UPDATE 10/20/2025 12:00 p.m. ET: Jane Goodall’s cause of death has reportedly been revealed nearly three weeks after her death at age 91.
Goodall died of cardiopulmonary arrest, a.k.a. cardiac arrest, TMZ reported on Monday, October 20, citing her death certificate.
The Jane Goodall Institute confirmed that the conservationist had died in her sleep on October 1.
“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 shared in a statement via social media on October 1. “She was in California as part of her speaking tour in the United States.”
The statement concluded, “Dr. Goodall’s discoveries as an ethologist revolutionized science, and she was a tireless advocate for the protection and restoration of our natural world.”
Goodall’s death comes days before she was scheduled to speak at the University of California Los Angeles’ Royce Hall on Friday, October 3.
The late anthropologist was best known for her groundbreaking research on chimpanzees in Tanzania’s Gombe Stream National Park. Goodall was considered one of the world’s most foremost experts on the animal after studying the social and family interactions of chimpanzees for more than 60 years.
Aside from founding her eponymous institute, she was also the brainchild behind the Roots & Shoots program, which focused on conservation efforts and animal welfare. She was named the United Nations Messenger of Peace in 2022 and was an honorary member of the World Future Council.
Goodall appeared on the “Call Her Daddy” podcast earlier this year to discuss her successes as a woman in her field.
“I feel that I was put on this planet with a mission,” Goodall said during the May podcast episode. “Right now, as I said, we’re going through dark times and the big problem is people are losing hope.”
She told listeners that they “can’t solve the problems of the world” but are able to focus on smaller issues closer to home.
“This mission keeps me going. There’s so much to do, and if we lose hope, we’re doomed,” Goodall added. “If you lose hope, people become apathetic and do nothing.”
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Goodall noted that she’s “not alone” in her mission, because the Jane Goodall Institute has since expanded to 25 countries, along with Roots & Shoots, which is in 75 countries.
During the same podcast episode, Goodall credited her mother with a lot of her success.
“I was born loving animals and the most important thing in my young childhood was my mother because she supported me,” Goodall recalled. “When I was 1-and-a-half years old — I don’t remember this but she told me — she came into my room and found I had taken a handful of wriggly earthworms to bed.”
Goodall’s mom didn’t get “angry” but knew “that was the making of a little scientist.” She added, “A different mother might have crushed that early curiosity and I might not be talking to you now.”
The late scientist was 26 years old when her research began.
“I can only think of the advice my mother gave me. If you want to do something, work hard, take advantage of opportunity. The key thing is you’ve got to know you really want to do it,” Goodall said. “I meet young people and they’re perhaps in their second year at university and they say, ‘Well, you know, I actually made a mistake, but I can’t change now.’ Well, that’s the biggest mistake because if this is going to be the rest of your life, change now while you can into a different career path.”
