By Ramazani Mwamba

Copyright manchestereveningnews

British conservationist and chimpanzee expert Dame Jane Goodall has died at 91-years-old. According to her foundation, The Jane Goodall Institute, the primatologist was in California when she died from “natural causes.” Goodall was the world’s leading expert on chimpanzee behaviour and a UN Messenger of Peace. She was in California as part of a speaking tour and had conducted several high profile interviews just days before her death. A statement shared to Facebook by the institute, said: “The Jane Goodall Institute learned this morning, Wednesday 1 October 2025, that Dr Jane Goodall DBE, UN Messenger of Peace and founder of the Jane Goodall Institute, has passed away from natural causes. “She was in California as part of her speaking tour in the United States. “Dr Goodall’s discoveries as an ethologist transformed science, and she was a tireless advocate for the protection and restoration of the natural world.” Never miss a story with the MEN’s daily Catch Up newsletter – get it in your inbox by signing up here Maria Shriver, the former first lady of California, called Dame Jane “a legendary figure and a friend” in a post to X on Wednesday. She added: “I admired her, learned from her, and was so honoured to get to spend time with her over the years. “She stayed at her mission and on her mission. She changed the world and the lives of everyone she impacted. The world lost one of its best today, and I lost someone I adored.” Born in London in 1934, Dame Jane began researching free-living chimpanzees in Tanzania in 1960. She arrived at Gombe Stream National Park on the shores of Lake Tanganyika in July of that year, a time when it was unheard of for a woman to venture into the wilds of Africa. It was there she observed a chimpanzee named David Greybeard make a tool from twigs and use it to fish termites from a nest, a ground-breaking observation that challenged the definition of humans as the single species capable of making tools. Her research on chimpanzees was the longest field study ever undertaken of any group of animals in the wild and 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.” Dame Jane also founded her Roots and Shoots global leadership programme to inspire young people to change their communities, environment and local wildlife for the better. Established in 1991 with just 12 Tanzanian high school students, the initiative involves young people in more than 60 countries. The British primatologist took to the Greenpeace stage at Glastonbury Festival in 2024 and spoke about the planet, loss of biodiversity and climate change in a speech where she also acknowledged that “young people are still losing hope”. She was due to speak at Royce Hall, a building on the campus of the University of California, on Friday October 3.