Jane Goodall's Legacy: Revolutionary Chimpanzee Research and Environmental Advocacy That Changed Our Understanding of the Natural World

Jane Goodall, the pioneering conservationist celebrated for her revolutionary chimpanzee research and worldwide environmental advocacy, has passed away at 91.

The Jane Goodall Institute announced her death in an Instagram post on Wednesday, marking the end of an extraordinary life devoted to understanding and protecting the natural world.

During her groundbreaking work living among chimpanzees in Africa, Goodall documented the animals using tools and exhibiting behaviors previously thought unique to humans. She also observed their distinct personalities, fundamentally transforming how humanity viewed not only our closest biological relatives but also the emotional complexity of all animals.

"When you're alone in nature, you can become part of it and your humanity doesn't get in the way," Goodall told The Associated Press in 2021. "It's almost like an out-of-body experience when suddenly you hear different sounds and smell different smells and you're actually part of this amazing tapestry of life."

In her later decades, Goodall dedicated herself to education and advocacy for humanitarian causes and environmental protection. Speaking in her characteristic gentle British accent, she balanced stark climate crisis realities with genuine messages of hope.

From her home in Bournemouth, UK, she maintained a grueling travel schedule into her 90s, speaking to packed venues worldwide. Her presentations often included her mimicking chimpanzee calls or playfully lamenting that Tarzan had chosen "the wrong Jane."

Goodall's research approach was revolutionary. Rather than observing chimpanzees from a distance, she immersed herself in their daily lives, named them instead of using numbers, and established relationships with them—methods that initially drew criticism from traditional scientists.

Her work reached millions after appearing on National Geographic's cover in 1963 and in subsequent documentaries. One iconic photograph showed her crouching opposite the infant chimpanzee Flint, both reaching toward each other—a powerful symbol of cross-species connection.

In 1972, when the dominant matriarch Flo died, her passing was reported in the Sunday Times. Her son Flint died weeks later showing signs of grief, refusing food 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 told AP in 1997.

Goodall received numerous honors, including Britain's highest civilian award, the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2025 from President Biden, and the prestigious Templeton Prize in 2021, which recognized how her "groundbreaking discoveries have changed humanity's understanding of its role in an interconnected world."

She served as a UN Messenger of Peace and authored numerous books, including her bestselling autobiography "Reason for Hope."

Born in London in 1934, Goodall's fascination with animals began in early childhood. She once hid in a henhouse for so long watching a chicken lay an egg that her worried mother reported her missing to police.

After reading "Tarzan of the Apes" at age ten, she determined to live among wild animals in Africa—a dream she pursued through secretarial school and various jobs until traveling to Kenya in 1957.

There she met renowned anthropologist Louis Leakey at Nairobi's natural history museum and became his assistant. Three years later, despite lacking formal academic credentials, Leakey asked her to study chimpanzees in Tanzania, later explaining he chose her "because he wanted an open mind."

Her early fieldwork was challenging. British authorities insisted she bring a companion (initially her mother), the chimpanzees avoided her, and she battled what she believed was malaria without medication.

Eventually gaining the animals' trust, she observed the chimpanzee David Greybeard creating tools from twigs to extract termites—behavior previously considered uniquely human. She documented individual personalities, emotional expressions, mother-infant bonds, sibling rivalry, and dominance structures, demonstrating that the line between humans and animals was far less distinct than previously believed.

Her later observations revealed chimpanzees engaged in warfare-like behavior, and in 1987, she witnessed a chimp "adopt" an unrelated orphan, further challenging existing beliefs about animal behavior.

Supported by National Geographic Society grants beginning in 1961, Goodall earned her Ph.D. in ethology from Cambridge University in 1966—remarkably becoming one of the few admitted as doctoral candidates without undergraduate degrees.

Her focus shifted toward global advocacy after witnessing disturbing laboratory animal experiments at a 1986 conference. "I knew I had to do something," she told AP in 1997. "It was payback time."

When the COVID-19 pandemic halted her in-person advocacy in 2020, she launched "Jane Goodall Hopecast," podcasting from her childhood home in England with guests including Senator 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 in her first episode. "You can reach the heart by telling stories, not by arguing with people's intellects."

In recent years, she cautioned against aggressive climate activism tactics that might prove counterproductive and criticized "gloom and doom" messaging for diminishing hope among young people.

Prior to the 2024 elections, she co-founded "Vote for Nature," encouraging voters to support candidates committed to environmental protection.

Maintaining a robust social media presence with millions of followers, she advocated against factory farming and offered practical advice for addressing climate anxiety, suggesting: "Focus on the present and make choices today whose impact will build over time."