Pioneering chimpanzee expert Goodall dies aged 91

Acclaimed chimpanzee expert and conservationist Dame Jane Goodall, who revolutionised the world’s understanding of animal behaviour, has died aged 91.

- JANE DALTON

The much-loved zoologist, primatologist and anthropologist championed chimpanzee protection for more than six decades, also becoming a tireless advocate for the wider natural world and the environment.

As well as establishing the Jane Goodall Institutes to promote wildlife and environment conservation, she founded an environmental and humanitarian programme called Roots & Shoots, wrote books on chimps and conservation, and became the subject of more than 40 films and documentaries.

The list of awards Dr Goodall was given ran to nine pages on her CV, and she was an inspirational role model for young women in science through her high-profile and groundbreaking work in a male-dominated field.

In 2002, she was designated a UN Messenger of Peace, later telling the UN: “I think it’s more important than ever in the world we live in today that we have a vision of what it would be like to live in a peaceful world, the kind of world we all want, and then to see what we as individuals can do to try and bring that about.”

Dr Goodall was also recognised on The Independent’s Climate 100 list of environmental pioneers on both its inaugural edition Born in Hampstead, north London, Jane Goodall was fascinated by animals from a young age, having read Dr Doolittle, a novel about a man who talks to the animals.

When she was just 23 and without higher-education qualifications, she travelled to Kenya and met Louis Leakey, a famed anthropologist. At his invitation, three years on she began studying chimpanzees in Gombe, in what is now Tanzania, Africa.

Goodall noted how chimpanzees communicated in very “human” ways, such as kissing, hugging, fighting and using tools to forage for food.