities and use of tools, has
died. She was 91.
The environmental advocate became a beloved household name who
transcended generations through her appearances in documentaries and on
television, as well as her travels to address packed auditoriums around
the world.
The Jane Goodall Institute announced the primatologist's death Wednesday
in an Instagram post. According to the Washington, D.C.-based institute,
Goodall died of natural causes while in California on a U.S. speaking
tour.
Her discoveries “revolutionized science, and she was a tireless advocate
for the protection and restoration of our natural world," it said.
While living among chimpanzees in Africa decades ago, Goodall documented
them doing activities previously believed to be exclusive to humans. Her
observations and subsequent magazine and documentary appearances in the
1960s transformed how the world perceived not only humans' closest
living biological relatives but also the emotional and social complexity
of all animals, while propelling her into the public consciousness.
“Out there in nature by myself, when you’re alone, you can become part
of nature and your humanity doesn’t get in the way,” she told The
Associated Press in 2021. “It’s almost like an out-of-body experience
when suddenly you hear different sounds and you smell different smells
and you’re actually part of this amazing tapestry of life.”
Goodall never lost hope for the future
She had been scheduled to meet with students and teachers on Wednesday
to launch the planting of 5,000 trees around wildfire burn zones in the
Los Angeles area. Organizers learned of her death as the event was to
begin at EF Academy in Pasadena, said spokesperson Shawna Marino. The
first tree was planted in Goodall’s name after a moment of silence.
“I don’t think there’s any better way to honor her legacy than having a
thousand children gathered for her,” Marino said.
Goodall in her later years devoted decades to education and advocacy on
humanitarian causes and protecting the natural world. In her British
accent, she was known for balancing the grim realities of the climate
crisis with a sincere message of hope for the future.
From her base in the British coastal town of Bournemouth, she traveled
nearly 300 days a year, even after she turned 90, for public speeches.
Between more serious messages, her speeches often featured her whooping
like a chimpanzee or lamenting that Tarzan chose the wrong Jane.
Tributes from animal rights organizations, political leaders and
admirers poured in following news of her death.
“I’m deeply saddened to learn about the passing of Jane Goodall, our
dear Messenger of Peace. She is leaving an extraordinary legacy for
humanity & our planet," said United Nations Secretary-General António
Guterres.
Nature broadcaster Chris Packham reflected on her relentless advocacy
until the very end.
“In many ways Jane just died on the job,” he said. “The job that her
life became. And that was protecting life on earth.”
Living among the chimpanzees
While first studying chimps in Tanzania in the early 1960s, Goodall was
known for her unconventional approach. She didn’t simply observe them
from afar but immersed herself in every aspect of their lives. She fed
them and gave them names instead of numbers, which some scientists
criticized.
Her findings were circulated to millions when she first appeared on the
cover of National Geographic in 1963 and then in a popular documentary.
A collection of photos of Goodall in the field helped her and even some
of the chimps become famous. One iconic image showed her crouching
across from the infant chimpanzee named Flint. Each has arms
outstretched, reaching for the other.
In 1972, the Sunday Times published an obituary for Flo, Flint's mother
and the dominant matriarch. Flint died soon after showing signs of grief
and losing weight.
″What the chimps have taught me over the years is they’re so like us.
They’ve blurred the line between humans and animals,″ she said in 1997.
University of St. Andrews primatologist Catherine Hobaiter, who studies
communication in chimpanzees, said that when she first heard Goodall
speak, it transformed her view of science.
“It was the first time as a young scientist working with wild apes and
wild chimpanzees that I got to hear that it was OK to feel something,”
she said.
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President Joe Biden, right, presents the Presidential Medal of
Freedom, the Nation's highest civilian honor, to conservationist
Jane Goodall in the East Room of the White House, Jan. 4, 2025, in
Washington. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta, File)
 Goodall earned top civilian honors
from a number of countries. She was awarded the Presidential Medal
of Freedom in 2025 by then-U.S. President Joe Biden and in 2021 won
the prestigious Templeton Prize, which honors individuals whose
life’s work embodies a fusion of science and spirituality.
The Humane World for Animals said Wednesday that Goodall’s influence
on the animal protection community was immeasurable.
“Her work on behalf of primates and all animals will never be
forgotten,” said Kitty Block, president and CEO of the group
formerly the Humane Society of the United States and Humane Society
International.
Charting a course from an early age
Born in London in 1934, Goodall said her fascination with animals
began around when she learned to crawl. In her book, “In the Shadow
of Man,” she described an early memory of hiding in a henhouse to
see a chicken lay an egg. She was there so long her mother reported
her missing to police.
She bought her first book — Edgar Rice Burroughs’ “Tarzan of the
Apes” — when she was 10 and soon made up her mind about her future:
Live with wild animals in Africa.
That plan stayed with her through a secretarial course when she was
18 and two different jobs. By 1957, she accepted an invitation to
travel to a farm in Kenya.
There she met the famed anthropologist and paleontologist Louis
Leakey at a natural history museum in Nairobi. He gave her a job as
an assistant secretary.
Three years later, despite Goodall not having a college degree,
Leakey asked if she would be interested in studying chimpanzees in
what is now Tanzania. She told the AP that he chose her “because he
wanted an open mind.”
The beginning was filled with complications. British authorities
insisted she have a companion, so she brought her mother. The chimps
fled if she got within 500 yards (460 meters) of them. She also
spent weeks sick from what she believed was malaria.
Eventually she gained the animals’ trust. By the fall of 1960 she
observed the chimpanzee named David Greybeard make a tool from twigs
to fish termites from a nest. It was previously believed that only
humans made and used tools.
She also found that chimps have individual personalities and share
humans’ emotions of pleasure, joy, sadness and fear. She documented
bonds between mothers and infants, sibling rivalry and male
dominance. She found there was no sharp line between humans and the
animal kingdom.
In later years, she discovered chimpanzees engage in a type of
warfare, and in 1987 she and her staff observed a chimp “adopt” a
3-year-old orphan that wasn't closely related.
Becoming an activist
Her work moved into global advocacy after she watched a disturbing
film of experiments on laboratory animals in 1986.
″I knew I had to do something,″ she said. ″It was payback time.″
When the COVID-19 pandemic hit in 2020 and halted her in-person
events, she began podcasting from her childhood home in England.
Through dozens of “Jane Goodall Hopecast” episodes, she talked with
guests including U.S. Sen. Cory Booker, author Margaret Atwood and
marine biologist Ayana Elizabeth Johnson.
“If one wants to reach people; If one wants to change attitudes, you
have to reach the heart," she said during her first episode. "You
can reach the heart by telling stories, not by arguing with people’s
intellects.”
In later years, she pushed back on “gloom and doom” messaging and
aggressive tactics by climate activists, saying they could backfire.
Her advice: “Focus on the present and make choices today whose
impact will build over time.”
___
Associated Press journalists Christopher Weber in Los Angeles; Tammy
Webber in Fenton, Michigan; and Christina Larson in Washington
contributed.
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