Jane Goodall, the British primatologist who studied chimpanzees for more than 60 years and was considered one of the world\u2019s foremost experts in the field, has died at age 91.<\/p>\n
Her death was announced Wednesday by the Jane Goodall Institute. She died in California from natural causes.<\/p>\n
In a statement to the Star, the institute\u2019s Canadian branch said Goodall revolutionized science and tirelessly advocated for the protection and restoration of the natural world.<\/p>\n
\u201cLike millions, we are deeply affected by this loss,\u201d the institute wrote. \u201cToday we lost a visionary. Tomorrow, we will continue her work. Every community we support, every young leader we empower, and every partnership we build carries forward her belief that every individual makes a difference.\u201d<\/p>\n
Armed with little more than a notebook and binoculars, Goodall travelled from England to what is now Tanzania in July 1960 to study chimpanzees, according to the institute. Rather than observe from afar, she immersed herself in their habitat and lives, discovering chimpanzees create tools and have individual personalities.<\/p>\n
Jane Goodall, the British primatologist who studied chimpanzees for nearly 60 years, has died at age 91.<\/p>\n
Kelsey Wilson\/Toronto Star<\/p>\n
Her discovery, her institute said, is\u00a0\u201cone of the greatest achievements of twentieth-century scholarship.\u201d<\/p>\n
But her career soon expanded past primatology. She spent decades educating and advocating for humanitarian causes and protecting the natural world.\u00a0In her usual soft-spoken British accent, she balanced the grim realities of the climate crisis with a message of hope for the future.<\/p>\n
She spoke of the world\u2019s ecology\u00a0as a tapestry being slowly pulled apart by humanity\u2019s carelessness.<\/p>\n
\u201cEvery time a little species vanishes, it may not seem important,\u201d she told The Associated Press in 2021. \u201cBut the thread is pulled from that tapestry and the picture gets weaker as more threads are pulled, until that tapestry, once so beautiful, is hanging in tatters.\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Jane Goodall with Bahati, a 3 year-old female chimpanzee at the Sweetwaters Chimpanzee Sanctuary, near Nanyuki 170 kms north of Nairobi in 1997.<\/p>\n
Jean-Marc Bouju\/The Associated Press file photo<\/p>\n
From her base in the British coastal town of Bournemouth, she travelled nearly 300 days a year, even after she turned 90, to speak to packed auditoriums and people in power around the world. She even travelled to North Korea, a place she said was the worst in the world to find vegetarian food.<\/p>\n
Between more serious messages, her speeches often featured her whooping like a chimpanzee or lamenting that Tarzan chose the wrong Jane.<\/p>\n
Jane Goodall in Toronto<\/p>\n
She founded the Jane Goodall Institute in 1977 to continue the study and protection of chimpanzees while also improving the welfare of local communities.<\/p>\n
The Canadian branch of the non-profit is housed by the University of Toronto and works with Indigenous-led organizations to fulfil its core goals of eliminating environmental inequity, biodiversity loss and climate change.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Ethologist and conservationist Jane Goodall, known for groundbreaking studies of wild chimpanzees, is photographed at the Rosewood Mansion on Turtle Creek in Dallas on Oct. 2, 2024.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Tom Fox\/TNS file photo<\/p>\n
Goodall received an honorary Doctor of Laws degree in Primatology from the University of Toronto in 2008. She had also been awarded a Doctor of Science from Toronto Metropolitan University in 2001.<\/p>\n
In 1991 Goodall founded Roots & Shoots, an environmental and humanitarian program whose hands-on projects have benefited communities, animals and the environment in more than 65 countries.<\/p>\n
Former Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said he was \u201cheartbroken\u201d to hear of Goodall\u2019s death.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe was a pioneer whose research and advocacy reshaped our understanding of the natural world. Her wisdom and compassion will live on in every act of conservation,\u201d he wrote\u00a0in a post on X<\/a>.<\/p>\n Heartbroken to hear of Dr. Jane Goodall\u2019s passing. She was a pioneer whose research and advocacy reshaped our understanding of the natural world. Her wisdom and compassion will live on in every act of conservation. All of us who were so greatly inspired by her will miss her\u2026 pic.twitter.com\/NM5HEyftzJ<\/a><\/p>\n