Conservationist and Primate Expert Jane Goodall Dies at 91

Renowned conservationist Jane Goodall has died at the age of 91.

Goodall was not only a pioneering scientist but also an outspoken advocate who taught the world about the similarities between humans and other primates and raised awareness about the threats posed by climate change, poaching, and habitat destruction. (Photo: Dr. Jane Goodall Facebook)

She spent decades studying and advocating for chimpanzees, becoming the world’s leading expert on our closest primate relatives. She leaves behind a towering legacy of empathy and care for the natural world.

According to an October 1 statement from the Jane Goodall Institute, she died of natural causes while in California on a speaking tour, Leah Crane reported for New Scientist.

Goodall began studying chimpanzees at Gombe Stream National Park in Tanzania in 1960, making monumental strides in understanding their behaviors and group dynamics.

Over the following 65 years, she became not only a pioneering scientist but also an outspoken advocate, teaching the world about the similarities between humans and other primates and raising awareness about the threats posed by climate change, poaching, and habitat destruction.

In 1977, she established the Jane Goodall Institute, a nonprofit dedicated to studying and protecting primates and their habitats while increasing public understanding of the natural world.

Over time, the institute’s mission expanded to include community health initiatives across Africa and even the creation of a committee dedicated to protecting whales.

Goodall also served as founder or board member of countless other environmental initiatives. She credited her extraordinary patience as key to her success.

“There were moments when I was depressed, and the chimps were running away, and I was a long time in the field. I thought: oh bother, drat. [But] if I’d given up, I would never have forgiven myself. I could never live with myself,” she told New Scientist in 2022.