Jane Goodall, the primatologist and campaigner best known for her 1960s research in Africa that revealed the true nature of chimpanzees, has died. She was 91.
Ms Goodall died of natural causes, the Jane Goodall Institute said on social media. She turned a childhood love of primates into a lifelong quest for protecting the environment. She died on Wednesday, the institute she founded said.
A natural on television and a campaigner, she spent recent decades visiting international conferences and green projects she launched around the world. She visited the UAE in February.
"Dr Goodall’s discoveries as an ethologist revolutionised science, and she was a tireless advocate for the protection and restoration of our natural world," the foundation said.
The primatologist-turned-conservationist turned her love of wildlife into a life-long campaign that took her from a seaside English village to Africa.
Born in London and without the funds to take a university course, she shot to international stardom in 1965 when she was featured on the cover of National Geographic for her trailblazing research on chimpanzees in Tanzania.
The pioneering, up-close study of the behaviour of chimpanzees in the 1960s was the first to observe them using tools, a capacity that was until then thought to belong only to humans.
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Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed, who was Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi at the time, thanks Dr Jane Goodall after her lecture at Al Bateen Palace. Ryan Carter / Crown Prince Court -
Jane Goodall in December 1965 on location in Gombe Stream National Park, Tanzania. Getty Images -
Jane Goodall receives an environmental award from the Sheik Zayed Private Academy in Abu Dhabi. Victor Besa / The National -
British primatologist Jane Goodall with a baby Cariblanco monkey during her visit to a primate rescue centre in Chile in 2013. AFP -
Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex, and Dr Goodall at a Roots & Shoots Global Leadership meeting at Windsor Castle in July 2019. Getty Images -
Goodall with children during a visit to the chimp rescue centre in June 2018 in Entebbe, Uganda. AFP -
Goodall with one of her research subjects in the Gombe National Park in northern Tanzania. Getty Images -
Conservationist Jane Goodall during an interview with host Jimmy Fallon on The Tonight Show, September 14, 2017. Getty Images -
Goodall in the garden of Groningen University at the Sharing the Planet conference in June 2002 in Groningen, Netherlands. Getty Images -
Queen Elizabeth II and Dr Goodall DBE after the annual Commonwealth Day Observance Service in March 2012 in London. Getty Images -
Goodall with the Bambi award 'Our Earth' at the Bambi 2010 Award Winners Board in November 2010 in Potsdam, Germany. Getty Images -
UN peace messenger Goodall waits for a meeting with a gorilla family at the Zoo Park and Botanic Garden in Budapest, Hungary, in 2008. AFP -
Goodall during an interview with host Johnny Carson on The Tonight Show, January 3, 1984. Getty Images -
Goodall during a visit to Taronga Zoo in Sydney, Australia, in 2006 to raise awareness of the plight of wild Chimpanzees. Getty Images -
Leonardo DiCaprio and Goodall at the Leonardo DiCaprio Foundation Gala at Jackson Park Ranch in Santa Rosa, California, September 2018. AFP -
Goodall with Pola, a young chimpanzee, in Budapest Zoo in December 2004, more than 40 years after she began her pioneering study of the primates. AFP -
Jane Goodall married wildlife photographer Hugo Arndt Rodolf, Baron van Lawick, in London on March 28, 1964. Getty Images -
Goodall in the television special Miss Goodall and the World of Chimpanzees originally broadcast on CBS, in December 1965. Getty Images -
Goodall during an interview with Jay Leno on May 1, 1990. Getty Images -
Goodall posing with the new Jane Goodall Barbie doll in Los Angeles. Reuters -
Sigourney Weaver in a scene from the 1988 film Gorillas in the Mist. Photo: Warner Brothers -
Schoolchildren from across the UAE lined up to get an autograph from Goodall, who in 2016 visited Abu Dhabi to celebrate 25 years of her Roots & Shoots programme. Delores Johnson / The National -
UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon and Goodall at the United Nations Climate Change Conference and Cop17 conference in Durban on December 7, 2011. AFP -
When Goodall mentioned population sizes, the underlying assumption was that different sections of the world’s population are similarly responsible for the climate crisis. Photo: Emirates Literature Foundation -
Anthropologist Jane Goodall with husband Hugo van Lawick in 1974. AP -
Goodall during the 50th annual meeting of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. EPA -
Goodall made numerous scientific breakthroughs in the field of animal behaviour. Photo: National Geographic -
Jane Goodall at the Jane Goodall Institute in Silver Spring, Maryland, in February 2003. Getty Images
During her February visit to Dubai, she launched a bee park, named Jane Goodall’s Pollinator Garden in her honour, at Expo City Dubai. Renowned natural history broadcaster David Attenborough described her as "a woman who had turned the world of zoology upside down".
