Video by National Geographic. Jane Goodall: The Hope (Full Episode) | SPECIAL
Jane Goodall, the British primatologist whose patient fieldwork in Africa changed the way the world thinks about animals and whose relentless advocacy turned her into a global environmental conscience, died on October 1, 2025 in Los Angeles. She was 91. The Jane Goodall Institute confirmed she died of natural causes while on a U.S. speaking tour.
🐒 From London to Gombe
Jane Morris Goodall was born on April 3, 1934, in London. As a child she carried a stuffed toy chimpanzee, sparking the fascination that would later define her life. Without a college degree in science, she traveled at 26 to what is now Tanzania to study wild chimpanzees at Gombe Stream National Park.
Her methods were groundbreaking. She rejected the rigid detachment expected of scientists and instead named the chimpanzees she studied, describing them as individuals with quirks and temperaments. In 1960, she observed a chimp named David Greybeard stripping leaves from a twig to extract termites — proof that humans were not the only toolmakers. Her mentor, Louis Leakey, famously quipped: “We must now redefine man, redefine tool, or accept chimpanzees as men.”
🔬 Science Transformed
Goodall’s observations overturned decades of scientific dogma. She revealed chimps displaying emotions once thought exclusively human: tenderness, mourning, jealousy, even organized aggression. Her research blurred the boundary between humans and other primates, showing how close our kinship truly is. She often pointed to genetics: chimpanzees share 98.6% of our DNA.
Her work opened doors for a new era of primatology and animal behavior studies, legitimizing the idea that nonhuman animals possess minds, feelings, and cultures. Today, her Gombe research project remains the longest-running wild chimpanzee study in history.
🌍 From Scientist to Activist
Goodall’s life changed in 1986 when she convened a conference of chimpanzee researchers. Reports of rapid habitat destruction and brutal poaching shook her. “I went to that conference as a scientist,” she later said. “I left as an activist.”
From then on, she shifted from research to global campaigning. She crisscrossed continents — often more than 300 days a year — speaking at universities, parliaments, schools, and conferences. Her approach was never combative but always personal. “If you want someone to change,” she insisted, “you’ve got to reach the heart first.”
That philosophy achieved real outcomes. In the United States, her quiet persistence helped persuade the National Institutes of Health to end government-funded invasive chimpanzee research. NIH director Francis Collins recalled Goodall confronting him with precise evidence and moral clarity: “We owe them a thoughtful way to live out the rest of their lives,” he later said.
Video by Tyler Prize for Environmental Achievement. Jane Goodall’s final words: “I felt angry, depressed at times” | Also check out the NatGeo Documentary below.
🏛️ Building Institutions and Unlikely Alliances
In 1977, she founded the Jane Goodall Institute, which became the umbrella for conservation projects across Africa and beyond. But she was also willing to partner with controversial actors. In the 1990s, she collaborated with oil giant Conoco to establish the Tchimpounga Chimpanzee Rehabilitation Center in Congo, now the largest sanctuary of its kind. Critics accused her of giving corporations cover. She countered that engaging those with power was more effective than preaching only to the choir.
She also redefined conservation to include human needs. An aerial survey in 1990 revealed Gombe as a shrinking green island surrounded by deforested hills. The lesson was stark: unless local communities benefited, wildlife conservation would fail. Her answer was TACARE (Take Care), a program combining forest preservation with education, health care, and sustainable farming. Villagers mapped land, trained forest monitors, and restored habitats, reconnecting isolated chimp groups while improving livelihoods.
🌱 Roots & Shoots and the Next Generation
Perhaps Goodall’s most influential creation was Roots & Shoots, launched in 1991 after she met Tanzanian students despondent about the future. The program gave young people a simple ethic: every person matters, every action counts. Today, it spans more than 100 countries, mobilizing youth for projects from tree planting to climate advocacy.
At its gatherings, Goodall often joined in a ritual call-and-response: “Together we can… together we will.” The phrase became a mantra, echoing her belief that collective action begins with individual responsibility.
🎖️ Recognition and Final Honors
Goodall’s work brought her global recognition. She was made a Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire, served as a UN Messenger of Peace, and in January 2025, received the Presidential Medal of Freedom from U.S. President Joe Biden. He called her “a witness to nature and a voice for humanity’s better self.”
Even in her 90s, she stayed active. On Earth Day 2025, she released a message urging people to act daily to protect biodiversity. She continued her “Jane Goodall Live” speaking tours into the fall, blending science with moral urgency.
⏳ The Final Year
Her final year brought challenges as well as tributes. In mid-2025, a flagship chimpanzee conservation project in Tanzania faced funding cuts from the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), threatening years of progress. Supporters like the eco-search engine Ecosia stepped in to fill the gap, underscoring both the fragility and resilience of conservation work.
Despite setbacks, she kept a punishing schedule, telling colleagues: “Time is running out — I must speed up.”
Video by Still Watching NetFlix. Dr. Jane Goodall’s Final Message To The World | Famous Last Words
💐 Death and Tributes
Goodall died peacefully in Los Angeles, hours before a scheduled lecture in Pasadena. The Jane Goodall Institute called her passing “a profound loss for the natural world.” Tributes flowed from world leaders, celebrities, and conservationists: Prince William hailed her as “extraordinary,” Leonardo DiCaprio as a “heroine of the planet,” and UN Secretary-General António Guterres praised her “extraordinary legacy.” Nancy Pelosi remembered her as both a mentor and a friend, while Prince Harry and Meghan Markle recalled her cradling their son Archie.
Goodall herself spoke about death with calm curiosity. Asked “What’s your next adventure?” she replied: “Well, when you die, there’s either nothing, in which case fine, it’s finished, over… or there’s something. And I happen to believe there’s more than just this one physical life… what greater adventure can there be?”
🌟 A Messenger of Hope
Goodall often admitted she disliked constant travel but felt compelled by the urgency of her mission. What kept her going, she said, were the young people she met and the chimpanzees who first captured her heart.
Her message resisted despair. She emphasized everyday actions: reusing coffee grounds, walking instead of driving, choosing ethical products, planting trees. “Every single day each one of us makes an impact on the planet,” she said. “The choice is what sort of impact we make.”
She often described herself as a messenger, not a saint or a scientist alone. Her epitaph may well be the refrain she carried everywhere: Together we can. Together we will.
