Chronicler of Chimpanzees, Jane Goodall dies at 91

WASHINGTON: Leading primatologist and an expert on chimpanzees, Jane Goodall, whose work was captured in more than 40 documentaries, died at the age of 91 in Los Angeles in the United States, the institute she founded said.

The Jane Goodall Institute in a statement said she passed away on Wednesday of natural causess. “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. She was in California as part of her speaking tour in the United States”.

Jane was renowned worldwide for her 65-year study of wild chimpanzees in Gombe, Tanzania. However, in the latter part of her life she expanded her focus and became a global advocate for human rights, animal welfare, species and environmental protection, and many other crucial issues, her institute said.

In 1960, Dr. Jane Goodall’s early fieldwork observing chimpanzees at Gombe Stream Game Reserve, in Tanganyika (now Tanzania), unveiled groundbreaking research of shared behaviors between humans and apes.
The Jane Goodall Institute announced on October 1, 2025, that Jane Goodall… pic.twitter.com/c7AkEZsHeh

— National Geographic Documentary Films (@natgeodocs) October 1, 2025

Her research legacy laid the foundation for modern primatology: in Gombe Stream National Park, she discovered that chimpanzees can form lasting social bonds and use basic tools. Goodall also found that, like humans, primates experience emotions such as joy, fear, empathy, and grief.

Variety reported that her work was covered in detail in the 2017 documentary “Jane,” assembled from 140 hours of footage that had been hidden in National Geographic’s archives. It won two Primetime Emmys and several other awards.

She was the subject of more than 40 documentaries and the 2023 film “Jane Goodall: Reasons for Hope” explored her habitat restoration projects. She also lent her voice to animated shows including “The Simpsons” and “The Wild Thornberries.”

As per a report in the NYT, most of Jane’s observations focused on several generations of a troop of 30 to 40 chimpanzees. She named some of them — Flo, Fifi, David Greybeard — and grew to know each of them personally. She was particularly interested in their courtship, mating rituals, births and parenting.

Jane, according to the US media outlet, was the first scientist to explain to the world that chimpanzee mothers are capable of giving birth only once every four and a half to six years, and that only one or two babies are produced each year by the Gombe Stream troop. She found that first-time mothers generally hid their babies from the adult males, prompting frantic displays by the males — leaping and hooting that could last five minutes. An experienced mother, however, she discovered, freely allowed males and other females to view her infant, satisfying their curiosity, in a far calmer introduction.

Born April 4, 1934 as Valerie Jane Morris-Goodall in London, Jane was the eldest daughter of businessman and racing car driver Mortimer Herbert Morris-Goodall and writer Margaret Myfanwe Joseph. From childhood, she had a special dream — to go to Africa and study the world of animals.

As a little girl, Jane adored Tarzan’s Jane, Dr. Doolittle and a little stuffed monkey doll, a gift from her father that she named Jubilee, says a report in the NYT.

Having worked as a waitress to save enough money for a sea passage to Kenya, Jane was advised to try to meet respected paleontologist Dr. Louis Leakey. Louis employed her as a secretary at the National Museum in Nairobi, and this led to her being offered the opportunity to spend time with Louis and Mary Leakey in at the Olduvai Gorge in search of fossils.

Jane’s doctoral thesis PhD in Ethology at Newnham College, Cambridge. The Behaviour of Free-living Chimpanzees in the Gombe Stream Reserve, was completed in 1965.

Jane was married twice. Her first husband, Hugo van Lawick, was a Dutch baron and wildlife photographer working for National Geographic when they met. Jane and Hugo divorced in 1974, and Jane later married Derek Bryceson, a member of Tanzania’s parliament and a former director of Tanzania’s National Parks. Derek died in 1980.

She founded the Jane Goodall Institute in 1977 to support research on great apes, and also established Roots and Shoots, a youth programme. She is survived by a son, a sister and three grandchildren.(ANI)