Primatologist and conservationist Dame Jane Goodall has died aged 91.
On 1 October, the Jane Goodall Institute announced that she had died of natural causes while in California on a speaking tour of the US.
A statement on its website described her as a “remarkable example of courage and conviction”, noting that she worked “tirelessly throughout her life to raise awareness about threats to wildlife, promote conservation, and inspire a more harmonious, sustainable relationship between people, animals and the natural world.”
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Dr Goodall was considered a world-leading chimpanzee expert and spent 65 years studying wild chimpanzees in Gombe National Park, Tanzania. It was here that she made the significant discovery that chimpanzees use tools, which was crucial in proving the similarities between primate and human behaviour. (Tool use was previously considered a uniquely human behaviour.) Her three-month study of the animals for her doctoral thesis turned into a research program lasting decades.
After her PhD publication, she became involved in wildlife conservation and founded the non-profit organisation the Jane Goodall Institute in 1977. Her influence continues today with ongoing research at Gombe, as well as the humanitarian and environmental Roots & Shoots program for young people and the Jane Goodall Legacy Foundation.
Naturalist and TV presenter Chris Packham hailed Dame Jane’s work as “revolutionary”. He told BBC News: “To have lost a hero at a time when we need all of them on the front line fighting for the future of life on Earth, it is a tragedy.”
Top image: Dr. Jane Goodall at the TIME 100 Summit 2019. Credit: Getty