The world has bid farewell to Dame Jane Goodall, the pioneering British primatologist, anthropologist, and conservationist whose groundbreaking research on chimpanzees forever changed our understanding of our closest animal relatives. Goodall died of natural causes on October 1, 2025, in California while on a speaking tour of the United States, according to statements from the Jane Goodall Institute and multiple news outlets, including BBC and ABC News. She was 91 years old.
Goodall’s journey into the wild began with a childhood dream. Born in 1934 and raised in London and Bournemouth, she was inspired by books like "Tarzan" and "Doctor Dolittle" and a beloved toy gorilla. These early fascinations, as she told ABC News, set her on a path that would eventually lead her deep into the forests of Tanzania. At just 26, having saved enough for a boat trip to Kenya, she met renowned anthropologist Louis Leakey and his wife Mary. That fateful encounter launched her into the heart of Africa, where she would conduct the research that made her a household name.
Goodall’s work in Tanzania’s Gombe Stream National Park began in 1960, and it didn’t take long for her to start turning scientific dogma on its head. With patience and empathy, she observed chimpanzees not as mere numbers, but as individuals—naming them, watching their personalities unfold, and documenting their intricate social lives. One of her most famous discoveries came when she witnessed a chimpanzee named David Greybeard using a stick to fish termites out of a mound. Until then, tool use was considered a uniquely human trait. As BBC reported, "Her observations challenged years of conventional scientific thinking and shaped the future of evolutionary science."
Goodall’s research revealed that chimpanzees form strong family bonds, engage in warfare over territory, and display a range of emotions and behaviors once thought exclusive to humans. "Their behavior, with their gestures, kissing, embracing, holding hands and patting on the back... The fact that they can actually be violent and brutal and have a kind of war, but also loving and altruistic," Goodall told ABC News in 2020. These insights, published in leading journals and splashed across the cover of National Geographic in 1965, revolutionized science and captivated the public imagination.
Despite lacking formal scientific training, Goodall’s meticulous fieldwork earned her a PhD in ethology from the University of Cambridge in 1966—remarkably, without first having an undergraduate degree. Her thesis covered the first five years of her study at Gombe and set a new standard for animal behavior research. She later established the Gombe Stream chimpanzee reserve, a sanctuary that remains central to primate research today.
Goodall’s approach—getting close to her subjects, naming them, and referring to them as friends—was unconventional and even scoffed at by some, mostly male, scientists of her era. But her methods proved invaluable. As naturalist Chris Packham told Sky News, "She knew them all as individuals. She knew their personalities. She watched them grow and mature and watch those personalities change. She was able to record things which had probably been glimpsed before but certainly never documented in the way that she was able to do so."
Her scientific achievements were just the beginning. Goodall’s tireless advocacy for conservation and animal welfare became a defining feature of her life. In 1977, she founded the Jane Goodall Institute, headquartered in Washington, D.C., with offices in 25 cities worldwide. The institute’s mission: to improve the treatment and understanding of primates and to promote conservation through public education and legal action.
Goodall also recognized the importance of inspiring the next generation. In 1991, she launched Roots & Shoots, a global humanitarian and environmental program for young people, and spent decades traveling the world to speak on behalf of wildlife and the planet. She was known for her relentless schedule; as she told The Times in 2022, she hadn’t slept in the same bed for more than three weeks since 1986. Even into her 80s and 90s, she was still on the move, lending her voice to urgent environmental causes.
Her advocacy extended to the climate crisis. In 2019, Goodall warned, "We are definitely at a point where we need to make something happen. We are imperiled. We have a window of time. I'm fairly sure we do. But, we've got to take action." She partnered with Apple in 2022 to promote device recycling, emphasizing that "it is possible to make money without destroying the planet. We've gone so far in destroying the planet that it's shocking."
Goodall’s influence reached far beyond the scientific community. She appeared in numerous National Geographic programs, authored more than 30 books, and even made a cameo on The Simpsons. In 2022, Mattel honored her with a special edition Barbie doll—dressed in khaki, binoculars in hand—crafted from ocean-bound plastic. "My entire career, I've wanted to help inspire kids to be curious and explore the world around them," she said at the time.
Her pioneering work also paved the way for women in science and conservation. According to The Jane Goodall Institute, the number of women in STEM fields increased from 7% to 26% over six decades. She was widely recognized as a trailblazer, inspiring the likes of Dian Fossey and generations of female scientists.
Tributes poured in from around the globe following her passing. The United Nations called her "a visionary humanitarian, scientist, friend to the planet, and friend to us," while Greenpeace described her as "one of the true conservation giants of our time." The Duke and Duchess of Sussex remembered her as someone whose "commitment to changing lives extends beyond what the world saw, and also to what we personally felt." Actor Leonardo DiCaprio hailed her as "a true hero for the planet," and former Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau said, "her compassion will live on" in future conservation work.
Goodall’s honors were many: she was appointed Commander and later Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire, received the French Legion of Honor, Japan’s Kyoto Prize, and the U.S. Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2025. She is survived by her son, Hugo Eric Louis van Lawick—born from her marriage to wildlife cameraman Hugo van Lawick—and three grandchildren. Her second husband, Tanzanian parliament member Derek Bryceson, died in 1980.
Up until her final days, Jane Goodall was still sharing her message and her hope for the future. As she reflected in her later years, "Surely people want a future for their children." The world has indeed lost a hero, but her legacy—of scientific discovery, compassion, and action—will continue to inspire generations to come.
