Dame Jane Goodall, the world-renowned primatologist and conservationist who transformed our understanding of chimpanzees and inspired millions to protect the natural world, has died aged 91.
She was considered by many to be the world's foremost expert on chimpanzees, but her impact reached far beyond the scientific community. With her warm demeanour and patient, compassionate approach to observing animals, Goodall became a beloved global icon – someone who showed that you didn't need to be a traditional scientist to make revolutionary discoveries. Her ability to communicate the emotional lives of chimpanzees made complex science accessible to everyone, and her message that every individual can make a difference inspired generations to care about conservation.
A revolutionary approach
Jane Goodall revolutionised the study of animal behaviour through her groundbreaking research with chimpanzees in Gombe Stream National Park, Tanzania. Her pioneering methods – observing animals in their natural habitat, naming rather than numbering her subjects, and recognising individual personalities – challenged the scientific orthodoxy of her time and fundamentally changed how we understand our closest living relatives.
"Jane Goodall's death marks the passing of one of the great figures from conservation," said ZSL Chief Executive Matthew Gould. "Her career is intertwined with ZSL, and we are proud of our connection with her."
A complex history with ZSL
Our relationship with Dr Goodall began in 1958 when she worked in Granada Television’s film library - housed inside London Zoo - where she spent her spare time studying the behaviour of primates while waiting for expedition funding to come through.
Four years later in April 1962, after an expedition to Gombe National Park, Tanzania, where she made observations that challenged conventional science – including that chimps make and use tools – she presented her early field observations to ZSL at a symposium on primates.
Her unconventional approach initially met with scepticism from parts of the scientific establishment.
Matthew Gould reflects: "Some members of the scientific community, including – I am ashamed to say – a scientist from ZSL, were critical, dismissing her work as 'anecdote and... speculation' based on ‘contradictory and isolated observations’ that contributed little to science."
Recognition and reconciliation
History, of course, proved the critics wrong. Dr Goodall's methods became the foundation of modern primatology and ethology, demonstrating that scientific rigour and empathetic observation are not only compatible but essential to understanding animal behaviour.
We later honoured Dr Goodall's extraordinary contributions to science. In 1996, she received the ZSL Silver Medal, our highest scientific honour, awarded to those who have made exceptional contributions to the understanding and appreciation of zoology.
She returned to our zoos over the years, giving talks and meeting with staff and ZSL members – and of course visiting our chimps at Whipsnade.
An enduring legacy
Dr Goodall's influence extended far beyond academia. Through the Jane Goodall Institute and her Roots & Shoots programme, she inspired millions of young people worldwide to become advocates for wildlife and environmental conservation. Her message of hope, combined with her tireless activism well into her later years, created a global movement for positive change.
Her discoveries reshaped our understanding of what it means to be human – revealing that tool use, complex emotions, and sophisticated social structures are not uniquely human traits. In doing so, she helped forge a deeper connection between humanity and the natural world.
"Today, we remember one of the great figures of conservation, who transformed our understanding of primates, and inspired millions with her work, and give thanks for her remarkable life," said Matthew Gould.
Dame Jane Goodall's legacy lives on in every researcher who approaches their work with both rigour and compassion, in every conservationist fighting to protect endangered species, and in every young person who believes they can make a difference for our planet.
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Dr Jane Goodall DBE 1934 - 2025
Tributes from across ZSL
"As a woman working in conservation, having visible female role models like Dr Jane Goodall is enormously important. I am sad to hear of Jane’s passing but her legacy will continue to inspire many generations to come."
Dr Rosie Williams
Postdoctoral Research Assistant at ZSL’s Institute of Zoology
"Jane Goodall played a pivotal role in my life. As a university student I was inspired by her incredible 1986 magnum opus, ‘The chimpanzees of Gombe: patterns of behaviour’. Its rigorous scientific approach, informed by and integrated with the complex social lives and personalities of the Gombe chimps, was immensely powerful. It is a classic study, and in my case helped to launch me into becoming a field biologist working on wild primates in Africa.
"Since then, Jane Goodall has continued to be an inspirational figure in her tireless advocacy for the conservation of chimpanzees, wildlife, and nature, and the empowerment of local communities and young people to bring about positive change in the world. She leaves behind her an extraordinary legacy for which we can all be grateful."
Prof Guy Cowlishaw
Professor at ZSL’s Institute of Zoology
"Jane Goodall was one of few people who changed the way that we see the world: how we view nature, how we perceive ourselves as part of nature. Her field research in Tanzania showed that skills thought to set humans aside from other animals, like making and using tools, were in fact practised by chimpanzees, demolishing the notion that there was a quantum difference between people and wildlife.
"Through her books and films, she brought her insights and passion into the lives of a public increasingly divorced from nature, encouraging people worldwide to value and care for nature. She was a trailblazer for pursuing scientific research on wild animals, inspiring generations of field biologists, including me. It was a film that she made with her then-husband, Hugo van Lawick, which first introduced me as a small child to the African wild dog, a species which fascinated me as a four year old, and which I have worked to understand and protect for the past 30 years.
"Jane Goodall’s legacy is immense, in the people she inspired, and the nature she loved and protected."
Prof Rosie Woodroffe
Professor at ZSL’s Institute of Zoology
"I was hugely saddened to hear of the passing of Dr Jane Goodall. She was a huge inspiration to me as a young keeper. I have a very clear memory of her speaking at London Zoo, and hearing her share her experiences, the connections she had to the chimpanzees she was studying, and her understanding of their behaviour, was truly awe-inspiring.
"She did some amazing work and really paved the way for women in conservation and science, managing to achieve amazing feats in a difficult time for women in the field. She was a true inspiration for me as a young keeper in a male dominated field, and I feel she paved the way for me to get to the position I’m in today."
Sarah Forsyth
Curator of Mammals, ZSL