Goodall's official social media accounts confirmed that she died on Oct. 1 from natural causes. Jane Goodall, legendary chimpanzee zoologist, dies at 91

Goodall's official social media accounts confirmed that she died on Oct. 1 from natural causes.

Jane Goodall, legendary chimpanzee zoologist, dies at 91

Goodall's official social media accounts confirmed that she died on Oct. 1 from natural causes.

By Wesley Stenzel

Wesley Stenzel is a news writer at **. He began writing for EW in 2022.

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on October 1, 2025 3:59 p.m. ET

Jane Goodall in 1995. Credit:

Jane Goodall, the legendary zoologist who dedicated her life's work to the study of chimpanzees, has died.

Goodall's official Instagram account announced that the conservationist died from natural causes on Wednesday morning at age 91.

"The Jane Goodall Institute has learned this morning, Wednesday, October 1, 2025, that Dr. Jane Goodall DBE, UN Messenger of Peace and Founder of the Jane Goodall Institute has passed away due to natural causes. She was in California as part of her speaking tour in the United States," the statement read. "Dr. Goodall's discoveries as an ethologist revolutionized science, and she was a tireless advocate for the protection and restoration of our natural world."

Jane Goodall in 1965.

Born in London in 1934, Goodall developed an affection for chimpanzees from a young age, which she said stemmed from a stuffed chimp toy that she cherished as a child. She moved to Kenya in 1957 and began working as a secretary before working for archaeologist Louis Leakey.

Leakey employed Goodall as a secretary and sent her to study primate behavior in London in 1958. She then traveled to Tanzania's Gombe Stream National Park to study chimpanzees in 1960, kicking off a lifelong career that revolutionized primatology.

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Goodall went on to receive her bachelor's degree from Cambridge's Newnham College before earning a master's and a PhD. from Darwin College at the same institution. Her thesis, *Behaviour of free-living chimpanzees*, was finished in 1966, and drew from her experience in the field at Gombe.

Goodall continued her research at Gombe for decades to come, publishing her first book, *My Friends the Wild Chimpanzees*, in 1969. She founded the Jane Goodall Institute in 1977. The Institute has established sanctuaries in the Republic of Congo and South Africa, and has offices in over two dozen countries.

Jane Goodall in 1965.

The conservationist's research fundamentally changed the understanding of chimpanzees, revealing that they are capable of using tools to fish for ants, that they hunt and eat smaller primates, and that they would sometimes cannibalize their own in acts of aggression.

Goodall expanded her horizons to broader environmental activism in the 1980s. She advocated against animal testing in medical research, warned of climate change's dangerous effects on wildlife, and promoted a meatless diet, penning the vegan cookbook *Eat Meat Less* in 2021.

Goodall published over two dozen books in her lifetime, ranging from research works like *The Chimpanzees of Gombe: Patterns of Behavior* to children's books like *Grub: The Bush Baby*. She also participated in a number of documentaries, including 2010's *Jane's Journey* and 2017's *Jane*. Goodall also voiced herself in episodes of *The Wild Thornberrys* and *The Simpsons*, and was the inspiration for Stevie Nicks' 1994 song "Jane."

Jane Goodall in 2024.

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In 2025, President Biden awarded Goodall the Presidential Medal of Freedom. She had previously been named a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in 1995, and was later promoted in 2003 to Dame Commander of the British Empire. She was also named a United Nations Messenger of Peace in 2002.

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Goodall is survived by her son, Hugo Eric Louis van Lawick, her daughter-in-law, and her three grandchildren.

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