Dies Jane Goodall, primatologist and icon of environmental conservation, at the age of 91

Jane Goodall died, a conservationist renowned for her innovative field research with chimpanzees and her global performance in defense of the environment. She was 91 years old. The Jane Goodall Institute announced the death of the primatologist on Wednesday (1st), in an Instagram publication.

Decades ago, while living with chimpanzees in Africa, Goodall documented animals using tools and performing other activities that were previously considered exclusive to humans, as well as observing their distinct personalities. His observations and subsequent apparitions in magazines and documentaries in the 1960s transformed the way the world perceived not only the living biological relatives closest to humans, but also the emotional and social complexity of all animals, while driving it to public awareness.

“Outside, in nature, you can become part of nature and your humanity does not get in the way,” she told Associated Press in 2021. “It’s almost like an extracorporeal experience when you suddenly hear different sounds, feel different smells and becomes part of this amazing tapestry of life.”

In her last years, Goodall has devoted himself to education and defense of humanitarian and environmental causes. With his soft British accent, he was known to balance the dark realities of the climate crisis with a sincere message of hope for the future.

From her base in the coastal city of Bournemouth, in the UK, she traveled almost 300 days a year, even after 90 years, to lecture at crowded auditoriums around the world. Among more serious messages, his speeches often included chimpanzees imitations or jokes about Tarzan chose the wrong jane.

By studying chimpanzees for the first time in Tanzania in the early 1960s, Goodall adopted an unconventional approach. She was not limited to observing them from afar, but deepened in all aspects of their lives. It fed them and gave them names instead of numbers, which generated resistance from some scientists.

Her findings were released to millions of people when she first appeared on the cover of National Geographic in 1963 and soon after in a popular documentary. A collection of good photos of Goodall in the field has helped to make it, and even some famous chimpanzees. An iconic image showed her crouching in front of the chimpanzee puppy called Flint, both with her arms extended, seeking contact.

In 1972, Sunday Times published an obituary for FLI, Flint’s mother and dominant matriarch, after she was found on the edge of a stream. Flint died about three weeks later, after showing signs of mourning, eating little and losing weight. “What chimpanzees have taught me over the years is that they are very similar to us. They blurred the line between humans and animals,” she told Associated Press in 1997.

Goodall received the highest civil honors in various countries, including Britain, France, Japan and Tanzania. In 2025, he received the US Freedom Presidential Medal, granted by then -President Joe Biden, and won the prestigious Templeton Award in 2021.

“His innovative findings have changed understanding of humanity about his role in an interconnected world, and his struggle pointed to a greater purpose for our species: taking care of life on this planet,” said the honorable mention of the Templeton Award, which honors individuals whose work incorporates a fusion of science and spirituality.

Goodall has also been named United Nations Peace Messenger and published several books, including the bestseller autobiography “Reason for Hope.”

Born in London in 1934, Goodall said his animal fascination began when he learned to crawl. In her book “In the Shadow of Man,” she described an old memory of hiding in a chicken coop to watch a chicken put on an egg. He was there for so long that his mother even reported his disappearance to the police.

She bought her first book – “Tarzan dos Macacos” by Edgar Rice Burroughs – at the age of 10 and soon decided her future: living with wild animals in Africa. This plan accompanied her during a secretariat course at 18 and two different jobs. In 1957, he accepted an invitation to travel to a farm in Kenya, owned by a friend’s parents.

It was there that he met the famous anthropologist and paleontologist Louis Leakey, in a Natural History Museum in Nairóbi, who offered him a job as assistant secretary. Three years later, although he has no university degree, Leakey asked if she would be interested in studying chimpanzees in what Tanzania is today. She told AP in 1997 that he chose her “because she wanted an open mind.”

The beginning was full of challenges. The British authorities insisted that she had a companion, so she initially brought her mother. The chimpanzees fled if it approached less than 457 meters of them. She also spent sick weeks with what she believes was malaria, without any medicine to combat her.

But finally, managed to gain the confidence of the animals. In the fall of 1960, he observed chimpanzee David Graybeard to create a tool with branches and use it to fish termites of a nest. Previously, it was believed that only humans manufactured and used tools.

She also found that chimpanzees have individual personalities and share human emotions such as pleasure, joy, sadness and fear. It documented ties between mothers and puppies, rivalry between brothers and male dominance. In other words, he found that there was no clear line between humans and the animal kingdom. In the following years, he noted that chimpanzees get involved in a type of war, and in 1987 she and her team witness a chimpanzee “adopt” a 3 -year -old who was not a close relative.

Goodall received dozens of bags from the National Geographic Society during his field research, which began in 1961. In 1966, he obtained a doctorate in ethology-becoming one of the few people admitted at the University of Cambridge as a candidate without a university degree. His work evolved into a broader defense after watching a disturbing film about laboratory animal experiments in 1986. “I knew I had to do something,” she told AP in 1997. “It was time for revenge.”

When Covid-19 pandemic interrupted her face-to-face events by 2020, she began to podcast her childhood home in England. In dozens of episodes of Jane Goodcast Hopecast, he broadcast discussions with guests such as American Senator Cory Booker, author Margaret Atwood and Marine Biologist Ayana Elizabeth Johnson. “If anyone wants to reach people; if anyone wants to change attitudes, they need to reach the heart,” she said in the first episode. “You can reach your heart telling stories, not arguing with people’s intellect.”

Years later, he rejected more aggressive tactics of climate activists, saying that they could have counterproductive effect, and criticized pessimism messages for making young people lose their hope. In preparing for the 2024 elections, he was co -founded of the “Vote for Nature”, an initiative that encouraged the choice of candidates committed to the protection of the environment.

Goodall also built a strong presence on social networks, publishing to millions of followers about the need to end industrial livestock and offering tips to avoid paralysis caused by the climate crisis. Your advice: “Focus on the present and make choices today whose impact will be consolidated over time.”