World-renowned chimpanzee expert Jane Goodall dies aged 91

The world-renowned primatologist Jane Goodall, who turned her childhood love of primates into a lifelong quest to protect the environment, has died at the age of 91.

- Matty Edwards

The Jane Goodall Institute announced that she had died of natural causes while she was in California as part of a US speaking tour.

“Dr Goodall’s discoveries as an ethologist revolutionised science,” the statement read. “She was a tireless advocate for the protection and restoration of our natural world.”

The primatologist-turned-conservationist spun her love of wildlife into a lifelong campaign that took her from a seaside English village to Africa and then across the globe in a quest to better understand chimpanzees, as well as the role that humans play in safeguarding their habitat and the planet’s health overall.

Goodall was a pioneer in her field, both as a female scientist in the 1960s and for her work studying the behaviour of primates. She created a path for other women to follow, including the late Dian Fossey.

She also partnered with the National Geographic Society, allowing her to connect the public with her beloved chimpanzees through film, TV and magazines.

She upended the norms of the time, giving chimpanzees names instead of numbers, observing their personalities and incorporating their family relationships and emotions into her work. She also found that, like humans, they use tools.

“We have found that after all there isn’t a sharp line dividing humans from the rest of the animal kingdom,” she said in a 2002 Ted Talk.