Ms Goodall's scientific breakthroughs "have profoundly altered the world's view of animal intelligence and enriched our understanding of humanity", the John Templeton Foundation said when it awarded her its prestigious individual lifetime achievement award.
In an interview with The National, she said she picked up her interest in the natural world at a critical moment. “When I was 10, everybody laughed at me because I wanted to go to Africa and live with wild animals,” Ms Goodall said.
“And they said, 'How can you? You don’t have money and World War Two is raging and you’re just a girl.' Mum said, 'If you want something like this, you’re going to have to work really hard and take every opportunity. Don’t give up.'
"I just wish Mum was alive to know how many people have said or written ‘because you taught me, because you did it, I can do it too'.”
It was David Greybeard, the chimpanzee, that provided her breakthrough insight, using a shoot of grass as a spoon on a termite mound. He stopped, picked up a leafy twig, peeled it and dipped it in the nest to make the most of the high-protein meal.
Ms Goodall became only the eighth person to earn a PhD at Cambridge without first earning an undergraduate degree when she presented her findings from Tanzania.
A prolific author, she published more than 30 books with her observations, including her 1999 bestseller Reason for Hope: A Spiritual Journey, as well as a dozen more titles aimed at children.
Ms Goodall said she never doubted the planet's resilience or human ability to overcome environmental challenges.
The campaigning side of her life saw Ms Goodall, who was made a dame in the UK honours list, embrace a plant-based diet and seek to inspire younger generations to appreciate the planet.
In 2023, the creation of a new TV series for children, Jane's Animal Adventures, encouraged children to join her foundation's Roots and Shoots programme, which is aimed at empowering children to pioneer change in their communities.
“I think children absolutely love that kind of mixture of reality with these, you know, wild journeys through space and animals coming to life," Ms Goodall said.
Six years earlier she had presented awards to UAE chapters of Roots and Shoots, which she founded in 1991. “Children much more quickly understand the cumulative effect of small choices," she added. "They get it and that’s good.”
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Jane Goodall is now one of the world's foremost experts on chimpanzee behaviour, after a career that begun in Tanzania. Courtesy Emirates Literature Foundation -
Goodall made incredible breakthroughs in the field of animal behaviour, despite having no background as a scientist herself. Credit: Hugo van Lawick/ Nat Geo -
This photograph is of a ten-month-old chimp named Gombe, grandson of a chimp that Goodall studied and knew well. Comedy Wildlife Photography Awards 2019 -
Goodall spends most of her years now travelling around the world and spreading her message of hope. Reem Mohammed/The National -
She travels with several permanent companions - stuffed toys that represent highly intelligent animals. Reem Mohammed/The National -
Each stuffed toy has a personal story. Mr H, the monkey, has been with her for 29 years and has been to 65 countries. Reem Mohammed/The National -
Goodall's fans are often young and eager to learn how to help animals. Courtesy Emirates Airline Festival of Literature -
Goodall spoke for 45 minutes without the need for notes. Some queued for an hour to hear her speak. Courtesy Emirates Airline Festival of Literature -
Goodall believes everyone can make a difference to live more ethically. Reem Mohammed/The National
Ms Goodall married Dutch photographer Hugo van Lawick, who had immortalised her and her chimpanzees in National Geographic and Life magazines. A model of David Greybeard graced the wedding cake.
The couple had a son, Hugo Eric Louis van Lawick, nicknamed Grub.
A second husband, Derek Bryceson, a former director of Tanzania's national parks and an MP, died in 1980 of cancer.
Reaction
A statement from the UN mourned the loss of Ms Goodall as a tireless worker for "our planet and all its inhabitants, leaving an extraordinary legacy for humanity and nature".
The UK's Prince William, who shares Ms Goodall's passion for conservation, paid a personal tribute. “The world has lost an extraordinary voice with the passing of Dame Jane Goodall," he said. “Her boundless curiosity, compassion and pioneering spirit transformed our understanding of the natural world.
“She challenged us all to make a difference and inspired me and countless others to work to protect our planet. Jane Goodall made a difference."
Naturalist and TV presenter Chris Packham paid tribute to Ms Goodall, calling her “remarkable” and her work “revolutionary”.
“She was remarkable and it spoke of that determination which endured throughout the course of her life, because here, at the age of 91 on a speaking tour, still advocating for life on Earth in her calm, calculated, deliberate way," he said.
