Dr. Jane Goodall, who will be remembered as an advocate for animals and a renowned chimpanzee researcher, died due to natural causes, the Jane Goodall Institute announced in a Wednesday statement.
She was 91.
“Dr. Goodall’s discoveries as an ethologist revolutionized science, and she was a tireless advocate for the protection and restoration of our natural world,” the statement announcing her death said.
Goodall was in California at the time of her death, on a speaking tour in the U.S., the statement said.
Goodall was made famous for her work with chimpanzees. According to the Jane Goodall Institute, which she founded in 1977, she “went into the forest to study the remarkable lives of chimpanzees—and she came out of the forest to save them.”
According to the foundation’s website, when Goodall realized chimps’ survival was threatened by habitat destruction and illegal trafficking, she “developed a breakthrough approach to species conservation that improves the lives of people, animals and the environment by honoring their connectedness to each other.”
Goodall was 26 when she visited Tanzania for the first time to explore the world of wild chimpanzees. She took an “unorthodox approach” to her research, the foundation said, “immersing herself in their habitat and their lives to experience their complex society as a neighbor rather than a distant observer.”
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