Dr. Jane Goodall tragically passed away on October 1 in Los Angeles, California while on a speaking tour of the United States. She was 91 years old. Later that month, TMZ released an update on the cause of her death.
A Legacy to be Remembered by Generations to Come
“Dr. Goodall’s discoveries as an ethologist revolutionized science, and she was a tireless advocate for the protection and restoration of our natural world,” the Jane Goodall Institute said. The statement goes on to say that she had passed away “due to natural causes.”
Goodall was seen as the world’s expert on chimpanzees after spending decades studying them in the wild in Tanzania’s Gombe Stream National Park. The Jane Goodall Institute celebrates her five revolutionary discoveries on their website:
In October, 1960, Dr. Goodall watched as a chimpanzee bent a twig, stripped off it leaves, and used it to âfishâ termites from their nest. Up until her moment of discovery, the ability to make and use tools had been considered uniquely human.
Also in 1960, Dr. Goodall discovered that chimpanzees are omnivorous, not vegetarian as had been thought. She observed them hunting and eating bush pigs, colobus monkeys and other small mammals.
Some of chimpanzeesâ similarities to humankind are unsettling; Dr. Goodall discovered that, like us, they engage in war against rival groups and kill members of their own species.
Through years of observation and meticulous field notes, Dr. Goodall describes the close relationships that chimpanzee mothers develop with their infants, and the strong familial bonds that siblings share.
Chimpanzees show acts of compassion, another behavior once considered exclusively human. Dr. Goodall witnessed chimpanzees embracing to comfort an animal in mourning, and has documented the adoption of orphaned chimps by others in the community.
“Jane Goodall’s trailblazing path for other women primatologists is arguably her greatest legacy. During the last third of the twentieth century, Dian Fossey, Birute Galdikas, Cheryl Knott, Penny Patterson and many more women have followed her. Indeed, women now dominate long-term primate behavioral studies worldwide,” said Gilbert Grosvenor, former chairman of the National Geographic Society.
Goodall’s Cause of Death Revealed
The world-renowned primatologist died of cardiac arrest, according to TMZ. Her death certificate listed her official cause of death as cardiopulmonary arrest. It was also revealed in her death certificate that she had epilepsy, though it is unclear if that played a factor in her passing.
Goodall is survived by her son, Hugo, and three grandchildren.
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