Jane Goodall: A Champion of Conservation
Jane Goodall has died at the age of 91. She was the world’s most famous primatologist (a person who studies apes). In a social-media post announcing her death on October 1, the Jane Goodall Institute called her “a tireless advocate for the protection and restoration of our natural world.”
Goodall was born in England in 1934. She was best known for her 65-year study of wild chimpanzees. The study began in the 1960s. At that time, Goodall lived among chimps in Tanzania, in Africa. She documented them doing things it was thought only people could do. Goodall proved that chimps make tools and hunt for meat. She also studied their complex relationships. Goodall was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2025.
LASTING LEGACY A young Goodall appears in a 1965 television special about her work with chimpanzees.
CBS/GETTY IMAGES
RAISING AWARENESS Jane Goodall speaks about conservation at the TIME100 Summit in New York City in 2019.
SPENCER PLATT—GETTY IMAGESGoodall spoke with TIME for Kids in 2023. TFK Kid Reporter Shaivi Moparthi asked her what gives her hope for the future of the planet. Goodall noted the participants in Roots & Shoots, her youth-activism program. “And young people like you who are inspiring others around you,” she told Shaivi. “I think that’s my greatest reason for hope.”
INSPIRING YOUNG PEOPLE TFK Kid Reporter Shaivi Moparthi conducts an interview with Goodall virtually in the spring of 2023.
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