Dame Jane Goodall dies at 91 in California

Dame Jane Goodall, the British primatologist whose decades of research transformed scientific understanding of chimpanzees and inspired global conservation efforts, died on October 1 in California at the age of 91, according to her death certificate and a statement from the Jane Goodall Institute. The certificate lists cardiopulmonary arrest, commonly described as cardiac arrest, as the cause of death; it also notes a history of epilepsy, without indicating whether that condition contributed to her passing. The Institute said she died of natural causes while on a speaking tour and that she passed away in her sleep.

Goodall rose to prominence after traveling to East Africa in her early 20s and beginning long-term field studies at Gombe Stream National Park in what is now Tanzania. Her detailed observations of chimpanzee behavior in the 1960s showed tool use, hunting, complex social relationships and individual personalities among the animals, challenging prevailing assumptions about the uniqueness of human behavior. Those findings helped establish new approaches to ethology and primate studies and influenced debates about animal cognition and welfare.