By Danielle Stacey

Copyright hellomagazine

British conservationist and chimpanzee expert Dame Jane Goodall has died aged 91, The Jane Goodall Institute said. In a statement released on Wednesday, it said: “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. Dr. Goodall’s discoveries as an ethologist revolutionized science, and she was a tireless advocate for the protection and restoration of our natural world.”

She was considered the world’s foremost expert on chimpanzees, after spending over 60 years studying the social and family interactions of wild chimpanzees. Born in London in 1934, she was just 26 and had no formal scientific training when she first went to Africa to study the mammals, which led to groundbreaking observations.

“Apparently, from the time I was about one-and-a-half or two, I used to study insects, anything, and this gradually evolved and developed and grew and then I read books like Dr Dolittle and Tarzan, then it had to be Africa that was my goal,” Dr Goodall told the BBC’s Terry Wogan on his talk show in 1986.

She leaves behind a son, Hugo Eric Louis, 58, from her previous marriage to the late National Geographic photographer Hugo van Lawick. Her second husband, Derek Bryceson, a member of Tanzania’s parliament and the director of that country’s national parks, died from cancer in October 1980.

In 1977, she founded the Jane Goodall Institute, which works to protect the species and supports youth projects aimed at benefiting animals and the environment. She was also awarded a damehood in 2004, and was invested by the then-Prince of Wales, now King, at Buckingham Palace. The primatologist said, however, that her most prized distinction was becoming the UN Messenger of Peace in 2002.

In tribute to Dame Jane, a post to the official X account of the UN said: “Today, the UN family mourns the loss of Dr Jane Goodall. The scientist, conservationist and UN Messenger of Peace worked tirelessly for our planet and all its inhabitants, leaving an extraordinary legacy for humanity and nature.”