The British primatologist Jane Goodall, who revolutionized the study of chimpanzees and became one of the world’s most respected wildlife conservationists, has died at the age of 91, her institute announced.
Goodall “passed away peacefully in her sleep in Los Angeles” while on a tour of the United States, according to a statement posted by the Jane Goodall Institute on Instagram.
In a final video released before her death, Goodall, dressed in her signature green attire, told viewers: “Some of us can say Bonjour, some Guten Morgen and so on, but I can say: Hoo-hoo-hoo-hoo-hoo-hoo-hoo-hoo! That would be ‘Good Morning’ in chimpanzee language.”
Born in London on April 3, 1934, Goodall developed a fascination with animals early in her childhood, when her father gave her a plush chimpanzee, which she kept her entire life. She was an avid reader of the Tarzan books—about a boy raised by apes who falls in love with a woman named Jane.
