Dr. Jane Goodall, the notable primatologist and conservationist, has died at 91 due to natural causes, the Jane Goodall Institute announced. Written October 1st, 2025.
“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,” the institute posted on social media.
She had been scheduled to meet with students and teachers on Wednesday to launch the planting of 5,000 trees around wildfire burn zones across Los Angeles. Organizers learned of her death as the event was set to begin at the EF academy in Pasadena, California, said spokesperson Shawna Marino.
The first tree was planted in her name after a moment of silence.
Goodall’s “discoveries as an ethologist revolutionized science- she was a tireless advocate for the protection and restoration of our natural world”, according to the institute.
She was only 26 years old when she entered Tanzania and started her remarkable research on chimpanzees. Among her significant revelations were “How like us” the chimpanzees are, she told ABC News in 2020.
This discovery has been declared an achievement of the twentieth-century scholarship, according to the Jane Goodall Institute.
Her research obtained scientific honors and widespread recognition, including being awarded the Presidential Medal of Honor in 2025 by Former President Joe Biden, receiving the Templeton Prize in 2021, and earning top civilian honors from various countries, including Britain, France, Japan, and Tanzania.
“Her groundbreaking discoveries have changed humanity’s understanding of its role in an interconnected world, and her advocacy has pointed to a greater purpose for our species in caring for life on this planet,” stated the citation for the Templeton Prize.
She has also been acknowledged for inspiring an increase in women pursuing STEM careers. Women in stem increased from 7% to 26% in the last six decades, according to the Jane Goodall Institute.
Goodall’s impact on young women was highlighted when Mattel released a special edition Barbie doll in her honor, to celebrate the 62nd anniversary of her first visit to Tanzania’s Gombe National Park. “My entire career, I’ve wanted to help inspire kids to be curious and explore the world around them,” Goodall said in a statement at the time.
Goodall built strong advocacy for humanitarian causes. She lent her voice to climate awareness, telling ABC News.“We are definitely at a point where we need to make something happen,” she said. “We are imperiled. We have a window of time. I’m fairly sure we do. But, we’ve got to take action.”
Goodall “worked tirelessly for our planet and all its inhabitants, leaving an extraordinary legacy for humanity and nature,” the UN said on X as it mourned her death.
Goodall was known for naming the chimps she worked with, rather than referencing them as numbers; she became the only human to be accepted into chimpanzee society.
Her concerns about chimpanzees in the wild led her to establish The Jane Goodall Institute, founded in 1977, which conducts the world’s largest study of chimpanzees and continues to aim for the preservation of the chimpanzees’ natural habitat and to prevent their extinction.