Jane Goodall, Pioneer of Chimpanzee Research, Dies in Los Angeles at 91
On October 1, 2025, in Los Angeles, Los Angeles County, California, the Jane Goodall Institute confirmed that its founder, primatologist Dr. Jane Goodall, died peacefully in her sleep that day at the age of 91. She was in Los Angeles as part of a speaking tour of the United States.
Goodall was born on April 3, 1934, in London, England. In 1960, at the age of 26, she went to Gombe National Park in Tanzania and established the longest-running study of wild chimpanzees, which continues to this day. That year she observed chimpanzees making and using tools, a discovery that rocked the scientific world and which the institute calls the moment that redefined humankind. Her later findings included strong mother-infant bonds, meat-eating and hunting, primitive warfare, altruism and compassion among chimpanzees, and her work influenced fields including human health, evolution and ecology.
In 1977 Goodall founded the Jane Goodall Institute to advance community-centered conservation, and the organization now has chapters in 25 countries. In 1991 she created Roots & Shoots, a youth program now active in nearly 75 countries. She served as a UN Messenger of Peace from 2002, traveled some 300 days a year speaking around the world, and received the U.S. Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2025.
The institute said Goodall's vision would live on through its chapters worldwide, which will continue community-based work to protect chimpanzees and the natural world and to prepare young people as future conservation leaders.
(Source: Jane Goodall Institute)
Source: Jane Goodall Institute
Published by GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 图：珍·古道尔肖像。Nicolas Richoffer 摄，CC BY-SA 4.0，经 Wikimedia Commons。 / Photo: Portrait of Jane Goodall. By Nicolas Richoffer, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
