Remembering Jane Goodall: 100 Amazing Facts About a Life That Changed the World

Today we mourn the passing of Dame Jane Goodall, who left us on October 1, 2025, at the age of 91. A pioneer in primatology, a voice for conservation, and a global symbol of compassion, Goodall dedicated her life to showing us that humanity is not separate from the natural world—we are part of it. Her decades of work with chimpanzees reshaped science, inspired activism, and gave generations of people reason to hope.

In her honor, here are 100 amazing facts about Jane Goodall’s extraordinary life and legacy:

1. Jane Goodall was born Valerie Jane Morris-Goodall on April 3, 1934, in London.
2. She died on October 1, 2025, at the age of 91, in California, while on a speaking tour.
3. Her parents were Mortimer Herbert Morris-Goodall, a businessman, and Margaret Myfanwe Joseph, a novelist.
4. Her mother wrote under the pen name Vanne Morris-Goodall.
5. As a child, she was given a toy chimpanzee named Jubilee instead of a teddy bear.
6. Jubilee sparked her lifelong love of animals.
7. Her mother’s friends thought the toy would give Jane nightmares, but it never did.
8. Jubilee still sits on her dresser in London.
9. Jane attended Uplands School in Poole, near Bournemouth.
10. She traveled to the Kenya highlands in 1957 to visit a friend’s farm.
11. In Kenya, she met archaeologist Louis Leakey, who became her mentor.
12. Leakey first hired her as his secretary.
13. In 1958, Leakey arranged for her to study primate behavior in London.
14. She studied primate anatomy with John Napier.
15. On July 14, 1960, she began her research at Gombe Stream National Park, Tanzania.
16. She was accompanied by her mother for safety reasons.
17. She was the first of “The Trimates,” alongside Dian Fossey and Birutė Galdikas.
18. In 1962, Leakey sent her to Cambridge University for a PhD without a bachelor’s degree.
19. She became only the eighth person to be admitted to Cambridge without an undergraduate degree.
20. She attended Newnham College and Darwin College at Cambridge.
21. Her PhD thesis was titled Behaviour of Free-Living Chimpanzees (1966).
22. Her doctoral advisor was Robert Hinde.
23. She studied the Kasakela chimpanzee community at Gombe.
24. She discovered chimpanzees could use tools.
25. She saw them strip leaves from twigs to fish for termites.
26. This finding challenged the belief that only humans used tools.
27. Louis Leakey said: “We must redefine man, redefine tool, or accept chimpanzees as human!”
28. She discovered chimpanzees eat meat.
29. She observed them hunting colobus monkeys.
30. She found they could be aggressive and violent.
31. She documented the Gombe Chimpanzee War (1974–1978).
32. She saw chimpanzees commit infanticide and cannibalism.
33. Despite aggression, she also saw them hug, kiss, and tickle.
34. She insisted chimpanzees had personalities.
35. Her use of terms like “childhood” and “motivation” was criticized at the time.
36. She named her chimpanzee subjects instead of numbering them.
37. David Greybeard was the first chimpanzee to trust her.
38. Other named chimps included Goliath, Mike, Flo, Fifi, and Frodo.
39. She was once the lowest-ranking member of a chimp troop for 22 months.
40. In 1977, she founded the Jane Goodall Institute.
41. The Institute now has offices in 19 countries.
42. Its Roots & Shoots youth program began in 1991 with 16 teenagers.
43. Roots & Shoots now has groups in over 100 countries.
44. In 1992, she founded the Tchimpounga Chimpanzee Rehabilitation Centre in Congo.
45. The centre cares for over 100 orphaned chimpanzees.
46. In 1994, she launched the TACARE project to reforest land near Gombe.
47. TACARE also provides scholarships for girls’ education.
48. In the 1990s, the University of Minnesota archived her research.
49. In 2011, her archives moved to Duke University.
50. In 2018, she co-developed a natural product line with Schmidt’s Naturals.
51. In 2020, she co-created products with Neptune Wellness Solutions.
52. She traveled nearly 300 days a year to advocate for conservation.
53. She was on the advisory council for Save the Chimps in Florida.
54. She served on the board of the Nonhuman Rights Project.
55. In 1986, the Understanding Chimpanzees conference shifted her focus to activism.
56. She was president of Advocates for Animals from 1998–2008.
57. She was a lifelong vegetarian.
58. She became vegan in 2021.
59. She authored Eat Meat Less, a vegan cookbook.
60. She criticized factory farming for cruelty and environmental damage.
61. She partnered with NASA to use satellite data for conservation.
62. She co-founded Ethologists for the Ethical Treatment of Animals in 2000.
63. She gave a lecture called “Reason for Hope” in 2008 at USD.
64. In 2010, she petitioned to classify all chimpanzees as endangered.
65. In 2015, the U.S. classified all chimpanzees as endangered.
66. She endorsed Green Party candidate Caroline Lucas in 2015.
67. She opposed fox hunting in the UK.
68. In 2019, she was honored with a bronze statue in New York City.
69. She called for ecocide to be made an international crime.
70. She vowed to help plant 5 million trees as part of a global effort.
71. She joined the Rewriting Extinction campaign in 2021.
72. She contributed to The Most Important Comic Book on Earth (2021).
73. She believed in the possibility of undiscovered primate species like Bigfoot.
74. She described a mystical experience at Notre Dame Cathedral in 1977.
75. She wrote about spirituality in Reason for Hope: A Spiritual Journey.
76. She married Baron Hugo van Lawick in 1964.
77. She became Baroness Jane van Lawick-Goodall during that marriage.
78. She and van Lawick had a son, Hugo Eric Louis, in 1967.
79. They divorced in 1974.
80. She married Derek Bryceson in 1975.
81. Bryceson died of cancer in 1980.
82. She said dogs were her favorite animal.
83. She had prosopagnosia, making it hard to recognize faces.
84. She voiced herself on the animated series The Wild Thornberrys.
85. She was subject of over 40 films, including Jane (2017).
86. The IMAX documentary Jane Goodall’s Wild Chimpanzees was released in 2002.
87. She appeared in the 2020 film Jane Goodall: The Hope.
88. In 2023, the IMAX film Jane Goodall: Reasons for Hope was released.
89. In 2002, she was named a UN Messenger of Peace.
90. She was awarded the Kyoto Prize in 1990.
91. She won the Hubbard Medal in 1995.
92. She received the Tyler Prize for Environmental Achievement in 1997.
93. She became a Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 2004.
94. She received the Templeton Prize in 2021.
95. In 2022, she received the Stephen Hawking Medal for Science Communication.
96. In 2023, she became an Officer of the Order of Orange-Nassau.
97. In 2024, she delivered “A Speech for History” at UNESCO.
98. In January 2025, she was awarded the U.S. Presidential Medal of Freedom.
99. Time magazine named her one of the 100 most influential people in 2019.
100. Stevie Nicks wrote the song “Jane” (1990) inspired by her.

Jane Goodall’s life was more than science—it was hope, activism, and love for the natural world. Her voice will echo through the forests she fought to protect, the young people she inspired, and the countless hearts she touched.