Overview
- Her institute said she died of natural causes in California while on a U.S. lecture tour, confirming the news on social media.
- Leaders and organizations including UN chief António Guterres, Barack Obama, Joe Biden, Greenpeace, and Leonardo DiCaprio issued tributes recognizing her influence.
- Goodall’s long-term Gombe studies reshaped primatology by documenting tool use, distinct personalities, complex social life, and episodes of intergroup violence among chimpanzees.
- She founded the Jane Goodall Institute in 1977 and launched the Roots & Shoots youth program, which now operates across many countries.
- Despite beginning without formal university training, she earned a Cambridge doctorate by special permission, served as a UN Peace Ambassador, and received the U.S. Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2025.