Goodall died of natural causes in California during a conference tour in the United States, according to his institute.
Jane Goodall died, one of the most influential figures of nature science and conservation and one of the most important primatologists ever. I was 91 years old.
The news was advanced by the Jane Goodall Institute that, in a statement released on social networks, praises the work of the researcher who, as an ethologist, “revolutionized science, and was a tireless defender of the protection and restoration of our natural world.”
The field studies that Jane Goodall performed with chimpanzees not only broke barriers to women and changed the way scientists study animals, but also documented emotions and personality traits in these primates, bringing the line closer to humans and the animal kingdom.
Goodall died of natural causes in California during a conference tour in the United States, according to his institute.
One of the works for which he became internationally recognized was conducted in 1960 when Jane Goodall, just 26, traveled to Gombe Stream National Park to study wild chimpanzees. He became famous for pioneering methods of direct observation, without interference, and for giving names to animals (instead of numbers), something innovative at the time.
Goodall is responsible, for example, for documenting how chimpanzees manufactured and used termitted fishing tools at a time when humans were thought to use instruments to satisfy their needs.
In addition, it showed how chimpanzees have organized societies, with hierarchies, alliances, conflicts and reconciliations. In addition, it recorded a prolonged conflict between two chimpanzees subgroups, between 1974e 1978, with coordinated attacks and systematic elimination of rivals. This last work was one of the first evidence of organized violence not practiced by a human being.
