Hallie Golden, of the Associated Press, reports on the life of Jane Goodall the conservationist renowned for her groundbreaking chimpanzee research

DAME Jane Goodall, the conservationist renowned for her groundbreaking chimpanzee field research and globe-spanning environmental advocacy, has died aged 91.

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The Jane Goodall Institute announced the primatologist’s death in an Instagram post.

According to the Washington DC-based institute, Dame Jane died of natural causes while in California on a US speaking tour.

Her discoveries “revolutionised science, and she was a tireless advocate for the protection and restoration of our natural world”, it said.

While living among chimpanzees in Africa decades ago, Dame Jane documented the animals using tools and doing other activities previously believed to be exclusive to people, and also noted their distinct personalities.

Her observations and subsequent magazine and documentary appearances in the 1960s transformed how the world perceived not only humans' closest living biological relatives but also the emotional and social complexity of all animals, while propelling her into the public consciousness.

"Out there in nature by myself, when you're alone, you can become part of nature and your humanity doesn’t get in the way,” she said in 2021. “It’s almost like an out-of-body experience when suddenly you hear different sounds and you smell different smells and you're actually part of this amazing tapestry of life.”

Dame Jane had been scheduled to meet with students and teachers on Wednesday to launch the planting of 5,000 trees around wildfire burn zones in the Los Angeles area.

Organisers 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 Dame Jane's name after a moment of silence.

“I don’t think there's any better way to honour her legacy than having 1,000 children gathered for her,” Marino said.

In her later years, Dame Jane devoted decades to education and advocacy on humanitarian causes and protecting the natural world.