Overview

• The Jane Goodall Institute said she died of natural causes on October 1 at age 91.
• In 1960 at Gombe, she observed chimpanzees fashioning termite‑fishing tools, leading Louis Leakey to urge a redefinition of “tool” and “human.”
• Her long-term studies documented meat hunting, infanticide, cannibalism and lethal intergroup aggression, overturning assumptions of gentle, vegetarian apes.
• Her empathetic methods—naming individuals and building close observation of family lines—helped reveal personality, emotion, maternal transmission and cultural variation across populations.
• She founded the Jane Goodall Institute and the Roots & Shoots youth program, inspired successors including Biruté Galdikas, Gladys Kalema‑Zikusoka and Rebeca Atencia, and served as a UN Messenger of Peace advocating wildlife protection.