Jane Goodall Institute
Jane Goodall with Motambo, an orphan from the Tchimpounga Chimpanzees Rehabilitation Center of the Jane Goodall Institute in Pointe Noire, Republic of Congo ..
British researcher changed the world’s perception of chimpanzees intelligence. He died at age 91, of natural causes.
The British primatology Jane Goodallworldwide known for their pioneering research on chimpanzees behavior, he died at the age of 91. The news was confirmed this Wednesday by the institute that carries its name, through one on social networks.
“The Jane Goodall Institute became aware this morning, Wednesday, October 1, 2025, that Dr. Jane Goodall, UN Peace Messenger and founder of the Jane Goodall Institute, died for natural causes“It reads in the statement.
“She was in California as part of her lecture tour in the United States. Dr. Goodall’s discoveries as an ethologist transformed science. tireless defender of the protection and restoration of the natural world”, Reads in the publication.
Because they also have emotions and a mind
Cletaled by his investigations, Goodall became a defender of the wildlife and traveled the world to defend the cause of the closest relatives of humans.
Wearing his usual collar shirt and shorts, with binoculars in his hand, transformed human understanding over the chimpanzees. She was the first researcher to give them names instead of numbers.
The British It was also the first scientist to note that primates, like humans, use tools and experience emotions. And that give it in the mouth.
Her naturalist and friend David Attenborough told the British newspaper Daily Telegraph in 2010 that she “It became the world of reverse zoology. ”
His scientific advances “profoundly altered the world view of animal intelligence and enriched our understanding of humanity,” said the head of the John Templeton Foundation based in the United States in 2021, by attributing an award for his work.
A love that blossomed early
Born on April 3, 1934, in London, Goode’s love for wild animals began in childhood, when her father offered her a peluche chimpanzee, which the young woman kept for the rest of her life. He was also a fan of Tarzan’s books, who narrated the story of a jungle -raised boy who falls in love with a woman named… Jane.
“When I was 10, I dreamed of going to Africa, living with animals and writing books about them“, In 2017.” They laughed at me, “the girls don’t do that,” they told me. “
After completing secondary education, he took a secretariat course while working as a table maid to get money to travel to Africa.
In 1957, he accepted a friend’s invitation to visit Kenya, where he started working with famous paleontologist Louis Leakey. Her great opportunity came when Leakey sent her to investigate wild chimpanzees in Tanzania, becoming the first of the three women the scientist named to study the great primates in her natural habitat, along with the American Dian Fulfill, specializing in gorillas, and the Canadian Birut Galdikas, who investigated the orangutings.
Despite the absence of formal scientific formation, Leakey “felt that her passion and knowledge for animals and nature, her energy and courage made her an excellent candidate to study the chimpanzees,” said National Geographic magazine, which presented Goodall on the cover in 1965.
It was at Gombe National Park that Goodall witnessed a male, whom he called David Greybeardto use a stalk of grass to catch insects. Later, Greybeard noted and a second animal, Goliath, ripping leaves from a branch to turn it into a better tool to dig up the thermists.
Based on his findings, Leakey sent Goodall to the University of Cambridge to conduct doctoral investigation. He became the eighth person to obtain a doctorate in Cambridge without previously having an undergraduate degree.
“I entered as a scientist, I left as an activist”
Its activism began during a conference in the United States about chimpanzees in the 1980where he heard reports of endangered specimens to be used in medical research, captured for hunting meat consumption and having their habitats destroyed.
“I entered as a scientist, happy, to learn about the behavior of chimpanzees […] But I left this conference as an activist, ”said Goodall in Nairobi in 2013.
His unique perceptions of the animal world – animated the conferences with interpretations of the chimpanzees calls in Gombe Park, which he regularly returned – captured the attention of those who heard it.
In 1977, Goodall founded an institute with his name to promote the study of chimpanzees and, in 1991, created the Roots and Shoots project, which works with young people in over 60 countries on environmental issues.
Personal life
In 1964, Goodall married Dutch photographer Hugo Van Lawick, who immortalized her, along with her chimpanzees, in the National Geographic and Life magazines. The couple had a son, Hugo Eric Louis Van Lawick, nicknamed Grub.
Goodall married her second husband, Derek Bryceson, former director of Tanzania’s national parks and a member of the country’s parliament in 1975. Five years later, Bryceson passed away with cancer.
In April 2002, UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan appointed her messenger of the United Nations Peace, and was awarded as Commander of the British Empire Order in 2004.
“A powerful voice for the natural world and a tireless humanitarian, Jane’s innovative discovery that chimpanzees create and use tools has redefined fundamentally what human beings mean,” “deeply sad”, National Geographic.
“In addition to its scientific contributions, its greatest gift was its boundless compassion,” writes the magazine, which also made one with the most iconic photographs of Goodall with the magazine: “Jane has inspired numerous members of the National Geographic community, and we will miss you a lot.”
