Dr. Jane Goodall, the pioneering naturalist whose observations of chimpanzees changed how we see nature, animals, and ourselves, has died. She was 91 years old. On Wednesday, October 1, 2025, the Jane Goodall Institute announced her passing on its Instagram page.
“Dr. Goodall’s discoveries as an ethologist revolutionized science,” the institute wrote, “and was a tireless advocate for the protection and restoration of our natural world.”
Born on April 3, 1934, in London, Goodall developed an early love of animals. As a child, her father gave her a stuffed chimpanzee rather than a teddy bear. The stuffed toy’s name was Jubilee, and Goodall credits it as an early inspiration; she kept it as an adult as a reminder.
Goodall was particularly drawn to animals and Africa, and it was her dream to travel there and write books about the creatures she encountered. While in her 20s, she accepted an invitation from a childhood friend that brought her to Kenya. There, she met and became employed by paleoanthropologist Dr. Louis Leakey. Leaky saw that Goodall possessed the character traits necessary for fieldwork. He picked her to study chimpanzees to further his research into early human behavior. In July 1960, at just 26 years old, she traveled from England to present-day Tanzania and entered a world that would be her primary focus for decades.
Chimpanzees, along with bonobos, are our closest living relatives. We know a lot more about them thanks, in large part, to Goodall. She arrived at the Gombe Stream National Park’s chimpanzee reserve without formal training, but this proved valuable. She would, for instance, name chimpanzees and record their personalities, whereas a formally trained researcher would’ve simply assigned them a number.
Goodall’s original assignment was supposed to last six months, but it turned into a 26-year career. During that time, she made groundbreaking discoveries, including how similar chimpanzees acted to humans. “Their behavior, with their gestures, kissing, embracing, holding hands and patting on the back,” she noted as similarities to ABC News in 2020. “The fact that they can actually be violent and brutal and have a kind of war, but also loving and altruistic.”
Goodall was a female working in a male-dominated field, and she had to overcome obstacles—including the attitudes towards her scientific contributions. “When we read about a woman who gives funny names to chimpanzees and then follows them into the bush, meticulously recording their every grunt and groom, we are reluctant to admit such activity into the big leagues,” wrote the late biologist Stephen Jay Gould. But she won her critics over, and Gould later said that her work was “one of the Western world’s great scientific achievements.”
In 1977, Goodall founded the Jane Goodall Institute to support her research on primates and other wildlife and to inspire hope through action. Her research work ended in the late 1980s, and her focus changed dramatically in 1986 when she attended a conference of chimp researchers in Chicago. There, she learned how wild chimps were threatened by poaching and habitat destruction. They were also being used in medical experiments.
“I realized I had to stop living selfishly in my own little paradise and use the knowledge I’d gained to do what I could to help,” she said.
Goodall transitioned into activism work, authoring over 30 books for adults and children, being part of documentaries and films, and spreading her message through travel; she was on the road for 300 days a year well into her 80s. She spoke on conservation, animal welfare, and the environment. In doing so, she inspired, and continues to inspire, countless people.
Goodall urged us to remember that “every single one of us makes a difference every day—it is up to us as to the kind of difference we make.” They are words to live by.
Dr. Jane Goodall, the pioneering naturalist whose observations of chimpanzees changed how we see nature, animals, and ourselves, has died. She was 91 years old.
Jane Goodall Institute: Website | Instagram | Facebook
Sources: Remembering Dr. Jane; The Evolution of Dr. Jane Goodall; Jane Goodall: Biography; Jane Goodall, legendary primatologist, has died at age 91; Jane Goodall, who transformed understanding of humankind by studying chimpanzees, dies at 91
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