What to Know Wildlife expert Dr. Jane Goodall has died at 91, according to the Jane Goodall Institute. In a statement, the Jane Goodall Institute said the famed primatologist died of natural causesBritish primatologist and anthropologist Dr. Jane Goodall, whose groundbreaking research led to a better understanding of chimpanzees in the wild, has died at age 91, according to the Jane Goodall Institute. "The Jane Goodall Institute has learned this morning, Wednesday, October 1, 2025, that Dr. Jane Goodall DBE, UN Messenger of Peace and Founder of the Jane Goodall Institute has passed away due to natural causes," the Institute said in a statement. Goodall, who was scheduled to speak Friday at UCLA Royce Hall, is best known for a decades-long study of wild chimpanzees in Tanzania. She founded the Jane Goodall Institute in 1977 to back research in Gombe and support chimpanzee populations throughout Africa.